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Reciprocal Free Admission Information

The NMDC reciprocal free admission scheme enables all staff at NMDC member organisations to enjoy free entry to all other members’ paid sites and exhibitions. If you have any queries about the scheme, or to update the details for your organisation, please contact [email protected]

Terms:

Free admission applies for general admission entrance charges (where applicable) and entrance to exhibitions for which a charge is levied.

Free admission applies to any individual member of staff (including volunteers) in possession of a valid staff pass from an NMDC member organisation or, for organisations without staff passes, a letter on headed paper from their organisation. It is valid for the member of staff only.

On arrival, go to the information desk or visitor services reception with your ID. 

Free admission may not apply during the last two weeks of popular exhibitions, during evening opening hours, and in exceptional circumstances. Timed tickets may be necessary at busy periods and/or may need to be booked in advance.

This list does not include bilateral arrangements between any organisation listed and non-NMDC institutions, including ICOM, the Museums Association and any other membership organisations.

It is your responsibility to contact the information desk of the relevant organisation before visiting to confirm you will be admitted.

Sites included in the reciprocal free admission scheme:

Beamish

  • Beamish Living Museum of the North

Birmingham Museums Trust

  • Aston Hall
  • Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
  • Blakesley Hall
  • Museum Collections Centre
  • Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
  • Sarehole Mill
  • Soho House
  • Thinktank
  • Weoley Castle

Black Country Living Museum

  • Black Country Living Museum

Valid for standard museum entry only, excluding events where the Museum Unchained Pass is not valid. When pre-booking online use the 'other'  ticket option.

Bristol City Council

  • Bristol Archives
  • Blaise Castle House Museum
  • Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
  • Kings Weston Roman Villa
  • M Shed
  • The Georgian House Museum
  • The Red Lodge Museum

British Library

  • British Library (covers temporary exhibitions only, not reader's passes.)

Subject to availability, on the day tickets for temporary exhibitions can be requested by visiting the Library’s onsite Box Office. Excludes the final two weeks of an exhibition run.

British Museum

  • British Museum

Free exhibition tickets are available on Tuesdays, from 10am to 5pm, bookable in advance online, and on all days (including Friday late nights) available in person onsite but subject to availability. Book Tuesday online tickets via the website www.britishmuseum.org and select ICOM, ICOMOS, MA agreed reciprocals (incl. NMDC) as the ticket type. ID will be required along with your digital ticket for checks on site.

Tullie, Carlisle

  • Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museums

  • The Museum and Art Gallery, Derby
  • Museum of Making
  • Pickford’s House

Glasgow Life Museums

  • The Burrell Collection
  • Gallery of Modern Art
  • Glasgow Museums Resource Centre
  • Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
  • Open Museum
  • People’s Palace and Winter Gardens
  • Pollok House
  • Provand’s Lordship
  • Riverside Museum
  • Scotland Street School Museum
  • St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art

Discovering Degas Exhibition, The Burrell Collection - Free entry May 24th - September 30th

Reciprocal tickets can be obtained FOH at the ticket desks for the day of visit subject to availability. Valid proof of reciprocal employment should be presented to redeem entry.

Horniman Museum & Gardens

  • Horniman Museum and Gardens

Humber Museums Partnership

  • Artic Corsair
  • Beverley Art Gallery
  • Beverley Guildhall
  • Ferens Art Gallery
  • Goole Museum
  • Guildhall, Hull
  • Hands on History Museum
  • Hull and East Riding Museum
  • Hull History Centre
  • Hull Maritime Museum
  • Normanby Hall Country Park
  • North Lincolnshire Museum
  • Sewerby Hall and Gardens
  • Skidby Windmill
  • Spurn Lightship
  • Streetlife Museum
  • Treasure House
  • Wilberforce House Museum

Imperial War Museums

  • Churchill War Rooms
  • HMS Belfast
  • Imperial War Museum Duxford
  • Imperial War Museum London
  • Imperial War Museum North

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust

  • Blists Hill Victorian Town
  • Broseley Pipeworks
  • Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron
  • Coalport China Museum
  • Darby Houses
  • Enginuity
  • The Iron Bridge and Tollhouse
  • Jackfield Tile Museum
  • Museum of the Gorge
  • Tar Tunnel

Leeds Museums and Galleries

  • Abbey House Museum
  • Kirkstall Abbey
  • Leeds Art Gallery
  • Leeds City Museum
  • Leeds Discovery Museum (By appointment Mon-Fri 9am-4pm)
  • Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills
  • Temple Newsam House
  • Lotherton Hall is not included under this scheme

Manchester Partnership

  • Gallery of Costume
  • Manchester Art Gallery
  • Manchester Museum
  • Whitworth Art Gallery

MC7 (Cornwall)

  • Bodmin Keep
  • Falmouth Art Gallery
  • Museum of Cornish Life
  • PK Porthcurno Museum
  • Penlee House Gallery and Museum 
  • Royal Cornwall Museum
  • Wheal Martyn Clayworks

Museum of the Home

  • Museum of the Home

Museum of London

  • Museum of London Docklands

National Army Museum

  • National Army Museum

National Galleries of Scotland

    • National Galleries Scotland: National
  • National Galleries Scotland: Modern
  • National Galleries Scotland: Portrait

National Gallery

  • National Gallery

Reciprocal tickets for National Gallery exhibitions can be booked in advance by emailing [email protected] 48 hours in advance of a visit with a preferred date and time for entry.  Reciprocal tickets can also be obtained FOH at the ticket desks for an on the day visit (subject to availability.)  Please note reciprocal tickets are not available in the first two, and last two weeks of an exhibition.

  • Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition, 2024

Please note that reciprocal admission has been suspended for this exhibition due to heavy visitor demand, although this will be reviewed towards the end of the the exhibition run.

National Library of Scotland

  • Causewayside building (map library)
  • George IV Bridge Building (main library)
  • Kelvin Hall, Glasgow (moving image archive)

National Museum of the Royal Navy

  • HMS Victory
  • HMS Warrior
  • The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth
  • Royal Navy Submarine Museum
  • HMS M.33
  • Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower
  • The National Museum Royal Navy Hartlepool
  • Fleet Air Arm Museum (not available during local school holidays)

Entrance on special event days is not included under this scheme.

National Museum Liverpool

  • International Slavery Museum
  • Lady Lever Art Gallery
  • Merseyside Maritime Museum (including the Border Force National Museum)
  • Museum of Liverpool
  • Sudley House
  • Walker Art Gallery
  • World Museum

National Museums Northern Ireland

  • Ulster American Folk Park
  • Ulster Folk Museum
  • Ulster Transport Museum
  • Ulster Museum

National Museums Scotland

  • National Museum of Scotland
  • National Museum of Flight
  • National Museum of Rural Life
  • The National War Museum is not included under this scheme

National Museum Wales/Amgueddfa Cymru

  • National Museum Cardiff/Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdyd
  • St Fagans National Museum of History/Sain Fagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru
  • National Waterfront Museum/Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau
  • Big Pit National Coal Museum/Big Pit Amgueddfa Lofoal Cymru
  • National Slate Museum/Amgueddfa Lechi Cymru
  • National Wool Museum/Amgueddfa Wlân Cymru
  • National Roman Legion Museum/Amgueddfa Lleng Rufeinig Cymru

National Portrait Gallery

  • National Portrait Gallery 

    Francis Bacon: Human Presence January 2025

    Please note that reciprocal admission for this exhibition will be suspended during the last 2 week of the exhibition run, from Monday 6 January to Sunday 19 January 2025.

Natural History Museum

  • Natural History Museum, South Kensington
  • Natural History Museum at Tring

Reciprocal free admission for paid temporary exhibitions available Monday – Friday during term time only and cannot be booked for the first and last two weeks of an exhibition. Admission cannot be booked in advance or reserved and will be based on a first come first serve basis whilst there is available capacity within the gallery.

Tickets are for the staff member only and a valid staff ID should be presented at the ticket desk to redeem entry.

Norfolk Museums Service

  • Ancient House, Thetford
  • Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell
  • Cromer Museum
  • Elizabethan House Museum, Great Yarmouth
  • Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
  • Lynn Museum
  • Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery
  • Strangers' Hall, Norwich
  • The Tollhouse, Great Yarmouth
  • Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life

Royal Air Force Museum

  • Royal Air Force Museum Midlands
  • Royal Air Force Museum London

Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter

  • Elizabethan House, Plymouth
  • Merchants House, Plymouth
  • Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
  • Smeaton’s Tower, Plymouth
  • Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter

Royal Armouries

  • Royal Armouries Museum, Fort Nelson
  • Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
  • The Tower of London/White Tower is not included under this scheme

Royal Botanic Gardens

  • Kew
  • Wakehurst

All visits to Kew Gardens must be pre-booked. Use code "nmdc" in the promotional code box to reveal the ticket option at www.kew.org -  This ticket must be supported with your ID on arrival.

Royal Museums Greenwich

  • Royal Museums Greenwich:
  • National Maritime Museum
  • Queens House
  • Royal Observatory Greenwich
  • The Cutty Sark and the Peter Harrison Planetarium are not included under this scheme

Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, Brighton + Hove

  • Booth Museum of Natural History
  • Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
  • Hove Museum and Art Gallery
  • Preston Manor
  • Royal Pavilion

Science Museum Group

  • Science and Industry Museum, Manchester
  • National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
  • Locomotion, Shildon
  • National Railway Museum York
  • Science Museum, London

    Science Museum: Free tickets for exhibitions, IMAX (45 minute documentary films) and Wonderlab (from 15.00 onwards) on weekdays outside of school holidays. Free museum tickets need to be booked in advance, subject to availability. You can book free tickets on the day at a ticket desk or in advance via the Contact Centre by using your organisation email address.

    Science and Industry Museum: Free tickets for exhibitions. Free museum tickets need to be booked in advance, subject to availability. You can book free tickets on the day at a ticket desk or in advance via the Contact Centre by using your organisation email address.

    National Railway Museum: Free museum tickets need to be booked in advance, subject to availability. You can book free tickets on the day at a ticket desk or in advance via the Contact Centre by using your organisation email address.

    Locomotion: No museum tickets are required to enter Locomotion and there are no paid exhibitions, so there is no formal reciprocal offer.

    National Science and Media Museum: Please note that the National Science and Media Museum is temporarily closed until summer 2024 for construction of two major new galleries as part of the Sound and Vision Project.

Sheffield Museums

  • Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
  • Graves Art Gallery
  • Kelham Island Museum
  • Millennium Gallery
  • Shepherd Water Wheel
  • Weston Park Museum

Sir John Soane's Museum

  • Sir John Soane's Museum

Tate

  • Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Garden, St Ives
  • Tate Britain
  • Tate Liverpool
  • Tate Modern
  • Tate St Ives

Free exhibition tickets can be booked online. On the ticket selection page open up the 'View more ticket options including Art Pass' menu and choose the relevant ticket type from the list. Tickets are for the staff member only and a valid card or staff ID should be presented with the ticket on entry.

Tickets are subjective to availability and cannot be booked for the first and last two weeks of an exhibition. Reciprocal entry tickets are not available for Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms.

The National Archives

  • The National Archives, Kew (Covers temporary exhibitions only, not reader’s passes.)

Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

  • Arbeia, South Shields Roman Fort
  • Discovery Museum
  • Great North Museum: Hancock
  • Hatton Gallery
  • Laing Art Gallery
  • Segedunum Roman Fort
  • Shipley Art Gallery
  • South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
  • Stephenson Steam Railway
  • Tyne & Wear Archives

University of Cambridge Museums

  • Fitzwilliam Museum
  • Kettle's Yard
  • Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
  • Museum of Classical Archaeology
  • Museum of Zoology
  • The Polar Museum
  • Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
  • Whipple Museum of the History of Science
  • Cambridge University Botanic Gardens is not included in this scheme

University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries and Museums

  • Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
  • Bodleian Library (Exhibitions held at Weston Library)
  • History of Science Museum
  • Oxford University Museum of Natural History
  • Pitt Rivers Museum

Victoria & Albert Museum

  • V&A, South Kensington
  • V&A Dundee
  • Young V&A, Bethnal Green

Free exhibition tickets will be available to book online at https://www.vam.ac.uk/ on the V&A's main booking page. Please bring your pass and photo ID alongside your digital ticket for entry.

Wallace Collection

  • Wallace Collection

York Museums Trust

  • York Art Gallery
  • York Castle Museum
  • Yorkshire Museum

For further information, including the details of NMDC member’s staff passes, or to update information relating to your organisation, please contact Amanda Perfect at [email protected]