All quiet on Bristol Museum queue front as life returns to normal after Banksy

Bristol Museum has reopened for the first time since the end of the most successful show in its history.

Less than 100 hours after the final people filed past Banksy's iconic exhibits, the museum was back to normal.

The queues that for almost three months had become a regular feature outside the city landmark had long gone.

The floors had been swept and the traditional exhibits had the place to themselves.

But three of Banksy's pieces are still there – at least for the time being.

His Guantanamo Bay escapee – which sits inside the Bristol Box plane above the main entrance – is still in place.

And the worse-for-wear Ronald McDonald mannequin sitting on top of the main entrance to the museum also remains.

The statute of the angel with a paint can of pink emulsion is also still in the foyer.

All are to be taken down in due course.

The exhibition, which attracted 4,000 people a day, pumped an estimated £10 million into the city.

Acting head of Bristol museum service Paul Barnett says although staff are exhausted, the exhibition has given the museum a fresh injection of life.

He said: "We would love to retain the buzz of the last three months – I am not sure 'normal' will ever be the same here again.

"It has given us all a renewed imagination about how to fill the spaces he has left.

"The team have done a brilliant job over the past few days. There have been 100 crates coming in and they are each for an individual piece and have to be checked for damage and packaged very carefully – they are very valuable.

"Everybody is exhausted and it will take us a few days to get it out of the system. A lot of people are having a break because they have worked non-stop for 12 weeks.

"Banksy is a one-off but the public have showed how much they love the reinterpretation of this building by a contemporary artist and we can't ignore that.

"There will be plenty of people coming to us with ideas and we will be looking very hard at how we can capitalise on the new-found popularity of this building.

"We encourage people to keep on coming and telling us what they want. It has been great to see people so enthusiastic."

On September 11, the museum opens End of the Line: Attitudes in Drawing, an exhibition exploring and celebrating fresh approaches to drawing in contemporary art.

The exhibition features international artists who create some of the most innovative drawing today, the works blur the line between landscape, portrait, still life and graphic design.