Free collection or a paid exhibition?
The free displays listed on the visit page are Historic and Early Modern British Art, Modern and Contemporary British Art, JMW Turner, and Art Around the Building. Tate's visitor FAQ says Tate Britain is free to enter and that you do not need a free ticket or a timed slot. Walk in at any time during opening hours.
Tickets are needed only for the paid temporary exhibitions. These were listed on 29 October 2026:
| Exhibition | Dates | Standard | Concession | Floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The 90s: Art and Fashion | Until 14 February 2027 | £22 | £20 | Main Floor |
| Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant: Inside Bloomsbury | 12 November 2026 to 11 April 2027 | £20 | £19 | Lower Floor |
Prices come from the exhibition pages for The 90s and Inside Bloomsbury. The 90s page offers an optional £5 smartphone audio guide added at booking; it plays on your own phone, and no headphones are handed out at the gallery. The Bloomsbury page notes that one room contains sexually explicit content.
The Tate Britain visit page also lists the Tate Britain Commission 2026 by Zineb Sedira, When Words Fall Silent, Cinema Speaks, as free until 17 January 2027. The commission's own page could not be opened on 29 October, so treat its details as unconfirmed.
Seeing both exhibitions
From 12 November both shows run at the same time. Two standard tickets cost £42, or £39 at concession rates. Tate membership, which includes free entry to both without booking, starts at £84 a year according to the FAQ, so it pays for itself only if you will also see paid shows at Tate Modern or come back later in the year. Members just show their card at the door.
If you are 16–25, join Tate Collective first: both exhibition pages sell £5 tickets to members, so the pair costs £10.
Who pays less or goes free
Tate's booking and ticketing FAQ sets these rules for exhibitions at Tate Britain:
- Children under 12 with a family: free, up to four children per adult.
- Children aged 12–18 with a family: £5 per exhibition.
- Students with valid ID, UK teachers with ID and disabled visitors: concession rate. A disabled visitor can add one free companion ticket.
- Universal Credit, Pension Credit and similar benefit recipients: £5 per exhibition.
- Tate Collective members aged 16–25: £5, with proof of age on entry.
- National Art Pass holders: 50% off adult or concession prices.
So a family of two adults with children aged 10 and 14 pays £22 + £22 + £0 + £5 = £49 for The 90s.
Groups of 10 or more pay a discounted rate if they book at least two weeks ahead, but everyone in the group needs a ticket, including under-12s.
Booking and time slots
The ticketing FAQ says all exhibition tickets have 15-minute entry slots and you cannot enter before the time printed on yours. Once inside, you can stay until closing, but leaving ends your visit: there is no re-admission.
Three times matter on the day:
- 17:00: last entry to exhibitions is normally one hour before the gallery closes.
- 17:15: ticket desks close 45 minutes before closing.
- 17:30: last entry to the building.
Tickets are sold online and at the desk on the Lower Floor near the Manton Entrance. Online booking on the same day works when slots remain, and the visit page says some tickets may be available at the door, but booking ahead is recommended. Tickets cannot be refunded or exchanged, so book once your day is fixed.
Opening hours and Christmas
- Every day: 10:00–18:00. The visit page gives last entry at 17:30, and galleries begin closing at 17:50.
- Closed: 24, 25 and 26 December, according to the FAQ and the visual story. The FAQ says Tate galleries are open all year apart from those three days.
- Late opening: until 22:00 on Friday 13 November 2026 for Late at Tate Britain.
The visual story says the gallery is quietest at the start and end of the day. Both exhibition pages list Relaxed Hours on the third Wednesday of each month, 10:00–11:00.
Entrance, bags and cloakroom
The grand Millbank entrance facing the river is closed until 2027 while a new garden is built. Everyone enters by the Manton Entrance on Atterbury Street, at the side of the building. It is step-free, with a ramp and automatic doors.
Bags are checked on arrival, so allow a few extra minutes. The visit page sets these rules:
- No bag larger than cabin size, 55 x 40 x 20 cm. Staff may refuse any item.
- Electric scooters, electric skateboards and folding bikes are not allowed. Non-electric ones go in the cloakroom, which has limited space.
- For anything larger, such as a suitcase, the visit page points to the left-luggage facility at Victoria station.
The cloakroom is on the Lower Floor next to the toilets, and the visual story says it is free. If you are travelling with a suitcase on an arrival or departure day, use our London luggage storage guide before you set off.
Getting there
Tate Britain is on Millbank, London SW1P 4RG, between Vauxhall Bridge and Lambeth Bridge. The visit page gives these walking distances:
| Station | Lines | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pimlico | Victoria | About 600 m (about 8 minutes, per the visual story) |
| Vauxhall | Victoria and National Rail | About 850 m |
| Westminster | Jubilee, District and Circle | About 1,200 m |
| Victoria | National Rail | About 1,600 m |
TfL's Pimlico station page lists escalators but no lifts among its facilities and does not show the station as step-free. Buses are an alternative: route 87 stops on Millbank, 88 and C10 on John Islip Street, and 2, 36, 185 and 436 on Vauxhall Bridge Road.
Westminster station, about 1,200 metres away, makes Tate Britain easy to combine with a morning at Westminster Abbey or a Parliament tour.
The boat to Tate Modern
A river boat links Millbank Pier, outside Tate Britain, with Bankside Pier for Tate Modern. The Tate Boat page says it is run by Uber Boat by Thames Clippers every 20–30 minutes during gallery hours and lists single fares of £14.40 for an adult, £9.60 with a TfL Travelcard, £10.80 for Tate Members and £7.20 for children aged 5–15.
The route details are not consistent between pages. Tate's boat page calls the service RB1 on weekdays and RB2 at weekends, the Tate Britain visit page calls it the RB2 Tate to Tate service running about every 30 minutes, and the Thames Clippers route map describes RB2 as a weekend service between Embankment and Battersea Power Station that calls at Millbank only on the return direction. Check the operator's live timetable before relying on the boat. Both pages say Millbank Pier is currently not step-free; the operator suggests Vauxhall (St George Wharf) or Westminster instead.
For a combined day, our Tate Modern guide covers its free entry, current exhibition prices and longer Friday and Saturday hours.
How long to allow
Tate does not publish a suggested visit length. As a rough guide, allow about two hours for a first look at the collection and the Turner galleries, and another hour or more for each paid exhibition. Because the galleries begin closing at 17:50, a slot at 16:00 or earlier leaves time for an unhurried look at an exhibition.
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