The National Motor Museum Trust, which runs the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, has been given notice that its lease will not be renewed when it expires in 2030. This leaves the museum and the bulk of the 280-plus display vehicles and 1.9 million artefacts looking for a new home.
The lease was granted by the Montagu family, owners of the Beaulieu estate, in 1970. The Beaulieu estate will continue to operate a motor museum on site, along with its other current tourist attractions, such as the Palace House, Abbey and monorail. It also runs events such as the world-famous autojumbles and the many automotive gatherings. These will continue as before.
Around 29 vehicles in the museum currently belong to the Montagu Collection, including the Sunbeam 350hp and Sunbeam 1000hp Land Speed Record cars, a 1903 De Dion Bouton and a 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. There are also vehicles belonging to Beaulieu Enterprises Limited.
However, the bulk of the cars and motorcycles in the current National Motor Museum, along with its extensive archives and education facilities, will need to find a new home, which will present a sizeable challenge requiring extensive funds.
The origins of the National Motor Museum go back to 1952 when Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, opened Palace House to the public. Five veteran cars were displayed in the entrance of the house as a tribute to Edward’s father, John, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu – a famed motoring pioneer who also founded weekly journal The Car Illustrated and monthly journal The Car.
By 1956 the display in Palace House had grown and was moved into converted wooden outbuildings to create the first Montagu Motor Museum. Edward, Lord Montagu also launched a new motoring periodical in that year, The Veteran & Vintage Magazine. By 1959 the Montagu Motor Museum had proven so popular that it moved into a larger, specially made building. There were even Montagu Motor Museums opened in Brighton by 1961 and Measham in the Midlands in 1962.
In 1972 the Montagu Motor Museum at Beaulieu was replaced by the National Motor Museum as an independent museum backed by a charitable trust, The National Motor Museum Trust, which still exists. A new purpose-built museum building was opened in July 1972.
In spring 2026 a £600,000 redevelopment of the museum’s entrance hall and upper gallery was opened, thanks to National Lottery funding.
The National Motor Museum Trust has now announced that it has begun the process of identifying “a transformational new home for the National Motor Museum as its current lease at Beaulieu approaches the end of its 60-year term”.
For several years now, the museum’s strategy has been focussed on engaging with new generations of motoring enthusiasts and diverse communities, as well as expanding its work in learning and community engagement. This included a vision for the development of a training centre for heritage engineering apprenticeships.
Over the past two years the Trust and the Montagu family have been discussing ways to achieve these ambitions in the museum at Beaulieu through major donor investment and potential redevelopment. They’ve now concluded that the next stage of the National Motor Museum’s plans and charitable purpose as what the Trust refers to as “the national repository of British motoring heritage” can best be achieved through a move to a new home.
Robert MacGregor, chair of the board of trustees of The National Motor Museum Trust said: “We are sad that the National Motor Museum will be leaving Beaulieu but are at the same time very excited about this once in a generation opportunity to transform the Museum for the future.
“We want to thank the Montagu family for founding the Trust in 1970 and for their continued support as the Museum finds a new home and embarks on the next stage of its journey. A new home can refresh our whole approach, enable us to make the collection more accessible, expand our educational and community impact, and ensure Britain’s motoring story remains relevant.”
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (Ralph, 4th Baron Montagu, and son of Edward) said: “My father’s underlying ambition was to record and celebrate the story of motoring for the benefit of the nation. He founded The National Motor Museum Trust to do that, but its collections and activities have expanded beyond what anyone at the time envisaged. The charity’s long-term aims will now stand the best chance of being achieved if it can be based in a new home.
“I remain committed to honouring my father’s legacy by continuing to do all I can to support the Trust. Wherever the National Motor Museum and its collections may be located in the future, Beaulieu will continue to develop as a leading south coast attraction, offering a comparable range of experiences to what people enjoy today, with cars remaining very much a part of our identity.”
Beaulieu has also stated: “While we acknowledge the important role the Trust has played in Beaulieu’s story, motoring is an integral part of the Montagu family history and will continue to have an important place in our Beaulieu visitor experience.
“The day-to-day operation of the museum will not change from a visitor experience perspective, and Beaulieu intends to continue to operate a motor museum in the future, as it has for over 70 years. A significant amount of vehicles in the museum are either on loan or owned by the Montagu family and will continue to stay here.
“Beaulieu’s motoring events will be unaffected, with no change to our events calendar, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to the much-anticipated International Autojumble in September.
“While the Trust considers future options away from Beaulieu to achieve the charity’s long-term aims, its lease at Beaulieu continues for another four years. After that time, there is an exciting opportunity to look to the future and reshape how the museum at Beaulieu will look and feel.”
The plan to run the Sunbeam 1000hp Land Speed Record car, owned by the Montagu family, at Daytona Beach in March 2027 remains unaffected.
Magneto‘s view is that The National Motor Museum Trust’s ambitions have outgrown the site, at least in the view of the Montagu family. Indeed, the Museum’s location has been both a positive and a negative over the years. Beaulieu and the wider New Forest are picturesque and tourist friendly, but the capacity for expansion, along with the heavy traffic in the area, have limited the potential to grow visitor numbers. A smaller, less ambitious automotive museum at Beaulieu would still work with the rest of the venue’s attractions and keep the majority of visitors happy.
For the Trust, a move would have the potential to create a more accessible, larger National Motor Museum and automotive education facilities, but it will need extensive funding. It will probably need to remain in the south of England, given that the British Motor Museum is in the Midlands.
