The grand opening of Wycombe Museum’s new chair store.

Be the first to visit the new home for over 200 chairs not on display in Wycombe Museum’s galleries at Priory Avenue.

Visits on Open Day are run as drop-ins, with no advance booking or ticket required. Please note that we have maximum numbers we can allow into the store at a time, so you may be asked to wait a short while during busy periods.

We are also running an Open Day on Friday 17th July with ticketed entry. If you would prefer to have a confirmed time slot and not wait to enter, we would recommend visiting on this day.

See a full list of upcoming Open Days to visit the Chair Discovery Centre here.

What to expect

Wycombe Museum has many more chairs in our collection than we can display in our galleries. For years, hundreds of them have been carefully stored away out of sight. With the opening of the Chair Discovery Centre, our entire stored chair collection will be accesible to the public for the first time. It’s a place to learn more about High Wycombe’s furniture history, building on the stories told at Wycombe Museum’s Priory Avenue galleries.

The Chair Discovery Centre is as a working store for Wycombe Museum’s furniture collection and archives. It’s a place for museum staff to work and care for the collection. You may see some of our collection in the middle of being conserved. There may be objects wrapped for protection, or staff’s working notes on labels. Items may be removed from the store to put on display in our main museum galleries.

But what you will always see is a lot of historically significant chairs, and we’re excited to welcome visitors for a peek behind the scenes.

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Ticket Pricing

This Chair Discovery Centre is free to visit. Please consider making a donation if you are able to do so.

Suggested donation £5 per person.

Tickets are subject to the terms of Wycombe Museum’s Ticketing Policy.

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Visit Information
(See full information at the Chair Discovery Centre Visit Page)

Personal Belongings

Large bags, wet coats, and umbrellas are not allowed into the chair store. As this is a working museum store, we need to control the humidity to protect the furniture and archives. You will be able to keep small-sized bags with you, as long as they are dry. A public cloakroom is provided for you to store your items, but we recommend bringing as little with you as possible. All items are left at the owner’s risk.

Food & Drink

No food & drink is permitted in the Chair Discovery Centre, with the exception of bottled water in the Welcome Space. There are no facilities to purchase food & drink at the Chair Discovery Centre.

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Site Accessibility & Parking
(See full information at the Chair Discovery Centre Visit Page)

Location: Chair Discovery Centre, St Mary Street, High Wycombe, HP11 2HE

The Chair Discovery Centre is fully wheelchair accessible, with with step-free access throughout. There is a lift and an accessible bathroom.

There is no parking on-site, but drop-offs can be made outside the entrance. The nearest car parking is at the Wycombe Swan Theatre car park. Visitors are also welcome to park at Wycombe Museum and make the short walk down to the Chair Discovery Centre.

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Chair Festival

This event is part of Wycombe Museum’s 2026 Chairs Festival, running through July in celebration of the unique chairmaking heritage of Wycombe and the local area. With a varied programme of events, you’ll learn how the industry grew from the local landscape into thriving furniture production which proudly continues today. The festival is also celebrating the grand opening of Wycombe Museum’s new chair store, the Chair Discovery Centre. Join us to celebrate the stories, the chairs and the surroundings which make up our history.

The Chair Festival is being organised by Wycombe Museum with funding support from Opportunity Bucks, Rotshchild Foundation, and We Make Wycombe.