London’s museum scene is in a slump. The number of visitors to the Tate Modern and National Gallery in 2025 was down 26 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, from 2019. In the last three months of 2025, visits to state-funded museums in England – all of them free since 2001 – fell more than 8 per cent from 2019.
Museums themselves cite varying reasons, including a decline in international travellers, despite tourism bouncing back after the Covid-19 pandemic, and fewer visitors in their teens and 20s arriving from the European Union after Brexit.
