The Bayeux tapestry, on loan from France, has arrived in England for the first time since it was made and will be displayed at the British Museum until July 2027. Tickets for the exhibition, priced at £33, sold out within a day, with hopeful visitors facing nine-hour online queues. However, guests at One Aldwych, a five-star hotel in Covent Garden where rooms cost more than £1,000 a night, can secure tickets through a corporate partnership with the museum.
MP calls access 'outrageous'
Helena Dollimore, the MP for Hastings and Rye, said it was “outrageous” that those who could afford an expensive hotel room got free access to the exhibition while others had to scramble for tickets. Dollimore has been negotiating with the museum to get free access for children in her constituency, which she calls “1066 country”.
Hotel guests are told they can select any date and time during their stay to be prioritised for tickets, with “plenty of tickets” available, though there is a limit of one ticket per guest per stay.
Hotel package includes cocktail and breakfast
Guests who book the Bayeux experience also receive a themed cocktail and a full English breakfast. The hotel's website says: “Just a short stroll through Covent Garden and Bloomsbury brings you to the British Museum, our official partner for this landmark season. Here, one of the most anticipated cultural events of our lifetime unfolds: the Bayeux tapestry on view, a loan from France in a historic, once-in-a-generation agreement.”
Dollimore said: “It is outrageous that one of London’s most expensive hotels has been offered this access to the Bayeux tapestry. How can it be right that some are able to pay their way in while others have to scramble for a chance to see this piece of our heritage?”
Ticket releases and museum response
The first batch of tickets, for slots between September and December, is sold out. Two further releases will follow in October and January for the remainder of the tapestry’s stay in Britain, which runs until July 2027. The British Museum said it had its biggest ever day of ticket sales when the first slots were released this summer, with bookings bringing in more than £2.5m.
The tapestry has been on display at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy since 1983 and will return there when the museum reopens after renovation. French president Emmanuel Macron has faced a strong backlash for allowing the loan, with critics saying he ignored expert advice that the artefact was too fragile to transport.
A British Museum spokesperson said: “As a corporate partner, One Aldwych are entitled to a small quota of tickets to the exhibition and are able to offer these to their hotel guests at their discretion. The vast majority of tickets to see the Bayeux tapestry exhibition are for the public and the full exhibition run is not sold out … There are two further scheduled opportunities to buy tickets to see the exhibition from January to July next year and we will be announcing the dates when these will go on sale shortly. We also have special views assigned for schools to see the exhibition and all under-16s tickets are free when attending with an adult.” One Aldwych has been contacted for comment.
