Ticket demand beats the box office

When the second round of Bayeux tapestry exhibition tickets went on sale last Wednesday, Monzo cardholders paid £14,100 to the British Museum in the first hour alone. Monzo spending data from its 16 million customers shows that figure was double the opening-morning takings of The Odyssey, at £7,000, and also double those of the box office hit Spider-Man: Brand New Day, at £6,300.

The comparison with cinema was stark on several measures:

• •First-hour spending was 48 times that of a normal Wednesday morning
• •55% of buyers were aged under 35
• •Buyers spent an average of £97 at the checkout versus £19 on Spider-Man's opening morning - five times more

Sold out in three hours

Thousands joined an online queue to secure tickets when they went on sale at 10am. Within three hours the allocation was gone, beating the first wave of tickets, which had taken 24 hours to sell out.

By the two-hour mark, Monzo customers had already spent £30,500 on tapestry tickets.

First showing in England since the 11th century

The scramble is being driven by an unusual moment for the Bayeux tapestry: it is on display in England for the first time since it was taken to France in the 11th century.

Tickets do not come cheap for a museum visit:

• •Standard adult peak tickets cost £33
• •Off-peak tickets cost £27
• •Both are above the average cinema ticket

Demand has come from well beyond the capital: almost half of buyers were based outside London, with the furthest purchases coming from Glasgow.

Museum responds to 'extraordinary' demand

The British Museum said the response to the tapestry going on display last month had been "extraordinary", and it has made changes including banning visitors from taking photos to address lengthy queues.

The frenzy has drawn comparisons with big pop cultural events such as Glastonbury festival and the Oasis reunion tour. The Guardian's review put it more bluntly, calling the exhibition "a stupefying, thrilling, horrifying masterpiece that shakes the earth".

The second wave of tickets sold out within three hours, faster than the first wave's 24 hours, and the museum has banned photography to manage the lengthy queues.