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Economic Development

Library of Birmingham to open six hours at weekends

New opening times confirmed following announcement last year that £188m library would be victim of savage cuts resulting in around 100 job losses

Full extent of the Library of Birmingham's reduced opening hours has been revealed(Image: Birmingham Post & Mail Flickr Group: David Edwards)

The will open for just six hours every weekend

The £188 million library will no longer open on Sundays after April 12 when cost-cutting measures are brought in to reduce its hours from 73 a week to just 40.

The landmark building will open from 11am until 5pm on Saturdays and its doors will be locked for a full 42 hours straight every week before people are let in again at 11am on Mondays.

, the Labour General Election candidate in Selly Oak, said it was a ridiculous situation which needed addressing.

He said: "I think it is a real disaster to have a brand new major building like this and have the hours cut.

"What it needs is a funding package to support it but we have had the double whammy of being left the building by the previous administration without the funding and then seeing the Government chop the grant and now we have this ridiculous situation.

"The answer is we have to revisit the funding and explore every option."

The cut in hours at the library was revealed earlier this year and will see up to 100 redundancies. Overall the library, which opened to great fanfare in September 2013, will have £1.3 million cut from its budget.