The museum was originally the town's Customs House and, completed in 1836, was one of the first buildings constructed in Fleetwood.

Fleetwood was planned by local landowner Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood who employed Decimus Burton to lay out the town and design many of the buildings.

[1] Hesketh-Fleetwood intended his town to be a major port and Burton designed the Customs House as one of the first buildings, completed in 1836.

[6] The building continued to serve as the meeting place of Fleetwood Urban District Council from its formation in 1894, and remained as such after the area was advanced to the status of municipal borough in 1933, but ceased to be the local seat of government after the formation of the enlarged Wyre Borough Council at Poulton-le-Fylde in 1974.

[9] At the roof line there is a parapet with ornamental iron decoration and corner finials.

[14][15] Local supporters are opposing the closure,[16] and Fleetwood Town Council agreed in January 2016 to "register an expression of interest" in funding the future of the museum.

As of 3 June 2017[update] Lancashire County Council's website stated that: The county council will manage the museum until the formal transfer to Fleetwood Museum Trust as the new operator is completed, expected to be no later than the start of June.