Heritage Denied: Ticket Pricing
Today it was announced that the Palace of Westminster would not, after all, be making an entry charge to the Clock Tower to visit Big Ben. Not until 2015, in any case. The House of Commons Commission seemingly backed down after protests from a group of MPs. The suggested ticket price was £15. Yes one-five pounds.
Instead of coming up with a sensible and fair price, the default position was immediately to fleece the punter. Why? Because they can, and there’s plenty of precedent. The Monument – a not dissimilar experience, I would suggest – charges a sensible £3, and I look forward to going up there soon. Most boutique museums and “lesser” historic sites tend to charge £5 – 7. Fair enough. My nearest, the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, charges £10. A tad pricy, perhaps, but your ticket does at least last for 12 months. I wish more museums would do this.
Sites which were once free but have recently introduced entry charges are the Temple Church (£3, I think, info not available on their web site) and Flamsteed House at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (£7). Not too bad, on the face of it, but again, once the charging principle has been established, price inflation is much easier to implement: the thin end of the wedge.
Remember Kew Gardens. It famously used to cost a penny to get in. When I first visited in the early 80s this had gone up to a few shillings, I can’t remember the exact amount. Today it costs a whopping £13.90. Other entry prices I find quite frankly shocking, include: Tower of London, £20.90; Hampton Court Palace, £16.95; St Paul’s, £14.50; Westminster Abbey, £16.00.
Now, I am a believer in the free market and the idea that you can price anything at what the market will bear, supply and demand and all that. But there are punters out there who will, for example, stump up £150 or more from a tout for a ticket to see, I dunno, let’s say U2 or Blur. Doesn’t make it right. No, my problem is that residents of this country, and Londoners in particular, are being priced out of big swathes of their heritage. And I include myself in this, incidentally. I strongly believe there should be a two-tier pricing system to take this into account.
Thankfully, many of our biggest museums and galleries are still free, and I congratulate them and the government for maintaining this situation. Long may it continue. My favourites are the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
What do you think about ticket pricing in our museums and heritage attractions? Do you know of other examples of charging being introduced?
*Prices cited here are from the relevant web sites of attractions themselves at time of writing.
The situation could go either way in my mind. On the one hand, you need financing to maintain, promote, and staff historical and significant sites. On the other hand, you want art, history and culture to be accessible to everyone in society. A minimal fee of £1 or £2 coupled with donations and a few other creative ideas may help in that regard.
interesting post.
Absolutely understand the imperative to keep these places maintained and well-run, not only that but many of them have archive and research stuff to keep going too. But, as you say, accessible is the key word. If I’m being priced out – and I am – then many others must be too. A balance must be struck, and in certain cases I’ve cited (there are probably more), I don’t think that is the case. This piece is a bit of a moan, I know, so I’d like to make clear that overall, I believe we “do heritage” remarkably well in this country.
One of the most over-priced attractions makes a huge, and very welcome, concession for local people:
“Residents of Tower Hamlets can visit the Tower of London for just £1”
Now you mention, I think I heard that too. Nice to know. Now if they could just extend that to residents of London Borough of Hounslow… 🙂
I always compare entry prices to cinema pricing. So, while Kew, London Zoo and the Tower are more expensive, all three do provide a whole days entertainment. And are unique.
I went to the Royal Observatory just before they started charging, and even though I looked at everything I was out within an hour. It’s mostly videos and interaction now, which the Internet does perfectly well. would’ve felt a little cheated if I paid.
I commute into London so regularly use the great 2 for 1 offers to attractions for train users. I also dislike the optional donations that many places automatically add to entry prices. Just put it on the main charge please.
If charging is introduced I’d prefer seasonal charging. Pay in Summer when the international tourists tend to visit, free out of season. That would avoid having to establish the nationality (actually the more complicated status of taxpayer).
A lot of my favourite museums and galleries are still free but all have collecting boxes and many attach to these a “suggested donation” amount. This is a clue, I think to the problem: these places need money in order to keep going. As long as we visitors donate freely, they can offer free admission, but if we don’t then admission charges are an alternative. If these dissuade many people from coming then, inevitably this pushes up the prices for those who do. The money has to be found from somewhere.
12-month tickets are indeed a good idea… but only if the museum is local to you. It doesn’t help if it’s at the other end of the country and you only visit it once during the year while on holiday. We have 12-month tickets for museums all over the country but hardly ever manage to get back to them.
What does help on a national scale is the National ArtPass card. Bearers of these cards can gain admission to many museums and galleries at reduced cost or even free. Believe me, we make very good use of ours.
We have Art Fund cards too, and like you get way more than our money’s worth from them. One of my difficulties is that I already subscribe to at least half a dozen other Friends and societies, but you cannot belong to them all, financially untenable. English Heritage and National Trust notable examples in my case.