Pair of new exhibitions for Shrewsbury's museum and art gallery

The photographs of the Beatles from the early 1960s were featured in LIFE magazine.

There will also be a new family-focused exhibition with hands-on exhibits for children. Ancient Wisdom will be located on the Balcony, with lots of child-friendly interactivity.

The Special Exhibition Gallery will host the photographic exhibition from LIFE magazine photographer Terence Spencer, who covered showbusiness and world events from the 1960s onwards. He followed the Beatles around in 1963 and his pictures of the band will form the heart of the exhibition.

These new exhibitions follow the Frank Cohen collection of contemporary art which has been housed in the temporary exhibition gallery since the museum and art gallery opened on April 1. It will be moving on at the end of June.

There have been claims people were put off visiting the new museum and art gallery by the admission charge since it opened.

Council chiefs made the ground floor free to enter – but to access the other two floors visitors must pay an entry fee of £4.

It has since been revealed the final cost of the scheme is expected to be £10.7 million rather than the originally planned £10.5m.

But more than 8000 people visited the upper "paid for"galleries in the first two months of opening.

And the museum currently has 21 reviews on the TripAdvisor website – 14 rate it as a '5' which is excellent and seven rate it as a 4, or very good.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council's cabinet member responsible for visitor economy, said: "The new museum and art gallery has enjoyed a really successful start since it opened just over two months ago. Our customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with great compliments on the new museum and the restoration of the building. The museum is proving hugely popular with visitors from near and far and it is fast becoming part of the Shrewsbury town centre community."

Over the same period, the museum has hosted numerous events, talks and exhibitions in The Walker Suite, Vaughan's Mansion, the Board Room and on the Balcony.

Exhibition spaces at the attraction begin on the ground floor with the Prehistory and Roman Gallery which includes artefacts including an ornate silver mirror discovered at nearby Wroxeter.

There is also a section dedicated to Admiral John Benbow, with the exhibition featuring a performance of music about Shrewsbury's naval hero by Shropshire male acapella group The Men From Off, which was filmed in the neighbouring Admiral Benbow pub.

Exhibits on famous Shropshire figures including Charles Darwin and Admiral Benbow are in place, while artwork from Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin adors the walls of the temporary exhibition gallery inside the building.

The museum and art gallery is also now licensed for weddings and will be staging its first wedding fair on October 1.

Museum staff have also launched new educational packages for schools, with the programme starting in September.

The cafe at the museum has also become firmly established and a popular place to visit, bosses say.

• Star comment: It’s time to celebrate museum