SOUTHEND’S new museum is set to be called The Estuary Experience and will offer visitors an interactive insight into the history of the Thames.

Councillors and officers have been busy looking at museums and exhibition across the country to cherry-pick the best ideas for the planned museum on Western Esplanade, which is set to offer a “touchy, feely and smelly” experience.

As part of their research, the group has visited a host of venues in London, Bristol and Cornwall, gathering ideas on how to best showcase the rich maritime history of the estuary. They even visited the Harry Potter studios, in Hertfordshire, for inspiration.

A Southend Council spokesman said: “As part of our initial work to plan for the new museum, we are drawing ideas and seeking expertise from successful attractions to ensure that what we plan and build is the very best that it can be for local people, visitors and businesses.

“Four members of the programme board visited a number of sites in the UK that lead the field in their area.

“These visits included MShed in Bristol and the Museum of London, venues that are well respected for the quality of their static displays.

“The Warner Brothers Experience was also visited as they are renowned in the industry for the quality of their visitor experience and the quality of their animated and digital displays.”

Ann Holland, councillor responsible for culture, tourism and the economy said: “Whenever we are visiting other areas we make a point at looking at venues there. We’ve been to the Turner Exhibition, in Margate, and the Titanic exhibition at the Shipwreck in Hastings, and we’re getting ideas from them.

“We want to move away from the stuffy museum image and make it a much more lively, interactive celebration of the history of all the estuary, including Kent. We have the Saxon King remains and the relics from the London shipwreck which we want to exhibit in an exciting way. We’re hoping other organisations along the estuary will get involved.”

John Lamb, leader of Southend Council, said the tourist attraction will be a “modern museum using modern technology.”

He said: “It has got to be a live experience. We want to do other things as well as the Saxon King and the HMS London relics. It will be about the whole estuary. We want people experience a whole raft of things.

“It will be a touchy, feely smelly experience brought to life by technology.

“We’ve been looking at other places like Flambards Theme Park in Cornwall and The Nordic Centre in York where you can actually experience smells, so we want to make that kind of technology work for us.”