Perth Museum bosses say they did not take up the offer of a £170,000 funding bailout from the council.
The money was initially set aside for the cafe inside the £27 million museum in 2024.
It was made available for Culture Perth and Kinross general funds earlier this year but the proposal sparked a furious public backlash on social media.
And Culture Perth and Kinross chief Helen Smout says the anger spilled over into real life.
“There has been quite a lot of negative feeling,” she said.
“And some of our staff have faced verbal abuse as a result of some of the negative and inaccurate coverage.”
Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey later disputed Ms Smout’s claims of “misinformation” around the use of public money.
She updated councillors on Perth Museum‘s first year at a meeting on Wednesday.
Ms Smout confirmed the cafe has yet to break even, saying it was forced to absorb additional costs in its first year.
But she insisted its finances are “on an upward trend”, and said culture chiefs would like to hand it over to a private operator at the end of its second year.
Perth Museum funding in spotlight
Culture Perth and Kinross was forced to take on the running of the cafe just weeks before the museum opened.
It had made two failed bids to find a private operator by that point.
And the cafe was already proving controversial, with critics claiming it would draw trade away from existing businesses.
Perth and Kinross Council set aside £170,000 to help with its running costs in February 2024.
And councillors gave their chief financial officer the authority to release the money to Culture Perth and Kinross general funds, if necessary, in February this year.
At the time, the charity which runs cultural services on behalf of the council was said to be losing “significantly more” money than bosses had budgeted for.
Culture Perth and Kinross ended the year with a projected £617,767 deficit.
But Ms Smout said the offered bailout hadn’t been necessary.
“We have never drawn down on that money,” she told the council’s scrutiny and performance committee on Wednesday.
“There has been no public money that has gone into the cafe in its first year.”
Taxpayer funding paid for Perth Museum building
Ms Smout said the cafe sits within a trading company, alongside retail and venue hire, and this larger entity is profitable.
But pressed on the finances of the cafe itself, she acknowledged it is still running at a loss.
Mr Bailey, vice-convener of the committee, welcomed the progress.
But he said he did not accept the statement that there had been no subsidies.
“The cafe exists within a building built by the taxpayer,” he said.
“And a commercial operator could not afford to cover those losses for the year.
“So I do take issue with the accusation that this is misinformation.”
Numbers add up for new attraction
The committee was presented with a raft of other figures relating to the year-old museum on Wednesday.
Official visitor numbers are now standing at just over 258,000.
It has a 98% satisfaction rate in visitor surveys.
And 67% of those questioned say they have an improved perception of Perth as a place to live and work.
Councillors were also told there have been two million additional visits to Perth High Street since the museum opened last March.
Officers are working with businesses to find out what this boost has meant for them.
Conversation