Bayeux tapestry ticket rush draws young buyers and rivals film openings

The Bayeux tapestry is attracting an audience with a strong contingent of younger buyers, as demand for the British Museum exhibition prompts comparisons with major entertainment events. Spending by Monzo customers surged when a second batch of tickets went on sale last Wednesday, with 55% of buyers in the opening hour aged under 35.

Payments to the museum from the bank’s cardholders totalled £14,100 during that first hour, 48 times the amount recorded on a typical Wednesday morning. The figures come from spending data covering Monzo’s 16 million customers and offer a measure of the excitement surrounding the roughly 1,000-year-old embroidery.

That first-hour total was about twice the spending recorded on the opening mornings for two of this year’s major films. Monzo customers spent £7,000 on the critically acclaimed The Odyssey and £6,300 on the box office success Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The exhibition’s higher admission prices and more restricted ticket supply are important factors in interpreting the comparison.

Standard adult admission to the tapestry costs £33 at peak times and £27 off-peak, significantly more than an average cinema ticket. Buyers spent an average of £97 per checkout during the exhibition ticket release, compared with £19 on Spider-Man’s opening morning. Within two hours of the museum tickets becoming available, spending by Monzo customers had reached £30,500.

Interest extended well beyond the capital. Almost half of buyers were based outside London, with the most distant purchases coming from Glasgow. The exhibition offers an opportunity to see the tapestry in England for the first time since it was taken to France in the 11th century.

Thousands of people entered an online queue when sales opened at 10am on Wednesday. The available tickets were exhausted within three hours, considerably faster than the first release, which took 24 hours to sell out. The rush has invited comparisons with demand for Glastonbury festival and the Oasis reunion tour.

The British Museum described the response since the exhibition opened last month as “extraordinary”. It has changed arrangements to tackle lengthy queues for people holding tickets, including introducing a ban on visitors taking photographs.

Reviews have praised the exhibition’s careful presentation of the tapestry’s account of the Norman Conquest. Its technical achievement, storytelling and historical significance have all drawn acclaim, adding to the attention surrounding its display.