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

[FelineFatale]

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?!

@FelineFatale do you live in London then? Are the people you're speaking of Londoners?

Um, the few round here charge entry. £15/16 for adults. But that’s still cheaper than getting the whole family into London to go to a free museum!

Not far from it @notanothernam and yes they live the same distance out thst I do

Tate art galleries free in UK. I've been to some equivalent galleries abroad, they were not free one European city entry was £25 each. I can think of a long haul non European city art gallery, it was free. I guess it depends on the funding

The Black Country museum costs £55 for a family ticket. The Birmingham museum of art is free. Birmingham museum currently has Leonardo Di Vinci exhibit on.

I’m not sure most museums are free, but some are around here.

Actually only London museums are free, most regional museums charge, and child oriented ones a lot (eg Birmingham as £40 when we went a few years back. Not everyone lives in London

It’s not that they don’t know, it’s just that it sounds like a plausible excuse.

You can not possibly know that.

Depends on where you live as to whether it’s true that ‘most’ museums are free.
Locally, there are some free museums and some you pay for. The free ones aren’t open all of the time so I could easily believe adults wouldn’t know about them at all, never mind if you pay or not.
I’m not surprised, I remember hearing about them being free but it went in one ear and out the other. Sometimes you get good ideas for trips from other parents and realise stuff that way.

I've been to the Birmingham Art Gallery and that's also free so it isn't just London

Liverpool museums are all free except special exhibitions. I remember when they stopped charging as we were pretty skint in those days. One of many valuable policies Labour put it place that helped children from low income families.

@FelineFatale "not far out" usually still brings a cost though, we lived in zone 6 and still a day out in a museum was a fair chunk in tube fares etc for us all. As someone who works in the sector, it's the kind of superiority complex you're demonstrating that can make museums feel like unwelcoming places to many people who aren't accustomed to going.

Most are free by me. We always took the kids. If there is a suggested donation at places, we happily ignore that and walk in as do many others.

i discovered that also the New York museums are free, the prices are just suggested donations. So i paid $5 each for the natural history museum there. And also yes, gone to science museum here in London for free (and pretty much always buy some expensive coffees and cakes)

Me and DH love going to London museums and visit quite a lot. We are always really grateful that they are free when we are on holiday abroad and the museums cost a fortune to get in

I know the big London museums are free, and maybe a couple in each major city. But equally, many other museums aren't free, and can be eyewatering expensive.

The London museums are free except for exhibitions and the cafes are extortionate.

They were much more pleasant when my dc were chidlers 20 years ago. I cd never quite understand the logic of all the tourists who had contributed nothing to our society in for free tbh.

The York museum has a quite significant entry fee although it entitles you to free visits for a year. Not much of a bonus if you live 200 miles away!

only London museums are free,

Nonsense. We went to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh last week. Free, but with an additional charge for a temporary exhibition. Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow (with the Da Vinci exhibition and Dippy the DInosaur), free. Riverside Museum in Glasgow, free. Scottish national portrait museum, free. Glasgow museum of modern art, free. Liverpool Maritime museum, free.

But yeah. Just London.

Most museums near me charge for entry, only a small number are free. London isn't the whole universe.

Lots of museums cost money
They mostly didn't for a while, and now a lot charge again
I don't know if that's to do with austerity? People donating less and no subsidies from overstretches council or government budgets meaning they have to charge entry or something?
I can't say my knowledge if that good of it, tbh
But seems like a lot of free things aren't now.

d) you're not factoring in the costs of transport, lunch etc.

That’s a good point - our family went to York Railway museum last year, it’s one that’s free to enter, and by the time we’d paid for parking, food, and several goes each on their miniature railway for the DC, we ended up paying out over £50. And we didn’t give them a suggested donation either.

It was a good family day out, but its certainly not the cheapest family day out we’ve ever had.

Are you talking about museums in London? Cos they're not free round these parts!

The reason is that the subsidies going into culture in London dwarf the rest of the country.

If the natural history museum or the British museum were near me, I'd be there every weekend.

Usually you pay for special exhibitions while the permanent collection is free in most museums & art galleries (though a donation is requested)

But yeah. Just London.

It's not that there are no free museums in the rest of the UK, it's that it's much harder to maintain and so most are not.

I live near the blue dot OP. The flags are free museums. Not everyone lives in London.