Bid now to keep the bean museum going!

If you're a baked bean fan, I've got some good news and some bad news.

Bad news first: the Baked Bean Museum of Excellence in Port Talbot, South Wales, is closing. I know, I know. It's hard to hear.

The good news? The entire collection is up for sale on eBay, so - if you move quickly - you could take it on yourself and stop the museum from becoming a has-bean (sorry).

The museum is the brainchild of one Barry Kirk, who in 2009 opened up his own council flat to the public to showcase his rapidly growing collection of baked bean memorabilia, and indeed his love of the little orange beauties.

To call Barry an eccentric would be something of an understatement. While that's his birth name, legally he is actually Captain Beany, having changed it by deed poll in 1991. But whatever you call him, he's also somewhat of a local hero. Over the last 30+ years he has raised many thousands of pounds for charity through baked bean-related activities, from his record-breaking 100-hour stint in a bath of beans back in 1986, through multiple marathons dressed as his vibrant orange superhero alter-ego, to having 60 beans tattooed onto his head for his 60th birthday. (People can 'adopt' one of the beans for a one-off charitable donation of £60, for which their initials are added in perpetuity - and ink - to the bean).

Beany meets Queenie - showing off his tattooed head

After losing his mother to cancer when in his 40s, Beany was then inspired to crack open the orange paint and turn his entire flat into a museum as a lasting tribute. Since then he's been admitting complete strangers into his home - by appointment only - to show off his huge collection of Heinz, Branston and general baked bean memorabilia. The museum is now TripAdvisor's No.1 rated Thing To Do in Port Talbot, though having never "bean there, done that" (sorry again) I can't say how much competition there is. He has appeared regularly on local and national television and radio, and in books such as Felicity Cloake's excellent "Red Sauce Brown Sauce", in which she cycles the length and breadth of the UK in pursuit of the different elements of the perfect British breakfast, and "Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans" by Hunter Davies. The latter is actually a study of a number of Britain's "Maddest" museums, but it is Captain Beany's creation that lends the book its name.

In 2022 came the news that the flats in which Beany lives will be undergoing major renovations this year, during which the tenants will need to move out, and the museum will hence have to close. Captain Beany has decided that now is the time to downsize to a more convenient one bedroom flat, and so without the space for the collection, he put it up for sale in its entirety on eBay. Well, not quite in its entirety. The collection includes a coffin emblazoned with a baked bean design, which he is keeping for the day he finally does pop off the mortal coil.

[Photos of the Baked Bean Museum of Excellence from Captain Beany's eBay listing]

With a starting price of £5000 for the collection, there are currently... no bids, even after his appearance on ITV's This Morning with Phillip and Holly to promote the sale. We can only hope that there will be a last-minute bidding war. While I was actually very keen to visit the museum, and feel a touch of sadness that I have missed the boat on that front, I won't be putting in a bid myself. I just don't feel I could muster up the same level of enthusiasm about baked beans as Captain Beany. I'm not really sure anyone could. But if you think that person could be you, it's not too late! You have until 10.30am on Thursday 9 February to get bidding. Otherwise you may spend the rest of your life wondering what might have... bean.

UPDATE: The auction ended with no buyers, so the museum has now been relisted for another 10 days - you now have until 10.30am on Thursday 19 February to get your bids in!