London’s Museum Scene Is Struggling. Can a Wave of New Venues Help?
Institutions are leaning on community and shared experience to reach the next generation of museumgoers.
London’s museum scene is in a slump. The number of visitors to the Tate Modern and National Gallery in 2025 was down 26% and 31%, respectively, from 2019. In the last three months of 2025, visits to state-funded museums in England (all of them free since 2001) fell more than 8% from 2019.
Museums themselves cite varying reasons, including a decline in international travelers, despite tourism bouncing back after Covid-19, and fewer visitors in their teens and 20s arriving from the European Union after Brexit. An independent 2025 report, Curating Connection, highlighted streaming services, immersive pop-ups, virtual art experiences and “creator-led storytelling” on TikTok and YouTube as threats to the museums sector. “For younger audiences especially, the ‘cultural fix’ increasingly happens outside traditional institutions,” the report concluded.