The £26.5m museum being built in Bristol has been given a name, but the decision has led to consternation from residents.

Bristol City Council paid a consultant £100,000 to name the harbourside building M Shed. However, before the site housed the city’s Industrial Museum, it was a transit shed named…The M Shed.

As a result, locals are reportedly upset that the council essentially spent £100,000 to give the building its old name back, preferring instead the building’s working title of The Museum of Bristol.

A spokesperson for the council defended the decision: “The new museum will be known as M Shed. This is its historical name and it is in keeping with – and rightly reflects – the overall harbourside development.”

The museum – which has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (£11.3m), the city council, Renaissance South West and The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council – will tell the city’s history from ancient times to the present.

It will operate working exhibitions including historic boats, trains and cranes, as well as free exhibitions, learning spaces, a café, a book and gift shop, a workshop and train shed and a function space.

M Shed is scheduled to open in 2011.