This tiny museum consists of two alcoves, alike in dignity. One filled with display cabinets, the other a diorama. Whoever decided to name it a centre was certainly an optimist.
Worth visiting? I actually think yes! - If you’re nearby. They pack a lot into the space they have and there’s much interesting history to read.
An interesting little museum covering the history of the bank, how notes are produced and more.
For some reason though it attracts hordes of people. You really, really shouldn’t attempt to visit before 3pm. It took me two attempts to get in and it was hellishly overcrowded when I did.
Museum documenting the history of London’s police force, in the cells of a former police station
Museum housing a vast array of historical artefacts from across the globe.
Spread over four floors of Somerset House, the Courtauld Gallery features art dating from the 1400s to the present day.
Many of the rooms in the building have their own fascinating histories - I enjoyed learning about them as much as I enjoyed the art.
The Cromwell Place art galleries are the least open-to-the-public feeling places I’ve ever been. They were swarming with serious security guards - I’m talking sunglasses, suits and earpieces.
While it was a very strange experience, I enjoyed the artwork and the café looked amazing.
One of the last sail-powered tea clippers built, Cutty Sark is younger than you’d think - first setting sail in 1869.
It (she?) was nearly destroyed by a fire in 2007 but thankfully was saved and has been restored.
The square around the ship is a nice place for lunch and there’s a street food market there.
Having seen pictures of the Design Museum’s grand entrance hall before visiting I expected there to be more to see.
Much of the space inside is dedicated to seminar rooms so the exhibitions are fairly small. Worth seeing, but they won’t take the whole day.
The Dulwich Picture Gallery features a collection of Old Masters in a building by Sir John Soane.
I’m not that into Old Masters so was pleased that the temporary displays mix things up a bit and help to add some context to the paintings.
Half the gallery was dedicated to a temporary exhibition when I was there so It didn’t take long to see it all and retire to the very nice café.
Situated in two Georgian Terraces, the Fan Museum is very small but was brought to life by the enthusiastic staff.
They were very happy to talk and listening to them for just a few minutes taught me more about fans than I ever thought I’d know.
Alas, readers. I hadn’t booked, they didn’t let me in and I don’t know enough about fashion or textiles to make it sound like I’ve been.
Still, at least you now know you definitely should book. There’s no permanent collection so it is also worth checking what’s on before you visit.
Located on the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital, this is a small museum but a comprehensive one.
I thought this Ladybird book taught me everything about Florence Nightingale but she actually had wider interests than I realised.
Formerly the Foundling Hospital - set up in 1739 by Thomas Coram to house children who often had to be abandoned due to extreme poverty.
The museum tells that story and also has a large collection of artworks - the hospital raised funds by becoming the city’s first public art gallery.
A small museum is located in a deconsecrated church. There’s a lovely courtyard with rare plants and a table service café.
I think the best thing to do is to go for lunch and expect to have a short wander round afterwards, unless you’re there for a particular exhibition.
You can also go up the medieval tower but beware the staircase is narrow and winding!
Described as The City’s best kept secret - a concern given they manage tax records - I was appropriately surprised to discover the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre in the basement.
The artwork is generally themed around London, while the first floor features Victorian paintings.
I remembered not liking the Horniman Museum as a child so I wasn’t very excited to go back.
I was wrong though, it is great! The main thing to see is the world gallery, focused on anthropology.
The Natural History Gallery is closed until 2026 so the museum currently feels a bit small - I wouldn’t expect to be there for many hours.
Located in the Royal College of Surgeons, The Hunterian Museum shows off an extrodinary collection of medical specimens accumulated by John Hunter in the 18th Century.
Expect excruciating looking medical instruments, jars of preserved body parts (!), animal skeletons and a look at how modern surgery has advanced.
Housed in the former Bethlem Royal Hospital, of all London’s big museums the IWM feels the most misrepresented by its bombastic name.
Far from a celebration of empire, the museum does a lot to convey the grim reality of modern conflicts, covering World War 1 onwards.
The ICA is a slightly subversive feeling space with an emphasis on showing non-mainstream films.
The galleries are only open for exhibitions, but there’s a (not amazing, sorry) café and a shop stocking books focused on progressive issues.
Engaging museum charting 200 years of London’s transport history.
The door to the Mall Galleries is easily missed, its next to the Institute of Contemporary arts.
One of the galleries has a small café in the corner selling coffees and sandwiches, though I was there for Food Photographer of the Year so can’t be completely certain it wasn’t an exhibit.
A small but dense museum exhibiting a large range of everyday branded items, showing how they developed between the Victorian era and present day.
Gallery housing a wide selection of paintings, including works by Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.
Definitely the best value for money museum in Greenwich - the National Maritime Museum is enormous, with varied displays ranging from the exploration of the Pacific to the doomed Polar expeditions of the early 1900s.
There’s a well appointed café too. I went on Saturday and it still didn’t feel too busy - the building can absorb far more visitors than most.
The most famous of Kensington’s museums and so also the busiest - I’d recommend trying to avoid the crowds by visiting later in the day.
I was surprised that I enjoyed their geological collections just as much as I did the famous dinosaurs. They have some very pretty rocks!
The Newport Street Gallery is owned by Damien Hirst - who found infamy for chopping cows in half in the ’90s and calling it art.
Hidden away in the middle of an estate, the building is fantastic. Although the exhibition I saw was trying a bit too hard to shock - perhaps not a surprise - I did think it was worth seeing.
There’s a scale & grandeur to the Old Royal Naval College that is rare in the UK - it is truly vast.
Many of the buildings aren’t open to the public so the entry fee mostly covers the Painted Hall. It is magnificent but you really need to go on the tour, included in the price. There’s not much information available if you don’t.
I’m not sure that having a riverside tower dedicated to a brand of stock cubes helps London’s culinary image but it has been redeveloped into a restaurant and art gallery.
I always assumed it was part of some large business but the building is actually owned by the Coin Street social enterprise, formed by local residents in the 1970s.
The Royal Academy of Arts is a charitable society and art school most famous for their annual Summer Exhibition, for which anyone can submit art to be displayed in their galleries.
As well as paid exhibitions there are often free collections on display towards the back of the building - it is a bit of a maze.
Not to be confused with the absurdly similarly named Royal College of Music museum!
There are two floors to see, one dedicated to keyed instruments, the other to strings.
It’s mostly static exhibits but there were Ukeleles to play… in audible range of some of the world’s finest musicians. I did not dare try. 😬
The RCM Museum consists of two rooms of musical exhibits in the Royal College of Music, itself a grand building with a nice café.
A highlight is the Friday performances given by students of the college - I was unaware of these until I wandered into the middle of one. 😬
The epicentre of Greenwich Mean Time, with some small but interesting galleries showing historic instruments used to track the stars.
I know I complain a lot about prices but £20 feels like an amount you can only get away with if everyone has climbed a steep hill to be there.
The Science Museum feels like several museums in one. I didn’t budget enough time for it, you definitely can spend over two hours there.
The most popular exhibits are the steam engines, rockets and aeroplanes on the ground floor but don’t forget to venture upstairs to the Wellcome Galleries and Clockmakers’ Museum. They’re also fantastic and slightly less hectic at peak times.
Modern art gallery housed in a former tea room in the middle of Hyde Park, beside the Serpentine - an ornamental lake that was created for Queen Caroline in 1730.
A charity-run modern art gallery set beside the lake in Southwark Park. I’d love to tell you what it is like inside but, genius that I am, I went there on a TFL bike only to discover there are no docking stations nearby. I will be back!
The Tate Britain is the older brother of the Tate Modern - it hosts a wide range of both classical and modern pieces by famous artists such as David Hockney.
There’s a boat you can take from the pier outside to whisk you straight to the Tate Modern after you’ve visited if you really want your day to be entirely art themed.
Modern art gallery set in a converted power station with a viewing gallery over the Thames.
A small museum housing the steam engines that lifed the bascules on tower bridge until 1976.
One of the steam engines is still in motion - using electricity - and there’s a video to watch about the people who manned the bridge.
Overall a fun 15 minutes or so if you’re either a child or a boring fan of machinery, like me!
The V&A is a quieter experience than the other Kensington museums, and I think my favourite.
It has exhibits relating to art, fashion and design housed in some breathtakingly spacious halls.
You can even see Michelangelo’s David, though alas he is a replica donated by Queen Victoria.
The Wallace Collection is definitely tied with Spencer House as one of the most opulent places I’ve visited so far.
You can see a huge array of paintings and furniture, across many grand state rooms.
There’s also a café & restaurant in a covered courtyard which looked pretty fancy.
Confusingly located next door to the Wellcome pharmaceutical company’s actual offices.
There’s a lovely café, an absorbing collection of medical exhibits, a library and a comfy reading room - albeit monopolised by UCL students.
I cannot overstate the contrast between cheerful Bermondsey Street and the stark minimalism of the White Cube modern art gallery.
The cavernous white rooms are a sight in themselves and they allow the artwork to shine.
