WE THE CURIOUS LIMITED

Registered charity 1049954 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as AT BRISTOL LIMITED, BRISTOL 2000 LIMITED

Operation of hands-on interactive Science Centre for family and school visitors

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£7.0m
Latest spending
£9.6m
Registered
1995
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £2,570,000 for the year, largely driven by a £10,320,000 loss on the revaluation of investment property and fire-related reinstatement costs. Despite this, the trustees confirm that free reserves remained stable at £1,500,000, which aligns with their stated policy target range of £1.4m to £1.9m. The trustees expect the organization to move to a breakeven position in the following financial year.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: £1.4m - £1.9m (held: £1.5m)
“Based on the above risk criteria and the current situation of the Charity, the Trustees have established a free reserves target range of £1.4m - £1.9m.” — page 15
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Gift Aid transfer from subsidiary
“The transfer under gift aid of the trading profits of We The Curious (Enterprises) Limited to the Charity of £1,423,354 (2024: £755,993).” — page 47
“We The Curious Limited has transacted with Bristol City Council to pay for rates, marketing and other services totalling £43,404 (2024: £39,940) with £4,388 (2024: £nil) outstanding as at 31 March 2025.” — page 47
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Bristol City Council services
“The transfer under gift aid of the trading profits of We The Curious (Enterprises) Limited to the Charity of £1,423,354 (2024: £755,993).” — page 47
“We The Curious Limited has transacted with Bristol City Council to pay for rates, marketing and other services totalling £43,404 (2024: £39,940) with £4,388 (2024: £nil) outstanding as at 31 March 2025.” — page 47
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Aardman Employee Ownership Trust services
“The transfer under gift aid of the trading profits of We The Curious (Enterprises) Limited to the Charity of £1,423,354 (2024: £755,993).” — page 47
“We The Curious Limited has transacted with Bristol City Council to pay for rates, marketing and other services totalling £43,404 (2024: £39,940) with £4,388 (2024: £nil) outstanding as at 31 March 2025.” — page 47
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: We The Curious (Enterprises) Limited
“The Company has a wholly owned trading subsidiary, We The Curious (Enterprises) Limited.” — page 4
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Bishop Fleming Audit Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — We The Curious (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income
£7.0m
Total spending
£9.6m
Cost of raising funds
£88k
Reserves (reported)
£1.5m
Employees
132

Reported reserves equal ~1.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (49% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 1.2% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2025£7.0m£9.6m
31/03/2024£16.0m£14.4m
31/03/2023£5.8m£6.5m
31/03/2022£5.3m£5.3m
31/03/2021£3.1m£4.4m

Common questions

Is WE THE CURIOUS LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £2,570,000 for the year, largely driven by a £10,320,000 loss on the revaluation of investment property and fire-related reinstatement costs. Despite this, the trustees confirm that free reserves remained stable at £1,500,000, which aligns with their stated policy target range of £1.4m to £1.9m. The trustees expect the organization to move to a breakeven position in the following financial year. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Bishop Fleming Audit Limited.

Who funds WE THE CURIOUS LIMITED?

Funders whose own accounts filings name WE THE CURIOUS LIMITED as a grant recipient include ROYAL COMMISSION FOR THE EXHIBITION OF 1851, THE DERBYSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST LIMITED, THE NISBET TRUST, THE GOSLING FOUNDATION LIMITED, THE MEDLOCK CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
ROYAL COMMISSION FOR THE EXHIBITION OF 1851FY2025£53kCurious collaborations
THE DERBYSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST LIMITEDFY2024£22kProtection, maintenance & improvement of Millennium Square, Bristol
THE NISBET TRUSTFY2024£20k
THE GOSLING FOUNDATION LIMITEDFY2024£15kGeneral
THE MEDLOCK CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£15k
JOHN JAMES BRISTOL FOUNDATIONFY2025£12kImproving outcomes for children and young people, particularly those that are disadvantaged
THE FAIRFIELD CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£8k
THE FAIRFIELD CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£5k
G F EYRE CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£2kDonations
G F EYRE CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£1k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

FunderDateAmountPurpose
UK government01/04/2022£4kCuriosity Clusters
The National Lottery Heritage Fund27/07/2020£100k"COVID19 We The Curious"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund04/12/2019£80k"Project What If and The Perception of Time"
The National Lottery Community Fund07/07/2011£10kHealthy Communities - Activity days in At-Bristol Science Centre
The National Lottery Community Fund20/02/2007£10kMind Matters
The National Lottery Community Fund02/06/2005£436kCollaborative development involving At-Bristol, Inspire & Satrosphere
The National Lottery Community Fund01/03/2005£1.2mAt-Bristol: Wildwalk redevelopment and launch of touring exhibition brand

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CATALYST SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTRE AND MUSEUM TRUST LIMITED.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
WE THE CURIOUS LIMITED£7.0m——within—no doubt
CATALYST SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTRE AND MUSEUM TRUST LIMITED FY2025£861k—0below—no doubt
LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM LIMITED FY2025£19.9m——unclear—no doubt
SCIENCE PROJECTS FY2024£1.2m——unclear—no doubt
CREATE SPACE LONDON FY2025£132k—0unclear—no doubt
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR LIFE TRUST FY2025£7.2m——unclear—no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.