Summer findings from the Cultural Enterprises Commercial Performance Barometer suggest the sector has partially rebounded from a difficult first half of the year. Based on record submissions, key findings are:
- July admissions up 1% on 2025 and August admissions provisionally up 2%
- Heatwaves continue to drive a mixed regional picture, with London and South East struggling, but Scotland thriving
- Programming has delivered some impressive gains regardless of weather
- There is limited evidence that the government’s VAT reduction has had an impact
- Retail and catering continue to offset low admissions with SPV above inflation for both
After a very challenging start to the year, the sector appears to have turned a corner this summer, with July and August both showing increases in admissions (August provisionally).
Based on July alone (we’re awaiting more responses to analyse August at sub-group level), charging venues have done particularly well, implying the public have somewhat relaxed their financial caution for the peak months.
Heatwaves Driving Regional Fortunes?
At a regional level the picture has been quite mixed. In the South of the UK, we witnessed declines on 2025 – particularly high in the South West – whereas the North of England and Scotland reported increases.
As captured in the image below, it’s hard to look beyond the weather as the main driver of regional outcomes. It’s not a perfect correlation, but our data suggests areas of the UK that experienced the most intense heat tended to report the biggest drops in admissions. It’s likely that many prospective visitors stayed at home or – in the case of the South West – visited the beach instead.
Individual venues support these correlations, ‘weather’ the most mentioned negative contributor in comments explaining commercial performance.
“The weather! We are based in London where the constant heatwaves have made it impossible to want to leave the house!!”
“Heat continues to be a problem and we again were forced to cancel shows.”
“Consistently sunny weather hurt us badly. People just want to be outside.”
“The extreme heat has still continued to have an impact on the Old Royal Naval College. In July we have had a number of days where temperatures were above 35 degrees inside the building and for safety of visitors and staff welfare, the decision was made to remain open for pre-booked tickets and walk ups only, and take off sale online tickets for that day as a way to control visitors.”
Enticing Programming Can Conquer Most Barriers
The Barometer has consistently demonstrated that people will overcome all sorts of barriers to engage with great programming. In July and August we’ve seen lots of shining examples of this, and it’s striking that many of these were in the heatwave-hit South of England.
“Working with Fever on the M.C Exhibition exhibition in the Embankment Galleries, which was open for three months (June – Sept). We also worked with Laughterama and hosted a comedy festival in the courtyard for the first time in August.” (Somerset House)
“Noticeable increase in visitor numbers in July 2026 compared to 2025 – the Jolly Postman Exhibition has been a key driver for visits.” (Postal Museum)
“July is our busiest month every year but this year the sales were exceptionally strong due to our special exhibition on Leonora Carrington.” (Freud Museum)
“We had a large preview event to celebrate the opening of new exhibitions which we extended into the daytime rather than just the usual evening and had multiple commercial events happening across the day, including our Art Car Boot Fair and a product launch for a new jewellery range we’d commissioned.” (BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art)
“The main factor influencing our commercial performance in July was the opening of our temporary exhibition, 54321! FAB, celebrating the work of Gerry Anderson and Thunderbirds. The exhibition has been immensely popular, particularly with grandparents visiting alongside grandchildren, attracting a broad family audience.” (Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery)
As the above quotes demonstrate, programming was not just a way to get people through the doors, but also a platform for spend and engagement elsewhere on the site.
Great British Summer Savings?
It’s tempting to suggest that the government’s initiative for reducing VAT at visitor attractions has driven a more positive month, but at present there is limited data to support this. Although the majority of eligible venues appear to have passed the full saving onto visitors, public sentiment data collected separately by Decision House suggests a majority of people were not aware of it. It’s therefore unlikely to have impacted their visit decision.
The jury is still out on this, but at present we feel that other factors have had a much bigger influence.
Retail Performance – Another Reason to Be Positive
We like to end these blogs on a positive, and what better place than the sector’s retail performance. It’s a pleasure to share that in each month this year we’ve seen SPV (spend per visitor) higher than inflation, and August looks to have continued this trend. This is particularly positive given the sluggish performance of retail last year, and the challenges around cost-of-living. Long may this continue.
Conclusion
In summary, it’s pleasing to report a much more positive July and August following a difficult start to the year. We look forward to digging into these findings in more detail in our upcoming webinar on 25 September. Also, do keep an eye on this blog as we update the August figures.
Meanwhile, members can learn much more via the Commercial Performance Barometer online dashboard where you can look by sub-group and merge months. You can also read examples of best practice in our sentiment dashboard – please do check out both links.
The Association has now had nearly 300 sites contribute to the Barometer so now’s the time to join in if you haven’t already! Members can expect the latest survey invite on the first Monday of each month.
For more information about the Commercial Performance Barometer please contact tom@culturalenterprises.org.uk or jon.young@decisionhouse.co.uk.
