From unusual museums to a journey underground, we explore some of the alternative options for your next visit to London.
Mail Rail
Discover a unique piece of industrial heritage and ride the hidden tube network. Located across the road from The Postal Museum are the original tunnels and platforms of London’s 100-year-old postal railway that once transported mail around the city for 22 hours every day.
A ride on the Mail Rail train is included with group museum tickets. You’ll get to see the unchanged station platforms deep below Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant sorting office and experience the lives of those who worked on it, below ground.
Kensal Green Cemetery
The first of London’s so-called “Magnificent Seven” cemeteries, Kensal Green opened in 1883 and was inspired by the grand Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. It is the final resting place of more than 250,000 people, including nobility, members of the royal family and famous names including engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and novelist Anthony Trollope.
The Fan Museum
The world’s first museum dedicated to hand-held fans and fan making is housed in a pair of Georgian town houses in Greenwich. It includes fans dating back to the 11th century with exhibits such as a rare fan from the Elizabethan period, Japanese fans and an ornate Faberge fan with gold embellishments.
Group tours explore the history and culture of fans and there is also the option to pre-book the museum’s orangery for refreshments.
Museum of Brands
Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and uncover the stories of iconic brands from OXO to Marmite at this Notting Hill museum. Taking a look at 200 years of consumer culture, your members will certainly remember the brands of sweets, crisps, cereals and grocery items from their childhood as they walk down the Time Tunnel, which is one of the exhibits.
Introductory talks are also available for groups - find out what made Sunlight Soap innovative in the Victorian times or what the first object in the museum’s collection was.
The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret
Housed in the attic of the 18th church of the old St Thomas’ Hospital, this unusual museum offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery. Predating anaesthetics and antiseptics, it is Europe’s oldest surviving surgical theatre. Exclusive group tours include the Victorian surgery talk Brought to Life.
A member of the team will introduce your members to Old St Thomas’ Hospital and demonstrate an operation as it would have been performed before the introduction of anaesthetic and antiseptic.
