A ‘BICENTENNIAL buzz’ is boosting visitor figures at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth.

The already-popular attraction is seeing up to a quarter more visitors as a result of the 200th anniversary celebrations for the Brontë siblings.

The news comes as the parsonage staff celebrate success gaining new customer service qualifications.

The museum is partway through its five-year Brontë200 campaign, which commemorates the 200th anniversaries of the births of Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne, and there father Patrick’s arrival in Haworth as minister.

Alongside a host of festivals, talks and performances was last Christmas’s well-received broadcast of the BBC Brontë biopic To Walk invisible.

Kitty Wright, executive director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said there had been a steady rise in visitor numbers over the last year and particularly since the beginning of the new season in February.

She said: ‘We are thrilled that the buzz created by Charlotte’s celebrations last year and our Branwell-focused programme this year, has encouraged so many people to come and visit the museum.

“Easter Saturday was our busiest day in over 10 years, and the Easter weekend as a whole saw a 24 per cent increase in admissions over 2016.

“We’ve also seen an increase in the number of local residents visiting us, something we are really pleased about.”

Many people are travelling considerable distances to the museum to contribute to artist Clare Twomey’s Wuthering Heights manuscript project.

People of all ages have been captivated by the invitation to recreate Emily Brontë’s lost manuscript, and have been queuing up to write their line.

Earlier this year, 16 members of the museum’s front of house team undertook a course entitled Welcome to Excellence: Exceeding Visitors’ Expectations.

The training was endorsed by Visit England and all those who completed it went on to attain a City and Guilds Level 2 Award in Principles of Customer Service in Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism.

Museum manager Chloe Simm said: “Providing excellent customer service is at the heart of all we do at the museum.

“We welcome around 80,000 visitors each year and all of our staff pride themselves on identifying their needs and going the extra mile to make every visit memorable.

“Comments left on TripAdvisor, via social media and in our visitors books reveal that the service provided by our dedicated team really does exceed expectations and we are very proud of how everyone continues to put all they have learned into practice.”