Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum

Hello Linda, I am a member of the British Museum and was in the queue on June 16th as soon as the ticketing opened. But there were a lot of technical snafus and it took me about 8 hours to actually get tickets, even though I was initially "only" about 3500 in the original queue. By July 1st, when the ticketing opened for the public, BM had figured out their technical issues and although the lines were longer, the queue moved quickly and a lot of forum members reported that they had been able to get tickets. So I think your chances are quite high if you get in the queue as soon as the ticketing starts. And if you want to increase your chances even more, you may want to get the membership.

There will be another ticket drop in October, for January-March dates I think. Watch the forum for reports to see how that is going.

All the best!

Map Lady, thanks for that info! Do you recall what time of day it started?

Just in case you don';t manage to get tickets, Reading Museum has a full scale replica of the tapestry which was embroidered in 1885 by a group of Victorian needlewomen. They copied the original by following designs traced onto linen from photographs. Woollen yarns were dyed to match the originals as closely as possible, and the project was completed in little over a year.

It isn't the same as seeing teh original, but may be better than nothing? (It possibly won't be as busy either...)

Entry to the museum is free (although they do appreciate a donation).

Stopping at Reading is sounding very appealing.
I'm planning on getting a British museum membership to increase my chances of getting April tickets.

@ Linda - If I remember correctly, for the members the ticket sales started at 12:30 BST, which is 4:30am PST. And for the regular sales, start time was 10:30 BST but I am not sure about this.

If anyone is planning to get BM membership for access to the Bayeux Tapestry, make sure you have membership for as many adults as you want tickets for. I had a solo membership but I needed to add my husband as a member to get tickets for both of us.

MapLady just one child (13 years) and me, so one membership is enough?

The British Museum website says the following under their membership FAQ:
For children, each Membership cardholder can bring up to 4 children under 16 free of charge. These tickets are booked under the Child (age 4–15) option.

Good luck! I got a membership just for this, and managed to get two tickets on the first day.

Thank you! I had read that at some point but like to 2nd guess myself.

@pbcsd - Yes, you should be fine with that. All the best!