An Important Update at RSPB Rainham Marshes
To ensure our longer-term sustainability, the RSPB has reviewed its operations across the UK so that everything we do aligns to our charitable and strategic aims and delivers the most impact for nature and wildlife possible.
Published: Autumn 2025
Topic: Rainham Marshes
We appreciate that visitors to RSPB Rainham Marshes are keen to receive an update on the future of its visitor centre, since we announced our intention to review options for the future of the facility in late 2024.
As you know, the RSPB reviewed its operations across the UK so that everything we do aligns to our charitable and strategic aims and delivers the most impact for nature possible, with the resource we have. We must focus on what we do best and where we can do this most effectively, with the resources available to us.
Following the challenges of the global and domestic financial pressures of the past few years, we looked at all our nature reserves, including Rainham Marshes, for improvements and efficiencies – from how we do our work to where we buy the things we need to do it. This included a review of the retail, cafe and visitor experience offer on our nature reserves.
Rainham Marshes was one of a small number of sites across the UK where the review concluded that our visitor facilities would change. Earlier this year we closed the café and shop at Rainham and this year we have been reviewing how we run the visitor centre, particularly for the benefit of the local community.
Importantly, there are no plans to change to how we run and manage the nature reserve here. Places like Rainham Marshes, especially given its location on the outskirts of London, are vital spaces where people can connect with nature and wildlife. It will remain open to the public to enjoy, with a variety of seasonal events, and it will continue to be core to our work to restore nature in the UK.
We recently held two popular open days (in August and September) to gather thoughts, feedback, and ideas from local people on how to move forward with visitor experience and reserve management.
Thank you for your continued interest and support of RSPB Rainham Marshes, we will provide further updates on Rainham Marshes’ social media pages when we have further news to share. In the meantime, we hope to welcome you back on the reserve soon.