Museum of Oxford scraps entry fees for local residents

Summarised from BBC Oxford's report · Updated 26 Oct, 06:38 · Archive

The Museum of Oxford has restored free entry for city residents after a sharp drop in visitor numbers since introducing a £4 charge in January.

The Museum of Oxford has scrapped its £4 entry fee for city residents, restoring free admission after a reported dramatic fall in visitor numbers. Oxford City Council introduced the charge in January to address a budget gap, but campaign group Save Our Museum said footfall had fallen by 70–80% compared with the previous year. Council leader Susan Brown acknowledged the council had 'always regretted having to introduce charges for local residents'.

Free entry for Oxford residents will run as a pilot scheme from 4 January until the end of March, after which the council will decide whether to make it permanent. The budget gap remains, but the council's finance chief Ed Turner said 'we've listened and we've seen what we can do'. Avril Alexander from Save Our Museum welcomed the reversal, saying the council had 'made a massive mistake in introducing entry fees to a small local museum in a city full of world-renowned free ones'.

Read the report

• Museum fees partly axed after drop in footfallCity residents will no longer have to pay the £4 entry fee to the Museum of Oxford.BBC Oxford · 26 Oct, 06:18

In this story: Museum of Oxford · Oxford City Council · Oxford · Save Our Museum · Susan Brown · Avril Alexander

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