A Commandery family ticket would fall from £25 to £21 and the residents' family pass to £19.95 under museum prices proposed for 2027. Adult entry rises to £10.50.

Families would pay less to visit The Commandery next year. Museums Worcestershire has proposed cutting the family day ticket from £25 to £21, and the Worcester residents’ family pass from £23 to £19.95.

Most other prices would go up by around inflation. An adult day ticket would rise from £10 to £10.50.

The proposals went to the Joint Museums Committee, which the city and county councils run together, on 7 October. They are set out in the committee’s reports pack and its table of proposed charges.

The committee was asked to let the new prices start on 1 January 2027, so they can go into the museums’ 2027 leaflets, rather than waiting for the new financial year in April. The package then goes into the city and county councils’ own fee-setting. The minutes recording the committee’s decision are not published until after its next meeting.

The Commandery: today’s prices and next year’s

The current prices below match the Commandery’s own visitor page on 15 October.

Ticket Now (2026/27) Proposed for 2027
Adult £10.00 £10.50
Child, 5 to 16 £5.00 £5.25
Child, under 5 Free Free
Family (up to 2 adults and 3 children) £25.00 £21.00
Worcester residents’ annual pass, adult £8.95 £9.95
Worcester residents’ annual pass, family £23.00 £19.95
Commandery membership, individual £33.00 £32.00
Commandery membership, family £70.00 £64.00
School visit, per pupil £7.50 £7.75

The residents’ pass covers people who pay Worcester City council tax, and council staff. Both now and under the proposals, a family’s annual residents’ pass costs less than one family day ticket.

Why a family ticket is getting cheaper

The report proposes a new rule: a family ticket should cost the same as two adult tickets, whatever shape the family is. Two adults at the proposed £10.50 come to £21.

The Head of Museums says the aim is to make it easier for families to use their local museums. The report says the change should help spread visitors into what it calls “forgotten neighbourhoods”.

Family memberships at the Art Gallery and Museum are being set the same way, at twice the adult price. The report also says the residents’ passes are priced at £9.95 and £19.95 on purpose, “to emphasise their value for residents”.

Entry to Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on Foregate Street stays free. The proposed changes are to its charged exhibitions and its membership:

  • Charged exhibitions: the range would change from £5 to £13 to £4.50 to £9. The report says this follows a review of the charged exhibitions so far.
  • Gallery-only membership: £23.50 to £26 for one person, and £47 to £52 for a family.
  • Membership of both city museums: held at £50 for one person and £100 for a family, after a big rise in 2026.

What is coming to the city’s museums

A separate report to the same meeting sets out when the big projects at the two city museums should finish. Two have slipped by a few months:

  • A British Impressionism gallery at the Art Gallery and Museum, with works by artists including David Cox and Laura Knight. The report says it is slightly behind schedule; it is now expected to open in February 2027.
  • A new Learning Centre in the old Reference Library at the same building, run with Play Worcester for schools, families and community groups. Now due in January 2027.
  • Making Her Mark, a touring exhibition of more than fifty works by women artists, including Barbara Hepworth and Tracey Emin from Worcester’s own collection. It opens in Worcester in January 2027.
  • The Worcestershire Conquest Hoard, 1,368 Iron Age and Roman gold and silver coins buried around AD 55 and found in the county in 2023. Donors have raised the money to keep it in Worcestershire. It goes on show in Worcester in summer 2027.
  • The Worcestershire Soldier, a permanent military gallery at The Commandery telling the stories of local soldiers from 1694 to today. It is due to open in early 2028.

A second gallery, Glove Affair, will put the city’s glove-making collection on permanent display. The charges table lists hire prices for it from 2028.

How many people visited

From April to June 2026, the Art Gallery and Museum had 14,750 visitors, down from 15,650 in the same months last year. The Commandery had 3,897, down from 4,069. Both are above their figures for the same quarter in 2019, before the pandemic.

The museums’ income from admissions, shops and learning was 117% of its target for the quarter, according to the performance appendix.

What it means for you

  • Prices do not change yet. Today’s prices apply for the rest of 2026, including October half term. Our Worcester October half term page has the Commandery’s Halloween events and trails.
  • If you live in Worcester and visit more than once a year, the residents’ pass is already the cheapest way in. Bring proof that you pay Worcester City council tax.
  • The Art Gallery and Museum is free, and its Reflections exhibition runs until 3 January 2027. See our Monet in Worcester page.

More days out are on things to do in Worcester.

Sources