London's Tate Modern will now stay open late on weekends
The Tate is hoping that later closing times will help to attract a younger crowd to the museum.
The Tate Modern is targeting young visitors with extended opening hours, the London gallery has now announced.
From the 26th of September, the Tate Modern is set to stay open until 9pm every Friday and Saturday.
The Gallery is currently closing at 6pm on Monday to Sunday. Now, the move to extend opening hours at the weekend follows Tate Modern's 25th birthday in May, when more than 76,000 people came to the gallery in three days, with 70% being under 35 years old.
Tate Modern, like many of the other UK museums and galleries, has been recovering from the impact of the pandemic on visitor numbers.
The Gallery reached peak visitor numbers in 2019, when 6.1 million people came through its doors, according to the figures from the Associations of Leading Visitor Attractions.
After dramatic drops in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, visitor numbers started recovering with a 3.88 million visits in 2022 and 4.7 million visits in 2023.
Tate Modern had 5.2 million visitors in its first year of opening in 2000, making it the third popular tourist attraction at that time, just after the British Museum, who had 5.7 million.
Tate said that along the extension of the Tate Modern's opening hours, the Gallery's regular lates will continue to be held at the end of each month, as well.
Tate Modern director Karen Hitzobo said, over the last decade, the Tate Modern lates have become a cornerstone of London's nightlife.
They have proven the huge demands for access to our galleries outside of regular hours, especially with young Londoners who want to make the most of their city's dynamic cultural scene.
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