We’ve visited lots of museums in London but with nearly 200 to choose from we haven’t covered them all (yet!). What we have done, however, is focus on some of the more unusual museums in London, exploring an old attic operating theatre and house covered in dolls’ heads rather than another visit to The British Museum.
Don’t get me wrong, I love London’s many big museums but I love its quirky ones too, and it’s these that make the city such an exciting place to explore.
So, whether you’re interested in textiles or cartoons, medicine or mail, you can be sure that London has a museum just for you.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I have been or could be if you click on a link in this post compensated via a cash payment, gift or something else of value for writing this post. See our full disclosure policy for more details.
Quick picks: the most unusual museums in London at a glance
Table of Contents
| Best for | Museum | Why go | Nearest station | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most unusual overall | Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities | Two-headed lambs, mermaid skeletons and an absinthe bar | Bethnal Green | £12 adults, £2.50 for children under 16 |
| Most macabre | Old Operating Theatre | Britain’s oldest operating theatre, hidden in a church attic | London Bridge | £10 adults, £6.50 children |
| Hands-on history for kids | Ragged School Museum | Take a Victorian lesson in a restored classroom in Dr Barnardo’s old ragged school | Mile End | £5 adults, £2.50 children |
| Best free museum | Sir John Soane’s Museum | An architect’s crammed house with an Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement | Holborn | Free |
| Best free for families | Horniman Museum | The famous overstuffed walrus, plus an aquarium and butterfly house | Forest Hill | Free (aquarium and butterfly house cost extra) |
| Medical curiosities | Hunterian Museum | Specimens in jars from an 18th-century surgeon’s collection | Holborn | Free |
| Most atmospheric | Dennis Severs’ House | Candlelit rooms set up as if a Georgian family has just walked out | Liverpool Street | £16 |
| Most surprising house | House of Dreams | A terraced house covered in mosaics, dolls and found objects | East Dulwich | £12 adults, £7 students (limited open days, so book ahead) |
| Best underground | The Postal Museum | Ride Mail Rail through the old Post Office tunnels | Farringdon | £20.50 adults, £11 children |
| Hardest to get into | London Sewing Machine Museum | 700 machines, including one owned by Queen Victoria’s daughter | Tooting Bec | Free. Open first Saturday of the month only |
A map of London’s unusual museums
Map Key:
- Yellow: Medical and macabre
- Purple: Cabinets of curiosities
- Orange: Eccentric homes
- Green: Niche collections
- Brown: Pop culture and nostalgia
Medical & macabre museums in London
Old Operating Theatre
One of my personal favourites is the Old Operating Theatre, the oldest surviving operating theatre in Europe. Dating to 1822 this is where the poorest of patients came for treatment and where pain relief was limited to alcohol, opiates and chloroform, as well as a wooden cane to bite down on when the pain became too much!
The operating theatre was only rediscovered in 1956 and opened as a museum six years later. Today it’s a fascinating insight into medicine and medical procedures from time gone by with herbs and old medicine packages and an impressive collection of scary-looking medical instruments on display.
Price: £10 adults, £6.50 children · Time: 10.30am – 5pm Thurs – Sun · Nearest tube: London Bridge
Hunterian Museum
Another curious museum for the medically minded is the Hunterian Museum, which tells the story of medicine from its earliest days to modern times. The collection is based largely on the private collection of the 18th-century surgeon and anatomist John Hunter and has been added to over the years.
It was redeveloped fairly recently and the new display is mind-bogglingly good with a huge array of scary looking medical tools to gawk at. Most fascinating are shelves of medical specimens in jars from a two-headed cow to cancer samples. There are also some interesting digital screens to accompany the displays with lots of information, presented in a way that will appeal to visitors of all ages.
Price: Free · Time: 10am – 5pm Tues – Sat · Nearest tube: Holborn
Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum
The Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum really is one of London’s more curious museums. Located in Paddington, it’s one of London’s smaller museums and is dedicated to the life and work of Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming, the man responsible for accidentally discovering penicillin. Inside the museum, the exhibition is set in a reconstruction of Sir Fleming’s laboratory.
On display are some of his personal belongings and a video explaining how a chance discovery after coming back from holiday led to a lifesaving drug that revolutionised the medical world and ushered in a new era of antibiotics.
Price: Free · Time: 10am – 1pm Mon – Thurs · Nearest tube: Paddington
Florence Nightingale Museum
One of the best small museums in London is the Florence Nightingale Museum, located within St Thomas’ Hospital, just off Westminster Bridge. The quirky museum opened in 1989, charting the life of the world’s most famous nurse from childhood (when her parents tried to dissuade her from becoming a nurse) to her time in the Crimean war (where she contracted a life-changing illness) and how she campaigned for better healthcare for ordinary people. On display are personal items including the actual lamp that earned her the nickname The Lady With The Lamp.
Price: Adults £12, student £7, children £6 · Time: 10am – 5pm Tues – Sun · Nearest tube: Westminster and Waterloo
Grant Museum of Zoology
Tucked inside a University College London building, the Grant Museum of Zoology is one of London’s oddest and most charming free museums. Founded in 1828 as a teaching collection, today it’s a single room crammed floor to ceiling with around 68,000 specimens including the Jar of Moles, 18 of them squashed into one glass jar.
Also on display are dodo bones, the skeleton of a quagga (an extinct kind of zebra) and the Micrarium, a glowing backlit alcove full of tiny specimens on microscope slides. It’s a little macabre and a lot of fun, and older kids love it.
Price: Free · Time: 1pm – 5pm Tues – Sat · Nearest tube: Warren Street, Euston Square, Goodge Street
Museum of Anaesthesia
The Museum of Anaesthesia traces the incredible story of anaesthesia from ancient practices to modern day anaesthetists. There’s a large collection of anaesthetic equipment on display including hand bellow and pipes from 1774, used to pump comatose patients back to life as well as the original 19th-century John Snow chloroform inhaler. The centre is also home to a large library dedicated to the history of anaesthesia. Events and educational programs are also held throughout the year.
Price: Free · Time: 10am – 4pm Mon – Fri · Nearest tube: Oxford Circus, Regent’s Park and Great Portland Street
Museums filled with cabinets of curiosities
Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Unnatural History
Owned by eccentric collector Viktor Wynd, this is perhaps the most original unusual museum in London. Ask at the bar in the Absinthe Parlour and you’ll be pointed down a spiralling staircase to the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities. Here you’ll find a stuffed two-headed lamb, mermaid skeletons, mummified fairies, dandy Sebastian Horsley’s red glitter suit and Pablo Escobar’s gold-plated hippo skull. It’s wonderfully wacky but a little creepy in parts, so best suited to adults and older teens.
Price: Adults £12, concessions £8, U16s before 5pm £2.50 · Time: 3pm – 11pm Tues – Thurs, until midnight Fri, 12pm – midnight Sat, 12pm – 10pm Sun · Nearest tube: Bethnal Green
Horniman Museum
The Horniman Museum is truly one of the best museums to visit in London with kids. Well known for its collections of anthropology and musical instruments as well as its aquarium and butterfly house, it’s most famous for is its over-stuffed walrus on display in the main Natural History Gallery. Apparently, Victorian taxidermists having never seen a living walrus were confused by the strange-looking creature and its heavy folds of skin so stuffed the skin until he was fit to burst.
The Horniman regularly hosts temporary exhibitions on everything from the history of hair to our relationships to cats and dogs. The museum hosts excellent activities during the school holidays too, including their ever-popular Spring Fair.
Price: Free · Time: 10am – 5.30pm · Nearest tube: Forest Hill
Sir John Soane’s Museum
Architect Sir John Soane, who designed the Bank of England, spent decades cramming his Holborn townhouse with treasures and even secured an Act of Parliament to make sure it stayed exactly as he left it. Every inch of Sir John Soane’s Museum is covered with classical sculpture, paintings and architectural models, and there’s a real Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement. One of the best rooms is the incredible Picture Room, filled with dozens of amazing artwork hidden behind folding panels. I also recommend booking onto one of the museum’s guided tours that include the private apartments.
Price: Free · Time: 10am – 5pm Wed – Sun · Nearest tube: Holborn
Eccentric Homes
House of Dreams
I loved my visit to the magical House of Dreams in East Dulwich. Created by artist and designer Stephen Wright, this terraced house has been transformed into the most fantastical of destinations, decorated top to bottom, inside and out, with mosaics and found objects. You’ll spot hundreds of objects embedded into the walls and floors, everything from plastic dolls and broken pieces of china to family photographs, colourful plastic bottles and so much more.
Positioned alongside the thousands of items on display are hand-written memory boards that recall important events in Stephen’s life. It’s deeply personal and utterly unique. Make sure to book well in advance as the House of Dreams is only open to visitors on certain dates (roughly once a month).
Price: £12 Adults, £7 students · Time: Open one day a month · Nearest tube: East Dulwich Station
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Not only is the Sherlock Holmes Museum one of the more unusual museums in London, it’s also one of the most popular. No matter when you visit, there is always a queue outside. But is it worth it? Fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional super sleuth will love the chance to look inside the four-storey Georgian townhouse, filled with Victorian furniture and knick knacks as well as items from famous cases solved by Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Watson.
If you’re not a super fan – and there’s a long line – then you may want to bypass this museum and head elsewhere. Although the museum gift shop is excellent!
Price: Adults £19, child £14, U6s free · Time: 9.30am – 6pm daily · Nearest tube: Baker Street
Leighton House Museum
Another one of London’s more unusual museums is the Leighton House Museum. The former home of leading Victorian artist Sir Frederic Leighton, the house is extraordinary. From the outside it resembles an elegant Kensington townhouse but inside the home is a “private palace of art”. Inspired by his travels, Leighton transformed his home into an opulent reflection of his life and work. The most famous room is the Arab Hall, created following a visit to Syria in 1873, and decorated using antique tiles from Damascus.
Price: £14 Adults, £10 concessions, £6 child, U6s free · Time: 10am – 5.30pm Mon, Wed – Sun (closed Tues) · Nearest tube: High Street Kensington and Kensington (Olympia)
Dennis Sever’s House
In 1979 the late Californian artist and creator Dennis Seaver bought a run-down Georgian house in Spitalfields and set out on a mission to create a living history of London. Sever invented a fictional family to live in the house from the late 17th to the 19th centuries and designed rooms to reflect stories of their lives. Each room is filled with objects that are either original period pieces or are items he made himself.
When Severs first opened the house to the public he conducted tours himself. After he died in 1999, staff discovered hundreds of cassette tapes of Severs’ tours and today tours of Dennis Sever’s House are led by an actor using the original tours as a blueprint.
Price: £16 · Time: 12pm – 3.15pm Fri – Sun · Nearest tube: Liverpool Street
The Charles Dickens Museum
Located in a four-storey home where Charles Dickens lived with his wife and children between 1837-1839 is the excellent Charles Dickens Museum. The house has been arranged as if Dickens was still living there and represents a traditional middle-class Victorian home with furnishings, portraits, personal items and decorations that belonged to Dickens.
Also on display are works by Dickens; it was while living here that he finished writing The Pickwick Papers, and wrote Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist. If visiting with kids, there are often family-friendly displays or events, particularly during the school holidays.
Price: Adults £14, concessions £12, child £8, U6s free · Time: 10am – 5pm Wed – Sun · Nearest tube: Russell Square
Handel Hendrix House
Musicians Jimi Hendrix and George Frideric Handel might be an unlikely pairing but the duo both lived in London on the same street although admittedly in different centuries. Handel lived at 25 Brook Street from 1723 until his death in 1759 and Hendrix moved into a flat at number 23 in 1968. Spread across the two residences the Handel Hendrix House explores lives of two of London’s greatest musicians and includes the bedroom, kitchen and dining room that once belonged to baroque composer Handel and the room where Hendrix lived and wrote music.
Price: Adults £14.50, child £5, U12s free · Time: 10am – 5pm Wed – Sun · Nearest tube: Bond Street and Oxford Circus
Museums with niche collections
Museum of Brands
Located near Notting Hill, the London Museum of Brands tracks the history of consumer culture from Victorian times through to the present day. It’s one of my favourite unusual museums in London and one that I think is often overlooked. What started as a private collection by Robert Opie has grown into a huge collection of wrappers, magazines, newspapers, song sheets, railway timetables, commemorative items and more from across the last 200 years.
Everything is displayed in museum’s Time Tunnel, starting in the Victorian era through to the Edwardian era, onto the Great War and through history until you get to the present day. It’s a fascinating look at social change, culture and lifestyle through British history.
Price: Adults £14, child £8 · Time: 10am – 5pm Mon – Sat, 11am – 5pm Sun · Nearest tube: Ladbroke Grove
The Fan Museum
Definitely one of the most unusual museums in London is this space dedicated to the history, culture and craft of the fan. Located in Greenwich, the Fan Museum was founded in 1991 by Dicky and Hélène Alexander – Hélène has spent her lifetime collecting fans and now has over 5,000 making it home to the world’s largest collection of fans.
The permanent exhibition explores fans through the ages covering 1,000 years of fan history and culture from flat vellum rectangles used during the Middle Ages through to ornate folding fans from the 18th century. Also on display are a rare Elizabethan-period fan and a Fabergé fan with gold work and enamelling. It’s definitely niche but well worth visiting!
Price: Adults £5, child £3 · Time: 11am – 5pm Tues – Sat · Nearest tube: Cutty Sark DLR
The London Sewing Machine Museum
This wonderfully weird London museum is a true hidden gem, dedicated to the history of the sewing machine. Created by collector Ray Rushton the London Sewing Machine Museum houses some 700 machines, made for both domestic and industrial use. These aren’t any old sewing machines, however, among the collection is a machine gifted to Queen Victoria’s daughter and the very first machine by Singer.
Make sure to check ahead if you want to visit, however, as the museum is only open on the first Saturday of every month between 2pm – 5pm.
Price: Free · Time: 2pm – 5pm First Sat of the month · Nearest tube: Tooting Bec
The Cartoon Museum
Anyone with an interest in cartoons and animation should head straight for the Cartoon Museum, home to over 6,000 original cartoon and comic artwork as well as over 8,000 books and comics. The permanent collection includes wartime cartoons, modern satirists including Ralph Steadman and original Rupert Bear artwork from 1921.
The permanent exhibition is less suited to young children than the museum’s name might suggest but we’ve visited during school holidays and they often have children’s activities on offer, which are fun for younger kids.
Price: Adults £12, students £5, U18s free · Time: 10.30am – 5.30pm Tues – Sat, 12pm – 4pm Sun · Nearest tube: Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road and Goodge Street
London Canal Museum
The London Canal Museum is housed in a Victorian warehouse near King’s Cross. It was built for Carlo Gatti, an ice-cream maker who imported huge blocks of ice from Norway, and you can still peer down into one of the enormous ice wells beneath the floor. Upstairs, find out how London’s canals were built, what life was like for the families who worked them, and squeeze inside a narrowboat cabin. Afterwards, walk along the Regent’s Canal to find Word on the Water, a bookshop on a barge.
Price: Adults £8, concessions £6.50, child £4 · Time: 10am – 4.30pm Tues – Sun · Nearest tube: King’s Cross
Pop culture and nostalgia
The Postal Museum
I love London’s Postal Museum, a fascinating space dedicated to the origins and history of the humble letter. Located across from the enormous Royal Mail depot in King’s Cross, the museum is formed of three parts: the main museum follows the history of the postal service; Sorted! is a brilliant play space for children under the age of 8; and then there’s the Mail Rail. From the 1920s until its closure in 2003, trains transported letters and parcels 6.5miles across London along underground tunnels and today two new trains have been adapted to take visitors on trip, 21 metres underground.
Price: Adults £20.50, child £11, U2s free · Time: 10am – 5pm Tues – Sun · Nearest tube: King’s Cross
The Museum of Youth Culture
Anyone who has ever made a mixtape, queued to see their favourite band or told their parents a lie or two will love London’s new museum, the London Museum of Youth Culture. Set along Regent’s Canal at the St Pancras Campus in Camden, this is the world’s first museum dedicated to teenagers and young people, and celebrates everything that’s wonderful, messy, challenging and fun about being a teen. Set over two floors and across several different areas, the London Museum of Youth Culture is part archive, part social hangout, part record store. It’s an homage to being young and is a wonderful slice of nostalgia.
Price: Free · Time: 12pm – 8pm Wed – Sat, 12pm – 6pm Sun · Nearest tube: Camden Town
The Fashion and Textile Museum
Anyone with a love of fashion should head to the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. Founded by flamboyant fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, it’s the only museum in the UK dedicated to showcasing contemporary fashion and textile design. There are regular temporary exhibitions covering everything from the Fabric of Democracy (exploring printed propaganda textiles) to the textile designs of Andy Warhol. Workshops, talks and events are regularly held here too. It’s an especially great option for teens in London.
Price: Adults £12.65, ages 18 – 25 £11.55, students £10.45, U12s free · Time: 11am – 6pm Tues – Sun · Nearest tube: London Bridge
Cinema Museum
The Cinema Museum is one of my favourite museums in London. Housed in a former Victorian workhouse, the museum is dedicated to showcasing the history of the silver screen, with a unique collection of artefacts, memorabilia and equipment reflecting the history and popularity of cinema from the 1890s to the present day. On display are photos, art works, posters, projectors as well – my favourites – the usherettes’ uniforms once worn by staff in cinemas. Upstairs, in the former workhouse chapel, is a large screen where regular screenings are shown.
Price: Adults £15, concessions £12 · Time: Only on Saturdays by guided tours · Nearest tube: Elephant and Castle
Ragged School Museum
In 1877, Dr Thomas Barnardo turned a row of canal-side warehouses in Mile End into a free “ragged school” for the East End’s poorest children. Today the Ragged School Museum brings that history to life with a monthly lesson taking place in the restored Victorian classroom. Lessons run on the first Sunday of the month but you can visit at other times as well. The ground floor permanent exhibition is an excellent introduction on ragged schools and why they were needed alongside some pieces of furniture including Dr Barnardo’s very grand desk.
Price: Adults £5, children £2.50 · Time: 10am – 5pm Wed – Sun · Nearest tube: Mile End
Pollock’s Toy Museum
Named after the toy theatre maker, Benjamin Pollock, the former Pollock’s Toy Museum occupied two townhouses, filling the spaces with teddy bears, antique dolls and Victorian toy theatres. Sadly, the museum had to move in 2025 and now runs two mini museums while it searches for a new permanent base. You’ll find one in Croydon, open on Saturdays, and the other in Leadenhall Market, which is open on Thursdays and Fridays. Make sure to check the website before you visit.
Price: Free · Time: Croydon on Saturdays, Leadenhall Market on Thursdays and Fridays · Nearest tube: Leadenhall – Monument, Croydon – East Croydon
Pingback: 100+ fun things to do in London with teens (2026) - Globetotting
Pingback: What to expect at London's Old Operating Theatre Museum - Globetotting