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Original poster

To be surprised at adults not knowing most museums are free?

260 replies

FelineFatale · 03/03/2019 11:37

I've met recently at least four people who didn't know this. One said they didn't take their children to museums because they can't afford it and the other three just thought you had to pay.

I'm close to two of these people and when I said I was amazed they didn't know this they stated most people think you have to pay for museums.

They don't, surely?!

OP posts:
isabellerossignol · 03/03/2019 15:56

I think my nearest town has theoretically got a free museum, in name. In reality, it's actually maybe only open a couple of times a year when they have a specific exhibition. Those exhibitions might be very good, and they are often free, but they are infrequent and are very small - maybe one medium sized room full of exhibits.

bookmum08 · 03/03/2019 15:56

Why are people shocked if people 'don't like' museums. I have zero interest in football, strictly come dancing and wine. Lots of people like those. People have different interests - wow what a shocking concept!
Personally I have quite a big interest in social history. I read loads of books (fiction and non fiction), history magazines, watch tv programmes - dramas, documentaries, things like 'Back in Time For'. I watch films. Sometimes just get into conversations with people on local Facebook. There are several living museums like the Black Country Museum that I would love to go to but cost and logistics make it (currently) out of reach. A person can have a massive interest in a subject and learn knowledge about it without stepping foot in a museum. There are museums I go to or have been too but I am not shocked or bothered if others don't go. It's just one thing of the million different things our world has to offer.
I am currently reading the book Sisters of Gold by Annie Murrey. A historical novel set in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham in the early part of the 20th Century. I learn a lot of my history that way.

OrangeSamphire · 03/03/2019 15:59

I fail to see how 'not knowing museums are free' (which actually few are) is somehow an indicator that a person has lived a sheltered life?

Did you come here and post this just to feel validated in your superiority OP? Because that's what it sounds like!

I am lucky in that I can afford to take my children to museums. Locally we love the National Maritime Museum, the Telegraph museum, Geevor Tine Mine, the Museum of Witchcraft, Dartmoor Prison etc. We don't spent a great deal of time in these places though, our lives are spent mostly outdoors, or making/creating things together.

I am not so intellectually and socially sheltered to believe it's impossible to be an interesting, educated, rounded person without ever having stepped foot in a museum.

joyfullittlehippo · 03/03/2019 16:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IceRebel · 03/03/2019 16:12

Did you come here and post this just to feel validated in your superiority OP? Because that's what it sounds like!

It's certainly beginning to look that way.

the other three just thought you had to pay.

The OP is deliberately choosing to ignore the majority of posts which show that her friends were indeed correct in their comments.

MsSquiz · 03/03/2019 16:19

I live in Newcastle and all of the following local museums or galleries are free entry (with suggested donations)
Great North Museum (Hancock Museum)
Laing Art Gallery (some exhibitions have an entry fee)
The Baltic
The Discovery Museum

The only local-ish Museum I know that is a paid entry is Beamish on County Durham, but even that is a pay once and go as many times as you want within the year on that 1 entry fee

CountFosco · 03/03/2019 16:20

joyfullittlehippo my favourite museum in the whole country is the Pitt Rivers in Oxford and it's free! Went when the kids were little (6 and under) and the woman on the desk gave them torches to help them explore. Loved it as a student, loved it as a family.

At the othe end of the country and scale in Orkney the Pier Arts Centre is a gem, as is the Stromness Museum. First is free, second very cheap.

In the north east I love the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, the Beamish, the Hacock (only the last of those is free).

Ali1cedowntherabbithole · 03/03/2019 16:22

I used to love Warwick Castle as a child.

Last went a couple of years ago. It has become an abomination since Merlin took over. The actual history has become a walk-on part and the major attractions are the themed exhibits. I guess it makes money though.

Which is what happens when museums don't have enough money.

melj1213 · 03/03/2019 16:28

I suppose it's the lack of exposure to museums I find shocking more than anything else. I grew up visiting museums regularly so it's so alien to imagine otherwise.

And I find it shocking that some people can't comprehend the idea that museums are not always conveniently accessible for regular "exposure" so they are seen as a treat/day out rather than a regular activity.

I live in a town in the Lake District, there are lots of little museums in the Lakes but almost none are free entry and pretty much all require you to have a car.

In our town there is one free museum and an EH site (£15 for a family pass). It is a working class town with very little to draw holiday makers so even the £15 for a family ticket can be beyond some families' reach (and most local schools take the kids to both sites as school trips so children often aren't that interested in going repeatedly).

To get to any other museums you need to be heading to Lancaster/Manchester or into the Lakes ... but that all costs money and generally relies on you having a car if you go to the Lakes as the buses/trains are dire.

If I wanted to take DD to Manchester to go to the free Museum of Science, as I don't have a car (we don't need one in our town as most things are walkable, we live on good bus routes to work/town and DDs school is round the corner) we would have to get the train, which would cost at least £30 return (If booked 12 weeks in advance to get the cheap fares) and be a 5hr round trip if all trains are running on time and that's before drinks/lunch/magazine for the train (DD is good but 2.5 hrs straight on a train is a long time to sit without some sort of distraction) etc.

So the "free" museum can still cost a minimum of £50 a trip, and as a single parent who works in a retail job, I just don't have the means for that every month, never mind every week.

SoyDora · 03/03/2019 16:29

We do go to museums, but round here we have to pay for them. Train tickets to our nearest big city with free museums are around £45 for the family. So I can see why people on a budget don’t go.
But why does it matter? People have different interests and spend their free time in different ways. I have a friend with 4 children, going to a museum isn’t something they would do. They spend all their free time outdoors, walking, climbing, cycling etc. That doesn’t make them uncultured philistines, they just enjoy different things.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 03/03/2019 16:30

The Football museum was free until quite recently: my boys used to go all the time. I think it still is if you live in Manchester.

Sadly Northern Ireland has got the shitty end of the stick in lots of ways. You have been shotrtchanged for years.

SoyDora · 03/03/2019 16:31

Did you come here and post this just to feel validated in your superiority OP? Because that's what it sounds like!

Agreed.

Jaxhog · 03/03/2019 16:36

What seems a great shame is that schools no longer seem to take students to museums and galleries. If kids went with a school trip, then this would bypass the parents not knowing about them, and maybe even encourage them to go as well.

SoyDora · 03/03/2019 16:38

A school trip to a museum would be fairly cost prohibitive round here, just the transport would cost a fortune.

notanothernam · 03/03/2019 16:41

Yes it is transport that is an issue here and also museums tend to put on specific educational sessions (round here at least where galleries are smaller) so there's a cost involved in that too.

spicygirl26 · 03/03/2019 16:44

I'm not particularly bothered by museums, but I have a very deep interest in history. I prefer to read and watch documentaries rather than stand around in a museum, queuing to see things and half of the time not getting anywhere near what I want to see.

BroomstickOfLove · 03/03/2019 16:56

I work for a cathedral that charges entry for sightseeing. Freeloading heathens who want to get in for free are absolutely welcome at services - I usually suggest evensong because it's atmospheric with good music. You don't get see as much of the architecture, but you get a free candlelit concert in a glorious building, so I think it's more or less as good.

JassyRadlett · 03/03/2019 17:13

I work for a cathedral that charges entry for sightseeing. Freeloading heathens who want to get in for free are absolutely welcome at services - I usually suggest evensong because it's atmospheric with good music. You don't get see as much of the architecture, but you get a free candlelit concert in a glorious building, so I think it's more or less as good.

One of my fondest memories is of visiting York Minster while the choir was rehearsing for evensong. I got the best of both worlds.

Services don’t tend to float my boat, for reasons best explained on the ‘why you are no longer religious’ thread running in parallel. But I appreciate the role of religion and these buildings in our history and culture, and I’m fortunate to be both willing and able to pay.

GoldenWonderwall · 03/03/2019 17:15

I was in the national gallery a few months ago, killing some time on a weekend trip to London and I was amazed as to how quiet it was. Only Sunflowers had a crowd. Compared to the Louvre where you queue for 20 mins to squint at the Mona Lisa it was a different world. I know it’s expensive to get into London but if you can bag a cheap ticket it’s well worth a day trip.

I’ve queued for an hour to see the dinos in the nhm but everytime we’ve been to the British library, British museum, national gallery and portrait gallery they’ve been fairly quiet or at least not heaving.

TalkinPaece · 03/03/2019 17:32

(((((((( The Pitt Rivers Museum )))))))

Uptheapplesandpears · 03/03/2019 17:38

All of which are things parents do on a daily basis anyway... unless you're on the absolute bones of your arse and most of us aren't. If you cannot feed or transport your child normally, I'd imagine sorting your finances and getting some benefits advice is probably more pressing than a museum trip anyway.

This is just wrong though.

I am not on a low income myself, nowhere near the bones of my arse, but I do not have to spend money on transport for my children every day because we walk to school. They also do a hobby that's within walking distance. This is not an unusual state of affairs. Walking to school is normal transport.

However, I do not live within walking distance of any museums and it would be minimum of a tenner on either public transport or petrol plus parking to get there. The reality is that there are people who live where I do who don't have that tenner, and thinking that there must be unclaimed benefits available to such people to assist them is very naïve (ex CAB benefits advice worker here!).

And it's all very well being dismissive of worries about getting through the gift shop and of refusing any persistent donation requests, but back in the real world, being afraid of this sort of situation is something that happens when people are in poverty, or feel intimidated. The shame of looking poor. It's a thing. You just look ignorant when you dismiss it.

OhTheRoses · 03/03/2019 17:38

Oh Pitt Rivers was fabulous. Esp the Curator's office! DD posted him a letter saying it was her dream job. Still is but Oxford turned her down!

JumpOrBePushed · 03/03/2019 17:39

What seems a great shame is that schools no longer seem to take students to museums and galleries.

Both my school age DC have been on school trips to museums (different museums) within the last year.
And last summer term, I saw several school trips (from different schools) going around a local museum next to one of DC3’s favourite parks.

School trips to museums aren’t extinct yet.

OhTheRoses · 03/03/2019 17:43

No I don't think the gift shop gig as described is the way it is uptheapples. Mine had 50p to spend and the proviso was "no tat; it's overpriced rubbish sold in woolies without the museum logo". DS happily announced that on lots of school trips and kept his money in his pocket.

It is wise to bring up your children to spend sensibly whether you are millionaires or paupers.