STAFF at Bewdley Museum are celebrating after being named one of the top five heritage sites in the West Midlands following a secret shopping exercise.

National research company Service Science carried out a recent survey of the museum between May and July, funded by the West Midlands Development programme.

A team of secret shoppers anonymously visited, called and contacted the museum in a number of ways, submitting questions and enquiries in person, by phone, social media and email to evaluate the overall look and accessibility of the museum - eventually awarding it a score of 95.4 out of 100.

Axel Klenert, from Service Science, said: "The individual section scores for Bewdley Museum could be summarised as "consistently high" as there wasn't an area within the operation that was really underachieving.

"I was very impressed when I visited."

Service Science carry out several hundred visits to sites across the UK each year, including the top London museums. Their survey spans 14 categories assessing services like information desk, shop, cafe, gallery/exhibits, team member appearance, toilets and access.

Bewdley Museum manager, Ali Bakr, said: "The team at the museum has achieved this result because of the hard work, dedication and quality of our customer experience.

"Everyone takes immense pride in the custody, management and development of this unique site and this commitment from the team will continue to take the museum from strength to strength."

Councillor Juliet Smith, Wyre Forest District Council's cabinet member for culture, leisure and community protection, added: "I would like to add my congratulations to everyone at Bewdley Museum for achieving such a high standard.

"The researchers have worked with some of the country's finest museums, and to receive such an accolade is a sign of the continuing hard work, effort and attention to detail of the whole team.

"I am always impressed when I visit Bewdley Museum with the work being done by the team and I would certainly echo the researcher's comments on the staff's willingness to help and ability to make a visit to the museum so enjoyable."