Oxford residents get into the Museum of Oxford free from 4 January, instead of paying £4. Cabinet approved the pilot on 21 October; Art Pass holders will pay £2.
Oxford residents will be able to visit the Museum of Oxford free of charge from Monday 4 January 2027, a year after the museum started charging. The city council’s Cabinet approved the plan on Wednesday 21 October. Visitors from outside the city will carry on paying.
Updated 26 October: Cabinet approved the free entry pilot and the rest of the business plan on 21 October, according to the council’s notice of decisions. The decision takes effect on 27 October unless it is called in; none had been by this morning.
What Cabinet agreed
Cabinet resolved to:
- run free entry for Oxford city residents as a pilot from 4 January to 31 March 2027, on proof of residency, paid for from the council’s risk reserve
- keep it free for residents from 1 April 2027 “in principle”, but only if the money is approved in the council’s 2027/28 budget
- launch a Friends, Patrons and Corporate Sponsorship scheme in November
- relaunch the museum’s Adopt an Object scheme
- end free entry for Art Pass holders, who will pay a £2 concession instead
The museum’s admission page had not changed by 26 October, and it does not yet say what will count as proof of residency.
The background
The plan was set out in an updated business plan for the museum, published with the agenda for the council’s Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 13 October. The council announced it on Friday.
What it costs to get in now
The museum began charging on 26 January 2026. Its admission page lists:
| Who | Price |
|---|---|
| Adults (18 and over) | £4 |
| Children aged 5 to 17 | £2 |
| Students and Blue Light card holders | £2 |
| Under 5s | Free |
| Carers with a disabled visitor | Free |
Free annual passes are already available to people who are registered blind or disabled, foster carers, asylum seekers and refugees, people in homeless pathway accommodation, and people on benefits including Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit, Pension Credit and Carer’s Allowance. You register in person at the museum with proof of eligibility.
Why the council is changing course
The council’s own figures show what charging did. From 1 April to 31 August the museum took £21,056 in ticket income from 8,253 visitors. It expects about £48,000 over the full year.
But donations almost disappeared. Visitors gave about £4,986 in 2025/26. Between April and August this year they gave about £265.
Staff also kept a log of people who turned away at the door. Between 8 July and 10 September they recorded 236 conversations:
- 192 people chose not to go in
- 34 said they would come back another time
- 4 bought a ticket after talking to staff
The most common reason, the report says, was that people expected the museum to still be free. One Oxford visitor in the feedback log told staff: “we pay enough Council tax already”.
Most of the people who turned away were not local. Of the 236 conversations, 41 per cent were with international visitors and 10 per cent with Oxfordshire residents. The rest were from elsewhere in the UK or not recorded.
Who visits
The museum’s postcode data shows about 22 per cent of visitors come from OX1 to OX4, the postcodes the report uses for the city. Another 16 per cent come from the rest of Oxfordshire, and 62 per cent from outside the county.
That is why the council chose to make it free for city residents only. Letting every Oxfordshire resident in free would cost about £18,230 a year in lost tickets. Limiting it to the city cuts that to about £10,550.
Officers looked at cheaper versions: free entry for residents only in school holidays, only on Saturdays, or only on Wednesdays. They recommended free entry all year as simpler to explain and fairer to people who cannot visit on a set day.
The money behind it
The museum is run by the city council inside Oxford Town Hall. It has a council budget of £171,125 this year. It reopened in 2021 after a £2.8 million redevelopment.
Even before the free-entry plan, the report forecasts the museum will end 2026/27 about £57,000 over budget. The new fundraising schemes would bring that down only to about £54,500 this year. With residents getting in free, the gap in 2027/28 is put at £59,500, which the council will have to weigh when it sets next year’s budget.
The museum has also applied to Arts Council England’s Museum Transformation Programme. A decision is expected on 27 November.
Councillor Susan Brown, the council leader, said in the release: “We also wanted to make the Museum free for local Oxford residents as soon as we were able to do so. We think this business plan balances these two objectives.”
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. Until January, adults pay £4 and children £2, unless they hold a free annual pass.
- Free days for everyone stay. The remaining 2026 dates on the museum’s site are Wednesday 28 October, in half term, Saturday 14 November and Wednesday 23 December. Those 12 free days a year accounted for 19 per cent of visits between April and August.
- The free entry pilot starts on 4 January. Whether it lasts beyond 31 March depends on the council’s 2027/28 budget.
- Art Pass holders will start paying £2.
The museum is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and closed on Sundays. For more to do this autumn, see our October half term in Oxford and things to do in Oxford.
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