To be happy the science museum and natural history museum might have an entrance fee soon

[Ironfistfunkymum]

It makes the place unbearably busy, often have to queue to get in and most people don't appreciate it. They are just going as its something "free".

The museums association sells a pass that gets you into most museums in the country (and exhibits) for free.

Fees are charged on an income related scale and are cheaper if you work in the sector.

No family membership option though.

YABU.

We've been loads of times since the kids were tiny. Because I don't have to pay I can keep the visits short if the dc's are playing up or over tired. Getting to London costs us £40 alone, at least I only have to budget for a snack and gift shop on top of that.

We always pop some money in the collection boxes and I never leave without spending a tenner each in the gift shop. Taking an educational book home means they can continue learning after the visit. If we'd had to spend that money on an entrance fee I wouldn't be taking books home.

The people in charge of this country happily spend money on frivolous government expenses like subsided restaurants in the houses of parliament but want to deny children and adults a wonderful learning opportunity. Fuckers .

Why do you think they don't appreciate it?

No, the OP didn't mention funding but the funding aspect is a big part of the wider conversation which is why some of us have mentioned it.

Awful idea and I'm not sure crowds would be smaller and behaviour better. We have annual passes to Edinburgh Zoo (so no, not free - a big money saver but only a worthwhile option to those living very locally). The cost of a single trip is so high and we live close by So the pass is good for us as we can just drop in for an hour or two. If we didn't have the passes, yes we would go less frequently but we would feel obliged to stay for the whole day and "get out money's worth" even if the kids were kicking off with boredom after the first three hours.

Too many plebs cluttering up the museums for ops little darlings. Its just not enjoyable for Tarquin and Cressida now that the sticky oiks are in their way. Price out the poor people immediately!

So how about foreign tourists having to pay and a scheme being worked out so that people who live here dont.

And please dont think Im being racist. I would be classed as a foreign tourist and an entrance fee would just be part and parcel of the holiday as it is in other countries.

I wouldn't mind seeing a small fee at these places considering that the country is supposedly skint at the moment. Of course it would be nice if they coudo remain a free for all, but I just don't think it's a priority when we have people waiting months for treatments they need on the NHS and school resources are being cut to the bone.

I don't think a charge of say £5 per person, with concessions for under fives, disabled people to take carers etc would end up with hoards of poor children being significantly disadvantaged because their better off classmates had had a day out at a museum when they didn't.

Lots of countries have different prices for tourists and residents and I can't see any good reason why something like that couldn't be implemented. They could still allow free entry for school trips and things like scouts and brownies.

The Great Court of the BM is always busy I it's raining, yes. Also the mummies, Rosetta stone, Lewis chessmen rooms - always busy. However, there are so many other fascinating rooms that are always quiet. Step above the great unwashed OP, look at something that isn't so popular. You'd no doubt dine out for weeks on how much you all enjoyed avoiding the cultural top ten and decided instead to study something 'obscure'. Ditto for the NHM and the Science museum. Think how superior you could feel, and all the lowly scum can still visit the place.

Actually, the OP did mention funding in ther third post.

I find the op's sentiment genuinely chilling. Culture is for everyone, not just the rich.

I'm not in London, but the museum in the city I grew up in was free. I grew up in a very poor household and used to go to the museum probably about once a week during the school holidays as there was no money for any paid things. I'd hate for other children to miss out on that just to make more space for the rich kids.

Yes, so she did.

So, to everyone who doesn't want the museums to charge, where do you think the funding that's going to be lost is going to come from?

And why are some of you assuming that only the rich will be able to afford to get into paid-for museums? How narrow-minded.

I think there are two very separate issues in this thread - overcrowding and charging. People are getting mixed up between the two!

The NHM is a particularly popular and often overcrowded attration, true. I went in January, in term-time, mid-week and STILL had to queue for 40 minutes at one of the side entrances (the main entrance was at least an hour). The Hintze Hall, when I eventually got to it, was essentially one giant queue for the dinosaur wing. I have seen it in the summer holidays and frankly, you can keep it!

But that's just what the building allows for, crowd control-wise. Unfortunately the majority of the time I try to visit the queues are just too much so I cross the road to the V&A instead. The NHM is certainly not a "wander in and out" job. I do think they need to do something about the crowds as it really is mad in there but charging won't decrease the numbers by much. Timed ticketed entry to the more popular areas (dinosaurs, butterfly house) might work though...

However it is increasingly likely that these museums will need to charge entrance again. I would like to see them remain free on principle as I believe they should be free, but the reality is that principle cannot pay for the upkeep of a huge, listed building and the millions of objects in the collections, or the huge amount of research carried out, or the staffing that is needed to run such a huge endeavor, or addition to the collections, or outreach.... At some point, the money has to come from somewhere, and the massive numbers of visitors present an easy way to raise it.

Museums are having a very, very, VERY rough time of it at the moment - believe me, I am an EX-curator as a result of budget cuts, and my salary was well below the national average. The big London ones have more of a cushion than most, but even they are not immune. The arts and heritage are always very far down people's lists of things that deserve funding (I have seen threads on here questioning why they get any at all!), but when things close or fall down or start charging as a result, people are outraged!

I think perhaps adopting the methods French museums employ might be a good idea. Concessions for school children, free for EU citizens between 18 and 25 (all you need is a passport / driving licence / ID), concessions for pensioners, certain days free entry in every month etc. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Orangeries, the Garnier, the Cluny - they all charge and they're always pretty full!

The funding here is the important part, not crowds. A huge % of the totally decimated DCMS budget goes towards the provision of free museum entry. A large proportion of users are from overseas

I will come back when I've got more time with facts and figures but free entry deprives all other sectors of art, culture, heritage and (grass roots level) sport of funds

It's probably a moot point anyway as come the next comprehensive spending review this autumn it's like all other arms length bodies will be handed such severe cuts that they will cease to exist. That is what will deprive the less well off from being able to enjoy culture, not charging tourists for what could be hugely profitable businesses like the BM and NHM

The NHM used to be extortionate in the days when you did have to pay - from what I remember, we paid £7 each for adults, and children were £5. If they charged £2 for adults and children went free, that would be better.

I work in the heritage industry. I think there should be a charge, a small one of say £5 per adult (over 16 year olds), carers excluded. Tourists should all pay. I have fond memories of living in Bath and being able to get in free to the Roman Baths and other places, when non Bath residents have to pay. If you go to Rome or Florence you have to pay to enter museum. It should be no different here.

I took out membership about 25 years ago to save money as we were visiting so often, it was about £35 I think. Most children get to visit with their schools at some point so they wont be missing out in the long run.

As for the queues, I always get there early, enter via the science museum and eat a packed lunch in the NHM basement at weekends.

Too right. They're a huge drain on a small resource. All other arts and culture funding has been cut to the bone while these huge tourist attractions take an enormous portion. I think it is fair to acknowledge that the NHM & SM are not arts or culture destinations. They are science ones and inspiring children into STEM subjects is vital both for our economy and also making progress in medicine and technology. While arts and culture education are important for for a rounded education, there is a difference - not all things are equal.

I also don't think that many of the visitors to the NHM or SM are there taking shelter or to while away the time. They aren't particularly easy to get to and it's not like they are on Oxford Street.

I suppose people are just used to not paying for them. It is not that long since the entry fee (£8 or 9) was scrapped, around the millennium? Maybe people don't remember that.

No one seems to be prepared to explain how they think the museums would be kept free and open if funding is cut.

Why do you expect that posters need to find a solution to the funding crisis? People are objecting to the OPs keenness for charging to make visits nicer for her / others who can afford it. That isn't a very decent sentiment at all, and people are right to object to it.

YABU OP.

We could make it free for eu nationals. I went to a museum in Spain recently and you showed your passport or ID card. Didn't slow the queue down-they check bags anyway so direct eu people through, everyone else to payment desk.

liquidrevolution How does a busy ticket-seller define Tourist and Carer?

When we were children, I was one of 7, any charge would not be affordable. We used to walk 4 miles each way as we couldn't afford the bus fare. My parents were both working so we always went on our own.

What a horribly divisive and snobby idea.
Fine, they get overcrowded, that's always been the case. I'm almost 57, I spent a great deal of my childhood in the V&A escaping an abusive parent. I became a history lecturer, probably as a result of being a tuppeny bus journey away from a free, warm and fascinating place to hide. It was busier in the holidays, of course it was, and there were people who didn't appreciate some of the things there, but trust me, that had nothing to do with it being free.