House of Lords

Visits to the House of Lords

TOURS OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT (PALACE OF WESTMINSTER)

Information about how visitors may tour the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) may be found on the following page.

VISITS TO THE GALLERY IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS

The visitors gallery is open when the House of Lords is sitting.

Sitting Times

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdaysfrom 2.30pm
Thursdaysfrom 11.00am
(adjourned between 1.30pm and 3pm)
Fridays
(occasionally)		from 11.00am.

The House normally finishes business about 10pm Monday-Wednesday and at 7.30pm on Thursday.

Recesses

The House of Lords does not usually sit during August, part of September and early October, during the weeks before and after Christmas and for a week or so at Easter and at the Spring Bank Holiday. This session's provisional recess dates are as follows:
Easter10 April 2003 - 28 April 2003
Whitsun22 May 2003 - 3 June 2003
SummerProvisionally mid-July to early September,
then mid-September to early October
(dates to be confirmed)

How to obtain entry

The queue starts at the St Stephen's entrance [link to plan: http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/colmap.pdf]. There are two queues, one each for the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Lords' queue is usually shorter so it is easier to get into the Lords' Gallery, although it may not always be possible to secure a place for Question Time. Question Time lasts for 40 minutes from 2.30pm on Mondays to Wednesdays and for 30 minutes from 3.00pm on Thursdays.

 
© Parliamentary copyright 2003
Revised 20 January 2003