Bayeux tapestry becomes pop culture hit as young people more keen to see exhibition than top films
Monzo says 55% of cardholders’ British Museum payments in first hour of latest ticket release were by people under 35 A 1,000-year-old embroidery may be an unusual candidate for a
By The Guardian
Young people have shown strong demand for tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry, with Monzo data suggesting the exhibition is competing with major Hollywood releases for attention.
During the first hour of the British Museum’s latest ticket release on Wednesday, Monzo cardholders spent £14,100 on tickets. That was 48 times the amount recorded during a normal Wednesday morning, according to the bank.
People aged under 35 accounted for 55% of those purchases.
The spending was also higher than the opening-morning figures recorded for two recent films. Monzo customers spent £7,000 on tickets for The Odyssey and £6,300 on Spider-Man: Brand New Day during their respective releases.
Average spending per customer was £97 for the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, compared with £19 for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The British Museum put the second tranche of exhibition tickets on sale at 10am on Wednesday, covering visits between 1 January and 31 March 2027. Thousands of people joined an online queue, with some waiting more than an hour to secure tickets.
The museum said 80,000 people had joined the queue during the first ticket release earlier in the year. That sale generated £2.5 million in one day, described by the museum as a record.
The exhibition opened in September and features the medieval embroidery on loan from France. The tapestry is due to remain at the British Museum until 11 July 2027.
A final ticket release is expected early next year.