Every ticket to December has gone; the next release is 21 October. Canterbury's council wants the priority booking Hastings residents were given.
The Bayeux Tapestry goes on public display at the British Museum on Thursday 10 September, and Canterbury City Council says district residents are being left out of an offer their neighbours in Sussex already have.
Hastings and Rother residents were given priority booking because of the tapestry’s links to 1066 country. Canterbury got nothing, despite the museum’s own exhibition page saying the embroidery was worked from Canterbury drawings.
“We are asking for this anomaly to be put right as soon as possible,” the council said in a statement published on 4 September.
What the council is asking for
Council leader Cllr Alan Baldock made the case on storytelling and on the people who did the work.
“Without Hastings, there would be no tapestry to celebrate and the very same is true of our great city,” he said. “It’s always the workers, especially women, that are forgotten. In this case, it’s Canterbury’s embroiderers.”
He also called on the British Museum to extend the offer “otherwise it is one in the eye for them, just like it was for poor old Harold”. The council has not published a reply from the museum, and we have found no first-party response from the museum to the request.
The Canterbury claim is not just civic pride
Two official sources say the same thing.
- The British Museum’s own exhibition page describes the tapestry as “likely commissioned by a Norman patron and made by English embroiderers, using manuscript drawings from Canterbury” (British Museum).
- In the Commons on 25 February 2026, the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts, Ian Murray, told MPs that many areas claim links to the Norman conquest, “including those from where the Bayeux tapestry seems likely to have been made, Canterbury” (Hansard).
What Hastings actually got, and how
The Sussex arrangement came out of a Commons adjournment debate on 25 February, secured by Helena Dollimore, the MP for Hastings and Rye. She told the House she had asked the British Museum to reserve at least 1,066 tickets for local residents.
Replying for the government, Ian Murray said:
- he had been assured by the British Museum that schools in her area would receive priority booking, “reflecting the salience of the area to the events of 1066, and the huge local interest”
- the MP and the museum were working with Southeastern to offer at least 1,066 heavily reduced train tickets to London for schools in 1066 country
So the Hastings offer was won in Parliament, through the constituency MP, rather than granted by the museum on its own initiative. That is the route Canterbury’s council would have to follow.
What it means for you: getting a ticket
You cannot get in this year without a ticket you already hold. From the British Museum’s ticket information:
- tickets for 10 September to 31 December 2026 have sold out
- bookings for 1 January to 31 March 2027 open on 21 October 2026
- Members’ priority booking for that period opens on 6 October 2026
- school bookings for January to March 2027 open on 29 September 2026
- tickets for April to July 2027 go on sale in early 2027
- the run ends on 11 July 2027
There are limits worth knowing before 21 October. Bookings are capped at ten tickets, and the museum says multiple bookings from the same email address will be cancelled. Tickets can only be used by the person who booked them, and ID may be checked.
The prices
The museum runs three price bands. Super off-peak applies on term-time weekdays between 15.30 and 16.20.
| Ticket | Standard | Off-peak | Super off-peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | £33 | £27 | £25 |
| Students, 16 to 18, jobseekers | £25 | £25 | £25 |
| Disabled visitors | £25 | £25 | £25 |
| National Art Pass | £16.50 | £13.50 | £12.50 |
| Under 16s | Free, booked alongside an adult ticket, maximum four per adult | ||
An assistant accompanying a disabled visitor goes free but must be booked. The museum adds an optional £3.50 donation to adult tickets at every band. Members get two visits at no extra cost and 10 per cent off after that.
The exhibition is in Room 30, the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, and opens 10.00 to 18.00 Sunday to Wednesday and 10.00 to 21.00 Thursday to Saturday. From Canterbury West the high speed service reaches St Pancras in under an hour, which puts the museum within a comfortable day trip; our Canterbury train times to London page has the timings and the fares.
Sources
- Canterbury City Council: Council calls for Bayeux Tapestry priority booking for district residents, published 4 September 2026, for the council’s position and Cllr Baldock’s quotes.
- British Museum: The Bayeux Tapestry for the run dates, ticket release dates, booking rules, prices, opening hours and the description of the tapestry’s Canterbury drawings.
- Hansard, House of Commons, 25 February 2026: Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition for Helena Dollimore’s request, Ian Murray’s reply and the reference to Canterbury.
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