Museum attendance beats football

The Natural History Museum is very popular with visitors

Forty-three per cent of Britons visited a museum or gallery at least once in the last year, a new report shows.

The 42 million museum visits is more than the number of people who attended league football matches in 2004-5.

The London School of Economics report said museum expansion and improvement could "allow this country to be a world leader in creativity and scholarship".

But it said success could be undermined by government funding cuts, says BBC arts correspondent Rebecca Jones.

Our correspondent says museums and galleries know they may have to look for funding elsewhere if they are to continue to thrive, following government warnings it may have other spending priorities in the future.

Mark Jones, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, says continued success cannot be taken for granted.

"Museums have done really well, but if they're going to go on doing well they do need sustained investment," he said.

"Without it, Britain's museums will not compare as favourably in the future as they do today."

The report by LSE's Tony Travers was commissioned by the National Museum Directors' Conference and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

It said museums and galleries generated about £1.5bn a year for the British economy.