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Government announces all national museums in UK will remain FREE for everyone to visit

They first became free back in 2001.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 30th September 2026

Dozens of national museums across the UK are set to remain free for everyone to visit, it has been confirmed.

And that includes several in Greater Manchester.

Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the 14 national museums of the UK are all located in England – including the Imperial War Museum North, and the Science and Industry Museum in our region – and free entry to was first introduced all the way back in 2001, with millions of visitors having benefitted since.

National museums are said to add more than £1 billion a year to the economy, and bring in visitors from all over the world.

In fact, seven of the UK’s 10 most visited museums are national museums, and 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum and 6.4 million visited the British Museum in 2025 alone.

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The Government has announced that all national museums in the UK will remain free for everyone to visit / Credit: Science Museum Group | Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this year though, the Government committed to working with local leaders and the museum and tourism sectors to explore whether charging overseas visitors could help museums’ finances.

But following this, it’s now believed that charging could deter visitors, and that the impacts and benefits would ‘not be felt equally’ across the sector.

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Instead, the free entry will be funded by the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund – which is providing £760 million for museums – while £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting national museums and DCMS-sponsored cultural organisations.

The latter funding will be used to address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable institutions to deliver on their commitments to share collections with visitors from around the world.

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A further £160 million is coming from The Museum Estates and Development Fund to help museums tackle maintenance backlogs.

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On top of that, the Government will work with Arts Council to develop a long-term strategic plan for the future of museums. 

Featured Image – Science Museum Group

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Man City release statement after being found guilty of all charges related to Premier League’s financial rules

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Man City freeze season ticket prices and scrap seat transfer policy

Manchester City has finally broken its silence after being found guilty all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules.

Yesterday, the Premier League released a formal statement confirming that an independent Commission had found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period.

On top of that, the club was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.

According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the nine-season period – which were part of a disguised funding scheme, with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.

The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.

The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.

Following this report being published yesterday, Manchester City has now finally released a statement of its own, breaking its silence on the topic for the first time since the news broke last Friday.

The statement reads in full: “Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today.

“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case. The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums. 

“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe. 

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“The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.  

“The Club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete.”

Featured Image – The Manc Group

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Scheme approved and date set for work to begin on Piccadilly Gardens transformation

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant New images released of Piccadilly Gardens as transformation plans take a big step forward

The long-awaited Piccadilly Gardens transformation is a go.

It’s official – planners have given the green light for the scheme to transform Piccadilly Gardens, with Manchester City Council having received no objections to the proposals which meant that officials were able to approve the full planning application without it needing to be considered at next month’s Planning Committee.

The decision means that preparation works can continue at pace, ready for the main works due to get underway this autumn.

In case you aren’t up to date with the Piccadilly Gardens transformation plans, the idea is, in a nutshell, to put the ‘Gardens’ back in Piccadilly Gardens.

But what exactly does this mean?

Well, the approved plans show a vision for more green space – including lawns, trees, planting, seating, and colourful horticultural displays – with the temperamental fountains being removed for good and replaced with a new space called The Pavilion that will host family-friendly events.

The new-look play area at Piccadilly Gardens
Plans for the new Piccadilly Gardens from above
Date set for work to begin on Piccadilly Gardens transformation / Credit: Supplied

The low concrete walls and raised planters at the edge of the gardens will be ripped out, improving the setting of the Queen Victoria statue.

An there’ll be a new, larger playground for younger children, created in the same high-quality style as the new parks at Mayfield Park and Ancoats Green.

The plan is to also make the space ‘safer’ overall, through improved sightlines, better lighting, and enhanced CCTV.

The Council and its partners say they are ‘clear’ that delivering a ‘better’ Piccadilly Gardens cannot just be about physical improvements, but it also requires improvements to how the area is managed and maintained.

This process is said to have already started, primarily with a strengthened police presence, but a new management model is also being developed to ensure that improvements are sustained.

“Securing planning permission means that before this year is out, we can get started properly on work to transform the space and have it finished and ready for the public to use next year,” explained Councillor Garry Bridges, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.

“Piccadilly Gardens has huge potential to be a real asset to the city and its people. We know it hasn’t been good enough – but that’s about to change.”

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Work is set to begin in November, with further dates and timelines announced in due course.

Featured Image – Supplied

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