Reading Bayeux Tapestry Tours Sold Out Until June 2027

Every guided tour of Reading Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry is sold out until June 2027. The museum’s booking list, checked on Tuesday 3 November, showed 89 tour dates from now to the end of June. The first 79 were all marked sold out. The first date with places left is Tuesday 8 June 2027.

The rush follows the original tapestry’s arrival in London. The British Museum is showing it from 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027, and says every ticket up to 31 March 2027 has sold out.

The good news for anyone in Reading is that you do not need a tour to see the town’s own version. The gallery is free and you can walk in without booking.

The quick answer

• Guided tours: £15 a person, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2.30pm and Saturdays at 2pm. Sold out until 8 June 2027.
• The gallery: free, no booking needed, open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm. A £5 donation is suggested.
• When to go: term-time weekday mornings are busy with school groups, and the gallery can close for them. The museum says it is quieter after 2.30pm.
• Avoid: Saturday 21 November, the museum’s Christmas Market, and 25 December to 1 January, when the museum is shut.

What the tours sell

The museum runs a one-hour guided tour of the tapestry three times a week, led by its gallery team. It costs £15 a person and is open to all ages, the tour page says. Tours often run longer, so the museum asks people to allow up to 90 minutes.

Its Year of the Normans page lists the bookable dates. On 3 November it showed:

Groups should not use the online booking. The museum asks groups to phone its education team on 0118 937 3400, as it may arrange a separate tour.

Seeing it without a tour

The Reading tapestry is a full-size copy of the original, 70 metres long. It was made in 1885 by 35 Victorian embroiderers, according to the museum’s Bayeux Gallery page. The museum says it celebrates its own 140th anniversary this year.

Booking is not needed to visit the gallery outside tour times. There are a few catches, all set out on the museum’s opening times page:

• School groups use the galleries on term-time weekdays between 10am and 2.15pm, and the Bayeux gallery may be closed to other visitors while they are in.
• The museum publishes a calendar of the times the gallery is closed to the public, and says more closures can be added as bookings come in.
• The Year of the Normans page says the galleries are generally quieter after 2.30pm. The gallery page gives before 11am and after 3pm.
• Saturday 21 November is the Christmas Market, and the museum “strongly” advises picking another day for the tapestry.

The museum is closed on Sundays, Mondays and bank holidays. Over Christmas it opens on Christmas Eve, closes from Friday 25 December to Friday 1 January, and reopens on Saturday 2 January.

The museum’s own lift has been out of action since a fault. It says the Bayeux gallery can still be reached using the Town Hall lift. Our Reading Museum opening times page has the latest on the repair.

Talks still on sale

The museum is running three Bayeux talks with the British Museum’s Bayeux Around Britain programme. The first, on 24 October, has passed. Two are left, both in Victoria Hall at Reading Town Hall at 11am:

• Saturday 14 November 2026: Dr David Musgrove, co-author of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry, on how the tapestry has shaped what we know of the Norman Conquest. For adults and children aged 16 and over (booking page).
• Saturday 6 February 2027: Professor Anne Curry, emeritus professor of medieval history at the University of Southampton, on Henry V and the memory of William the Conqueror.

Each talk is £15.

Why 2026 and 2027

Reading Museum says 2026 and 2027 mark 1,000 years since the birth of William the Conqueror, celebrated as the European Year of the Normans. Reading has its own Norman story. William owned Reading, and his youngest son, Henry I, founded Reading Abbey in 1121 and was buried there in 1136, the museum says.

The museum also runs a 90-minute Abbey Quarter walking tour every Saturday at 11am, taking in the Abbey Ruins and the Abbey Gateway, where Jane Austen went to school. Details are on our museum opening times page.

What it means for you

• If you want a guided tour, the earliest is 8 June 2027. Book now if you want one in June.
• If you just want to see the tapestry, go on a Saturday or a weekday afternoon, check the museum’s closure calendar first, and skip 21 November.
• If you missed out on the British Museum, its April to July 2027 tickets go on sale in early 2027, it says. Reading’s copy is free, in the town centre and open now.