Reading Museum is free, open Tuesday to Saturday, and shut between Christmas and New Year. Bayeux Tapestry tours, Abbey Ruins hours and December family trails.
Reading Museum is open Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm, and admission is free. It is closed on Sundays, Mondays and bank holidays, and between Christmas and New Year. The Abbey Ruins next door are open daily from dawn to dusk, also free.
The quick answer
- Open Tuesday to Saturday, free entry. A £5 donation is suggested. Open on the Monday of October half term too, 26 October.
- Closed between Christmas and New Year. Last year the museum shut from 25 December to 1 January inclusive; 2026 hours are still to come.
- Bayeux Tapestry tours run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, £12, and sell out quickly.
Hours are from the museum’s opening times page and its Sep to Dec 2026 What’s On guide, which says to check the website for Christmas and New Year hours.
Opening times this winter
| Site | Hours | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Museum, Blagrave Street | Tue to Fri 10am to 4pm; Sat 10am to 5pm. Closed Sun, Mon, bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. Open Mondays in October and February half terms | Free; £5 donation suggested |
| Abbey Ruins | Daily, dawn to dusk. Closed for occasional ticketed events and private hire | Free |
| Riverside Museum | Closed October to March. Open daily 10am to 6pm, April to September | Free |
Christmas and New Year
Reading Museum says it closes “between Christmas and New Year”. Last year the council gave the detail in its Christmas opening hours notice: the museum and the Pantry Café were closed from 25 December to 1 January inclusive, reopened on 2 and 3 January, and then shut again until 20 January for electrical works in the Town Hall. The 2026 dates have not been published.
The Bayeux Tapestry
The museum’s full-size copy of the Bayeux Tapestry is 140 years old in 2026, and the museum is marking a “Year of the Normans” in 2026 and 2027. The gallery is usually open during museum hours, but it closes to general visitors at times for school groups and tours, most often on term-time weekdays between 10am and 2.15pm. The museum publishes a calendar of gallery closures and says the galleries are generally quieter after 2.30pm.
- Guided tours: every Tuesday and Thursday at 2.30pm and Saturday at 2pm, £12 a person. The museum says to allow up to 90 minutes and to book early (Bayeux Tapestry Tours).
- Bayeux talk: Dr David Musgrove, co-author of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry, on Saturday 14 November at 11am. £15, adults.
- Access: the museum lift is out of service after a serious fault. The Bayeux gallery can still be reached using the Town Hall lift, but the second floor cannot (disruptions and closures, updated 7 September 2026).
Abbey Quarter tours
The Reading Abbey Quarter Tour runs every Saturday at 11am from the museum’s main reception. It lasts 90 minutes, visits the Abbey Ruins, the Hospitium and the Abbey Gateway, where Jane Austen went to school, and includes 30 steep steps up to the schoolroom with no step-free access (Reading Museum).
Family events, November and December
From the museum’s What’s On guide:
- Illuminate Trail, November and December, £1.50 a trail.
- The Forgetful Elf and the Mystery of the Missing Christmas Pudding Trail, throughout December, £1.50.
- Christmas Activity Pack, throughout December, £2.50. Activity Cart all December, donations welcome.
- Festive Rhymetime, every Wednesday in December, 10.30am to 11am, free, drop in, maximum 35 children.
- Christmas Market at Reading Museum and Town Hall, Saturday 21 November, 10.30am to 4.30pm, free entry. More on our Reading Christmas market page.
The exhibition Road to Glory: Reading Football Club 100 Years On, on the club’s 1926/27 FA Cup run, runs until Saturday 5 December. October half term events at the museum are on our Reading October half term page.
Still to confirm
- The museum’s exact Christmas and New Year closure dates for 2026/27. Last year’s council notice was online by 23 December; we will check from the start of December.
- When the lift is repaired.
Getting there: parking in Reading, and for trains over Christmas, Reading Christmas trains and travel.
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