Visitors flock to new Bennerley Viaduct visitor centre to see Derbyshire landmark
Visitors have been queuing ‘out the door’ at the renewed site of Bennerley Viaduct according to bosses.
Bennerley Viaduct’s new visitor centre in Awsworth finally opened earlier this month after a series of delays.
Known as ‘The Iron Giant’, the viaduct’s new centre was designed to pay tribute to the area’s industrial and cultural heritage and to draw visitors in to learn about the history.
Built by the Great Northern Railway, the bridge opened in 1878 in the age of steam, iron and coal, standing 18 metres above the Erewash Valley and 442 metres across connecting Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
It was used to carry passengers and goods by rail.
Train usage of the bridge ceased in the 1960s and it was left derelict before the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct took over its care, opening it in 2022 to the public for walking, cycling and exploring.
Works began on the new visitor centre in 2025 and was originally set to open in the autumn of that year, alongside the new accessible ramp – but a ‘crack’ in the ramp path meant that was delayed.
It was then aimed to open during the 2026 Easter holidays, but this was then pushed back to the summer.
The centre is mostly volunteer-run and features a café and displays of the Iron Giant’s 150-year history and will also serve as an educational space for school and group visits.
Since opening on July 18, Coun Milan Radulovic (Brox All), Broxtowe Council leader said visitors have come from the west midlands and north of England.
He said: “Business is doing extremely well, people have responded with, and to, this new destination with remarkable enthusiasm.
"They’ve turned out in their hundreds on a frequent and regular basis. It’s not just a monument to the past, it actually serves a real purpose now.
"It has a fully disabled access, it’s got a visitor centre to draw people in to study, it ensures the bridge will be there for future generations to observe our industrial past, to learn about our heritage, learn about our culture.
"It would otherwise just become a fallen monument, a decaying monument to the past and that’s not our intention.”
Coun Radulovic said the new centre shows outside investors ‘we are open for business in Broxtowe and across the Erewash Valley’ and hopes more companies invest in the ‘workshop of the country’.
He added: “I feel a sense of pride, it’s a lasting and living memorial to our industrial heritage and our industrial past.
Jordan Hazell, visitor centre manager, said: “It’s been queues most days out the door, even the days we’re not open we’ve got people peering through the windows wanting to come in.
“Considering we’ve been open less than three weeks, we’ve had this one group who’ve been here five times already, so we’ve got repeat customers.
“As we are all volunteers, we do want to start opening more, but we need some more volunteers so if anybody wants to, we always welcome more volunteers to help.”
The centre’s café and retail shop sells food that has either been homemade or sourced from local companies, including Just Ice ice cream from Derbyshire, a charity who support those who have experienced slavery, and local Erewash honey and coffee from Stewart’s at Trent Bridge.