Best quirky London museums?

December 9, 2024 8:53 AM

What are your favourite obscure and quirky London museums for someone who likes history but has been to all the major sites?

I'm starting to regularly visit London for work (2x a year) and on the day before my meetings try to hit up a museum or two. I've done all the major museums and want to know your favourites that might be a bit more obscure before I go to the V&A for the fourth time.

I love history and art, though the Tate Modern was a bit of a letdown. I've been to the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery, the V&A, the National Maritime Museum, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Tate Modern, the Imperial War Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Tower of London.

For quirky context - I really enjoyed the Musée Des Arts Forains in Paris, dedicated to late 19th/early 20th century fairground attractions.

posted by thecjm to Travel & Transportation around London, England (38 answers total)

I really enjoyed the Denis Severs House.
posted by janell at 9:04 AM on December 9 [6 favorites]

Sir John Soane's Museum, founded entirely to spite his son, who he hated. I have not been, but I want to go!
posted by jacquilynne at 9:07 AM on December 9 [20 favorites]

I enjoyed The Museum of the Home when I visited.
posted by TwoStride at 9:09 AM on December 9 [4 favorites]

If you like toys, I recommend Pollock's Toy Museum. Unfortunately, they lost their old location but are still around in two temporary locations.
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:12 AM on December 9

I HAVE been to Sir John Soane's and I second it heartily.
posted by phunniemee at 9:14 AM on December 9 [4 favorites]

The Churchill War Rooms and museum is fascinating--by far my favorite of the London museums I've visited.
posted by shornco at 9:15 AM on December 9 [5 favorites]

Seconding the War Rooms, and thirding Soanes!
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:15 AM on December 9 [2 favorites]

Here's some of mine:

Apsley House
They have what is likely the best painting by Diego Velazquez, The Waterseller of Seville, but its not something anybody wants to admit.

The Building Centre
I mean, they have a scale model of London, maintained so you can see how London is changing.

The Courtauld
This is a first-rate Art Gallery but somehow missed by a lot of Art lovers.

The Curve at the Barbican
Always interesting exhbitions and a chance to walk around the Barbican anyways!!

The Grant Museum
Worth it just for the famous Jar of Moles.

The Mithraeum!!!
posted by vacapinta at 9:17 AM on December 9 [6 favorites]

A minor thing, but worth a visit if you're nearby: The City Wall at Vine Street which is a rediscovered Roman wall + associated artifacts in the heart of what was Londinium. Free.

And it's certainly not off the beaten path, but I'll throw in a pitch for the Tate Britain, because it's where all the Turners are, and also some lovely Hockneys. Also free, outside of special exhibitions.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:29 AM on December 9 [3 favorites]

The Wallace Collection is great.

Also Leighton House - it’s very beautiful.

There is a TFL museum and they also run Hidden London tours in things like closed down tube stations.

Museum of London Docklands is good if you are around Canary Wharf at any point.
posted by ElasticParrot at 9:51 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

The London Transport Museum is pretty cool - about the history of transportation in London and featuring tons of public transport vehicles over the years. The frustrating thing about it is that the entry fee is actually an annual pass, which is ridiculous for tourists and means the cost is £24.50, but it's worth it.
posted by urbanlenny at 9:55 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

I loved the Geffrye Museum which is now apparently Museum of the Home. You go from room to room like you're traveling in time from the Middle Ages to the 21st century - each room brings you closer to the current times (about half a century each time? I think). Lovely.

Also, the Old Operating Theatre.
posted by M. at 9:57 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

At The Postal Museum you can ride a mail train underground through the old mail tunnels (caveat: if your mobility allows it). The museum contains many cool displays and interactives including one that tasks you with sorting letters on a platform that simulates a jostling, shaking rail car.
posted by moonmoth at 9:58 AM on December 9 [2 favorites]

I'm obsessed with several Mudlarking social media accounts (looking for old treasures in the mud of the Thames, only allowed with a license to prevent ancient treasures from being hoarded or damaged by randos). There's a Mudlarking exhibit coming to London next year.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:02 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

After Soane’s, head across the square to the Hunterian Museum for an absolutely stunning collection of historical preserved biological specimens. If you’re into that sort of thing, I mean. My last day in London was just those two museums and it was a great capper to the trip.

Also ditto to the Docklands Museum in Canary Wharf. I popped in just to use the toilet, intending to leave immediately, and wound up spending two hours in there.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:26 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

Hampton Court Palace is not in London proper, but worth the relatively short trip.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:48 AM on December 9

Get yourself an Art Pass. Use the map facility on the site to explore off-the-beaten-track delights.

Here's a day/afternoon for you. Three suggestions, very close to each other. Leighton House and Sambourne House (two very different nineteenth century artist's houses, both unforgettable), then round up with a visit to Mosaic Rooms (contemporary art from the Arab world). Finish with Lebanese meal at Orjowan.
posted by einekleine at 10:51 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

I also came to recommend Hampton Court Palace, which Mr.Know-it-some linked above

J.Draper is a professional London tour guide and posts many videos about small, out of the way but super interesting places to visit in London.
posted by anastasiav at 11:03 AM on December 9

The Petrie Museum of Egyptology at the University College London is small, but packed with a huge teaching collection. Because it's more of a teaching collection it's found up some stairs in an unassuming-looking door on campus, but the rooms are chock full and fascinating.
posted by ldthomps at 11:42 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

I recommend The Museum of Brands and Advertising, which is way more interesting than it sounds.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 12:17 PM on December 9 [1 favorite]

I haven't been to Novelty Automation, but it's my first stop next time I go to London.
posted by Inkslinger at 12:57 PM on December 9 [3 favorites]

This surviving section of Roman wall in a car park. It is genuinely one of those hidden gems that make you feel you’ve been let in on a secret.

While you’re there you can check out Postman’s Park which is round the corner.
posted by greycap at 1:30 PM on December 9 [1 favorite]

We really enjoyed Churchill's war rooms. Lots to read!

And my favourite was the old operating theatre and herb garret.
posted by freethefeet at 3:28 PM on December 9 [1 favorite]

Tarot exhibit opening in January 2025 at the Warburg Institute (previously). "It will feature significant items such as selections from the earliest surviving complete deck, the Sola Busca Tarot, and Lady Frieda Harris’s paintings for the Thoth Tarot, designed with Aleister Crowley."
posted by larrybob at 3:41 PM on December 9

Samuel Johnson's and Dickens' homes

The foundling museum
posted by brujita at 4:56 PM on December 9

Seconding the Postal Museum. Great exhibition and the underground train ride was so cool! (But yes, the seat is a tight squeeze!)
posted by atlantica at 11:39 PM on December 9

The Cartoon Museum is a really great quirky museum, they have a permanent collection, interesting rotating exhibitions, and even workshops.
posted by TheCassiniDivision at 1:10 AM on December 10 [1 favorite]

Harry Price Library of Magical Literature at Senate House Library. Check the schedule/availability because they loan out chunks of it for exhibitions and suchlike occasionally.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 1:34 AM on December 10

The Old Operating Theatre

The Brunel Museum

UCL Grant Museum of Zoology

The Cinema Museum plus check out their screenings

Sir John Soane's Museum

Foundling Museum

Hunterian Museum

Wellcome Collection

posted by mkdirusername at 2:12 AM on December 10 [1 favorite]

I've already been beaten to The Cartoon Museum and the Sir John Soane museum.

If you're willing to leave central London and head for Brentford, the London Museum of Water and Steam is interesting, has steam pumping engines that still work, and a tiny steam railway. Make sure to check the calendar for when things are in steam.

The Musical Museum is right next to it and has a variety of working mechanical music makers. Make sure to go for the tour when they actually demonstrate them.

Also further out in North London is the RAF museum London: essential if you like warplanes, not worth it if you don't.

You didn't mention Tate Britain, I assume you probably just forgot to mention it but it's well worth a visit if you haven't.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 3:09 AM on December 10

Take the train out to Bletchley Park (about 40 minutes from Euston, then a brief walk). The museum is really well done with a mix of history and technology.

Also don't forget to drop by the British Library sometime. The Treasures Gallery is great to see if you like history or literature, and it's a really easy thing to just walk in for free and look around.
posted by zachlipton at 4:36 AM on December 10

I would add The Foundling Museum to this wonderful list.
posted by mbarryf at 6:05 AM on December 10

The Freud House and Museum is fun. It has the original couch. Then just a few blocks away is the Camden Art Centre which often has interesting contemporary art and is free.
posted by gwint at 9:02 AM on December 10

There's the Gulbenkian. I like the Science Museum's history of medicine on the top floor and the hall of air and space -- but all of Exhibition Row in South Kensington is there for the viewing.
posted by k3ninho at 1:43 PM on December 10

Horniman Museum - I haven't been there for years but it's a lovely quirky museum with lots of ethnography and zoology exhibitions, and an excellent museum of musical instruments.

Faraday Museum at the Royal Institute. Small but interesting if you like science.

Steam Museum - good if you're into that sort of thing - big old steam engines.

And very nearby, the Musical Museum - a collection of musical instruments and inventions. Self-playing pianos and violins, pipe organs, music boxes, gramophones, keyboards, synthesizers and more
posted by snarfois at 7:46 AM on December 11

The Fan Museum, in Greenwich: very small, but an amazing collection of fans. Do listen to the audioguide, it adds a lot of depth to the displays.
posted by snakeling at 3:55 AM on December 12

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've got a Sunday to myself in January and am planning to go to Holborn and will be able to do The London Transport Museum, The Courtauld Gallery (the last day of the Monet exhibition!), Sir John Sloane's Museum, and Novelty Automation all in the same day. My hotel is right across the river from the Tate Britain so if I get some time off from work I'll hop over there as well.

Now to decide where I'm having a Sunday roast lunch in the area.
posted by thecjm at 6:56 AM on December 13 [2 favorites]

For a shorter visit, the William Morris Gallery - in Walthamstow.

https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/

(I'm pretty sure you're more Soanes, but it's nice to have a project to go see *new* places regularly).
posted by Elysum at 2:34 AM on December 16