Thanks to culture-dodging Britons, our heritage could be sold to the highest bidder

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29-04-2025

At Hays Galleria in London Bridge, a group of tourists queues next to a rank of red telephone boxes. The Sheffield natives are not here to celebrate this classic of British civic design, but rather to snap a coveted shot of themselves for Instagram, giving the thumbs up beside the London icons.
Hays Galleria, a Grade II-listed former Victorian warehouse, is now a firm fixture on the list of London's 'most Instagrammable' spots, a roster which includes favourites like Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey, but also more obscure locations such as the ruins of St Dunstan-in-the-East and Kynance Mews, a cobbled street in Kensington known for its wisteria.
Are these social media-obsessed tourists a threat to Britain's age-old cultural institutions? That's the claim of some, as falling visitor numbers at British museums and galleries prompt a sell-off of Britain's historic jewels.
The latest victim is Rydal Mount. Last month Chris Wordsworth and Simon Bennie, descendants of the poet William Wordsworth, announced that they had taken the decision to sell the Lake District property, Wordsworth's final home and a museum of his life, because costs had become 'prohibitive' amid a fall in visitor numbers.
Chris Wordsworth told The Telegraph: 'William Wordsworth lived in the house for 37 years, but this generation of Wordsworths has been here for 55 years. The house contains not only the history of our famous forebear but also memories of family Christmases, games at New Year and long summer evenings in the garden.'
It follows English Heritage's January 30 announcement of 200 redundancies across its 400-plus historic sites, as well as extended winter closures, due to the rising costs and reduced footfall. In another shock announcement this month, The Tate has said it is 'in discussions' with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about its financial position, having lost 2.2 million visitors from its galleries in the past five years. Tate trustees acknowledged 'uncertainty' over its 'ability to remain a going concern'.
Other prominent sell-offs include Appleby Castle and The Norman Centre in Yorkshire, which played a central role in the War of the Roses and boasts one of the few remaining intact Norman keeps – but was listed for private sale in March for £7.25m, and Ripley Castle, a fellow Dales cultural jewel, which was listed for £21 million in the same month despite being in the Ingilby family for 700 years. Up to March, Ripley offered tours of the castle and its gardens from £10.50 per adult. Three-hour visits to its gardens remain on the castle's website, pending a sale.
For cultural hotspots that rely on visitors to keep the lights on, the numbers are stark. In the Government's figures, visits to national museums and galleries in the UK are significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels, with 35.1 million visits in 2022/23, 14 million fewer than in 2018/19, or a decrease of 27.4 per cent.
The fall will be partly down to the rising cost of living. ​As of 2023, around 36 per cent of UK museums offered free admission, while the remaining 64 per cent charged in some form, either for entry, specific exhibitions, or both. There has also been significant year-on-year inflation in the ticket prices of institutions that charge. Kew Gardens costs £24 for an adult, compared to £13.90 in 2010, for example.
One could be forgiven for presuming older Britons keep cultural attractions afloat, but it's adults aged 25-44 who traditionally keep museums in the black, with those aged 75 and older being less likely to visit. A 2019/20 study found that 54-55 per cent of adults aged 25-74 had visited a museum or gallery that year, compared to 45 per cent of those aged 16-24, and 36 per cent of those aged 75 or above. International tourists, meanwhile, are twice as likely as domestic tourists to visit UK museums and galleries during their trip.
But as well as money worries, changing cultural habits are at play. Relationship coach Kate Mansfield, 50, and from London, is an avid traveller and gallery-goer and regularly heads off on trips with her Gen Z son Jake Summers, who is 22 and works in cruise industry planning.
'My attitude to galleries is very different to Jake's,' Mansfield said. 'When I travel, I tend to pop in and see an exhibition wherever I go but Jake needs his arm twisting: it needs to be something quite special for him [to join].'
Jake's preference when travelling is for 'visual' and 'attention-grabbing' experiences, he said, such as pop-up restaurants and street-art events. 'My generation has a short attention span,' he explained.
'We're used to swiping past anything that doesn't grab our attention. We also consume things to then broadcast to our friends online, so they have to seem cool.'
Jake rates contemporary art museum Moco, which has branches in Amsterdam, London and Barcelona and focuses on digital and immersive art, and has tie-ins with brands including Netflix, Budweiser and Uniqlo.
This is a picture corroborated by Eloise Skinner, 33, a psychologist and content creator who has been commissioned by institutions including the Royal Academy of Arts, Bayswater 'immersive art experience' Frameless, and Moco, to attract youth via social media.
'Gen Zs feel they can experience art online and with so much competition for their attention, galleries need to provide a real reason to attend in person, with immersive and sensory experiences.' In short, she adds: 'Anything you can't experience on your phone'. Price, Skinner says, is also a barrier: 'Under-25s schemes can be good, with cut-price or free entrance for young people.'
Whether it's rising costs, competition for eyeballs or cultural bankruptcy that spells trouble for museums and galleries, there are calls for emergency measures for the sector. Tristram Hunt, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has argued for a hotel tax for overseas tourists that would be ring fenced to support cultural institutions, as pressure grows on the Government to allow mayor of London Sadiq Khan to road test such a levy in the capital.
Paulomi Debnath, 45, is a culture-loving entrepreneur with a culture-dodging husband, Avik Biswas, also 45 and a hotel manager. The couple have an arrangement that Paulomi is allowed one gallery or museum during couples' getaways. 'He is not a fan,' she says with a laugh.
Despite this, Paulomi believes there's plenty to be said for the social media travel culture that focusses on original and visual experiences too: 'Beautiful places, new food markets, natural wonders, long drives and sunsets can all be lovely,' she points out.
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