An entrance fee will be introduced at the Museum of Oxford from January 2026, ending five decades of free admission to the local history museum.
Visitors will be charged £4 for standard admission and £2 for those who are eligible for a concession ticket, with students qualifying for the reduced rate. Free access will also be retained by children under the age of five, those receiving benefits, council employees, and Oxfordshire school-trip parties.
Annually, the number of visitors to the museum has dropped substantially from 74,000 in 2021 to 55,000 in 2024. This drop resulted in a £77,000 shortfall for the city council in the past year. The council currently subsidises the museum by almost £250,000 annually, but have agreed to reduce this to £152,000.
Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Culture, said: “The Museum of Oxford has been very successful at the work it has done, as a place where the culture and history of this city’s people can be celebrated. However, we must not forget that the creation of its museum in its current format… was with an aspiration that it could be self-sustaining financially, and that has never been achieved.”
The proposal faced significant opposition, with more than 650 people signing a petition to keep the museum free. Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran also firmly opposed the plans.
Marta Lomza, former community engagement officer at the museum, criticised the decision at Wednesday’s council meeting. She said the proposal showed “an attitude to Oxford’s residents which can only be described as contemptuous” and included “little to no evidence, poor understanding of financial modelling, editorial errors and simply bad maths”.
A council spokesperson told Cherwell: “The charge is being used to raise funds to reduce the current subsidy that the Council gives to the Museum, from almost £250k a year to the agreed subsidy in the Council’s budget of £152k a year. This overspend by the Museum is taking away money from other potential Council services.”
The museum marks its 50th anniversary this year, and houses a large number of significant Oxford artefacts. These include a Red Cross medal that belonged to Alice Liddell, who is believed to have inspired Lewis Carroll to write the Alice in Wonderland novels, as well as St Frideswide’s grave slab. The Museum of Oxford underwent a £2.8 million refurbishment in 2021, tripling the size of its exhibition space.
Despite the controversy, the museum recently received news that they will receive a £227,952 award from the government’s Museum Renewal Fund to support ongoing operations and marketing.
Councillor Alex Hollingsworth further said the museum received only £5,000 in voluntary donations last year, far short of the quarter of a million pounds needed to run the facility. The charge will be permanent but subject to future review based on visitor numbers and income.
