The most unsayable truth: museums should charge us

York Art Gallery, which will charge £7.50 entry when it reopens on 1 August after an £8m refurbishment. Photograph: Julie Woodhouse/Alamy It may be time for museums in Britain to begin charging for entry. I do not say this lightly. The British – and it is distinctively British, with few equivalents elsewhere – belief that all museums should be free is a remarkable piece of idealism.