This curiously eclectic museum in the heart of London has long been closed on Sundays, but no longer.
Starting this month, the Sir John Soane’s Museum’s opening days have shifted, from Tuesday-Saturday to Wednesday-Sunday. In addition, the Museum will open on most bank holidays, bringing them in line with many other national museums.
The change is to deal with growing visitor numbers. Due to the cramped nature of the museum, which is inherently part of its charm, they have a limit of 85 people in the building at any one time.
Over the past year, they had more visitors than ever before, with over 120,000 visitors passing through the doors. There has also been a 12% increase over the past five years, with demand highest on Saturdays.
Switching to Sunday openings will help to spread weekend visitors across two days.
But there’s a downside – the monthly candlelit nights on Tuesday evenings have been suspended, but they hope to resume them next year, on a different day of the week.
The museum remains free to visit, and is now open Wed-Sun, 10am to 5pm (last entry at 4.30pm).
