Around 3,700 visitors are evacuated from the British Museum after smoke halts Bayeux Tapestry exhibition

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Thousands of ticketholders who had waited up to two hours in the queue to see the Bayeux Tapestry were forced out of the British Museum on Friday evening after smoke was detected inside one of the galleries. London Fire Brigade attended around 7.27pm and cleared the building, with the all-clear given roughly an hour later. The museum confirmed the historic 70-metre embroidery was safe and is offering refunds or rescheduled tickets to those affected.

London Fire Brigade suspects an overheating light caused the smoke — the incident was resolved by 7.27pm when the building was handed back to management.

Furious visitors vented on social media, with one writing they had spent 'an hour and forty minutes after our ticketed time queuing' only to be told to leave.

The Bayeux Tapestry arrived in the UK this month on loan from Normandy; the British Museum's opening-day ticket sales broke all records, generating over £2.5 million in a single day.