A Last Look Around The Museum of London 

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In my opinion this was one of the hidden gems of museums in London. I really enjoyed visiting whilst I lived there. I hope the new one will be as good and am looking forward to visiting some day!

Growing up in London MOL was always a destination for my school trips

I always liked the museum of London. Although I do have one bad memory of the place. About sixteen years ago I was an agency chef. I was sent there to do a canapé party. I arrived early afternoon and started making canapés. I was on my own, the last chef to leave forgot they had a function, didn’t realise I was still in the kitchen. He locked me in. I finished everything got changed and realised I was locked in the kitchen. I had to wait until early evening. Until the staff arrived for the function. The manager was mortified and actually paid me the extra hours.

I visited the museum en route to Greece in 1979 to kill some time. I remember the staff being very kind to me and allowed me to leave my heavy suitcase with them while I enjoyed the visit.

I visited a few years back. Unlike some modern museums this museum had the correct balance between interactive for kids and artefacts for us oldies. Hope the new one will be as good

I have fond memories of the MoL - i worked as an archaeologist with it for some years and was sometimes based in the rotunda at the offices that you can see as you look at the garden - the other side of the steps down was a cafe at that time. I was also based at the storage warehouse which was initally at Tower bridge foot, almost exactly where the london assembly building is now and then moved out to another warehouse at Surrey docks (quays) in around 1991. we had 5000+ skeletons from a variety of roman sites across the city and borough plus rather a lot of larger wood and stone finds. I always loved it and the rather wonderful Barbican centre - a symbol of an optimistic future that never happened; the raised walkways were a relic of the attempt to seperate ground level traffic and raised pedestrians of the post war period. It's a shame that the MoL has moved but all things must pass.

Nice video! I remember the "less protein for less lust" guy from my childhood (late 60's). My mum would take me up to Oxford Street when she went shopping and to see Uncle Holly at Selfridges at Christmas. Highlight was always an egg-burger at the Wimpy - happy days. Thanks for reminding me.

It was difficult to find. Great news to hear its being relocated & isn't leaving forever.

Why are they closing now on the current location when it is so many years before they can open on the new location? I visited the museum in 2016 and loved it. One of the best museums in London. I hope the new museum will be as good as the old one.

Will you do an in depth video on Roman and Medieval London? I was enjoying that part the most!

The last time I visited the museum was around 2015. The torches from the Olympics was on display. I don’t know why, but it nearly brought me to tears. Silly I know. I very much appreciate the display of artisans that made the torch pedals.

I remember visiting the museum before it was established, it was basically a temporary structure perched up on one of the levels of the barbican along London wall. it contained items which had been discovered during building works in the area. Museum of London is still my favourite Museum in London. However as I now live out of London I still have yet to visit the Museum in the Docklands..

Went there with a good friend to see the Sherlock Holmes exhibition. We are both huge Sherlockians, and to see the actual manuscripts in Arthur Conan Doyle's own handwriting was quite a treat!

I worked in London, in many locations in the 80s and 90s, and I used to go the Museum of London in my lunch breaks to look at the regular and temporary exhibitions. I loved going there, and everyone loved the Fire of London reconstruction! Thanks, Rob. A great little video that captures the memory of it all!

I went several times to the museum a my company donated money for some Roman items they wanted to buy. It was a total mish-mash of rooms, ramps, stairs and odd shaped corridors. Then there was the quadrangle garden that you could never access! So it will be good when it moves as it will be more coherent. The only bit I will miss will be the walls and the Barbican.

Thank you for giving me a last chance to visit the museum before its closure. It looked so interesting, and I am sorry I did not manage to get there in person. I like brutalise architecture. Such a good video as ever.

So many childhood memories - school trips etc...

Thank you. Didn’t realise it had closed, glad we took the kids there a few years ago.

I was so upset at the beginning until I heard that it will reopen in a few years. This has long been my favorite museum of all the museums I have been to around the world. i will be one of the first to see the new one.

Im so happy I got to visit twice before it closed. I really can’t wait so long 😩 I know it will be absolutely incredible when it opens tho

I came to London in 1977 as a student and aspiring opera singer. The Museum of London was the 1st museum I visited. It was a great way to learn about the city that would be my home for the next 5 years. Thanks for this great video.

MOL was one of my favorite places to visit in London. My first time there was when I did a study abroad program for my fall 2013 semester. That year, the program was run by an anthropology professor and visiting this museum was part of one of our projects. I fell in love with the place. Ever since then, I always went to MOL at least once whenever I set foot on the grounds of London. Fortunately, I have a great big encyclopedia/guidebook from there to hold me over until 2026.

it makes sense to move it to ground level- much easier for tourists to find and I'm glad the murals or Whittitington and his cat are still on that staircase!

I visited the museum in 1992 - but didn't remember it was located in the hideous Barbican Centre. I think we found it by accident! Could have spent days looking at the myriad of displays. One that particularly caught my interest was a collection of objects fished out of the Thames! Thanks for the memories, Rob, love your little documentaries. 😉

I was there not long ago, always loved the Georgian London Pleasure Gardens room. I’d spend hours and hours looking at the stuff, really interesting since visiting in the late 70’s with my school.

I last visited the Museum of London just before we all got locked down, and I first visited it in the 70s, not long after it opened. For years I thought I must have been getting deja vu, because I remembered the real shop fronts exhibit, but in my mind they were down in a vaulted cellar. It was only many years later I discovered that some of the collection had been on display in the cellars of Kensington Palace (called the London Museum), during the 60s and early 70s, when I was very young indeed. Great to see the Museum in its Barbican home one last time, I had hoped to see it before it closed up, thanks mate. The plans for the new version in Smithfield look fascinating on their website, and of course it will be much easier to find being so near to Farringdon station. Just as long as you don't get off at the wrong end of the Elizabeth line, in which case you'll be - well - back at Barbican! Memorable recent exhibits included the one on the 2012 London Olympics, which made me sad, as we all had such high hopes back then. Also the bit about Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens was great fun, and I enjoyed a lot of the stuff about London during WW2, which still seemed very real to a kid growing up in the 60s. Presumably there will have to be a section in the new Museum on why one of the richest cities in the world needs so many food banks?

I visited in the 80's with my children & we loved it. I seem to remember a particularly good exhibition on the great fire 🔥 featuring a very realistic depiction of flames etc. Sad to see it close, but hope it opens successfully in it’s new location 😀

Although it was hard to get to, I used to visit a lot. It's great that it will reopen again even if you won't be able to see the old London wall.

I'm so sad that I was in London in September and didn't go there and when I wanted to book a ticket for May I saw that they are moving. I really like(d) the old building.

The old St. Paul's is the origin of my favourite idiom, 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'. Peter being the Collegiate Church of St. Peter , or more commonly known as Westminster Abbey.

Yes it is a sad occasion but at least the artefacts will be kept and on show in the new place. Worse when a pub closes and knocked down and all the history is gone for ever. Good effort Rob👍

As you said, the problem with the old site was finding a way in! The first time I had a little time to spare and thought I'd have a look at the Museum having seen it when passing, I actually gave up. Wandering around the walkways near it always felt as though you were tresspassing, The new site should be far better for casual visitors, can't wait to see it.

I never heard about it and have worked and lived in North London for 65yrs.

Another great video Rob. I visited this fantastic museum about 10 years ago, and was very sad to hear it was closing - so glad to hear it’s reopening in a new location - which actually sounds much better - have never been a fan of 70s brutalist architecture!

I went there in July 2019 with a friend, she was more interested in the older artefacts from London before London. I was more interested in the life of the Inhabitants of that time.

Thanks for the video Rob which for me was a walk down memory lane. Working nearby, I enjoyed many lunchtime visits in the 1970’s when the museum first opened. I liked how you could feel really immersed in an era and would focus on one small part on each visit. You could view it on so many levels, from the purely visual, the broad commentary on each exhibit, down to the description of individual artefacts. Even soundtracks and period music helping to bring the period to life. It was the best museum I ever visited and it’s sad to think it’s now gone. I hope the new museum will be as good.

went in 1990. Great place

Very well done! You have given us a real treat, narrated well and just delightful.

Sad that it’s closed but hopefully the new museum will be successful. Great video Rob - really lovely to have this documented ❤

I must’ve been there about twenty times over the years…for a relatively small museum it never failed to me to find out something new on every visit.

A very interesting video Rob and one that we can fondly look back on when the current location closes. I used to visit the museum on wet lunchtimes in the early 1990s and look at a different bit on each visit. Seeing as I love the Smithfield Market complex, moving the museum there seems like a marriage made in heaven.

Very interesting video. Glad you let us see the museum before it closed. Thanks!

Thank you. I‘ve never been, but now wish I had. What a great collection. 👍

Hey Rob loving your channel mate. My mum in the 70s cooked breakfasts on the museum site for the workers when it was being built. I was off school a lot and was regulary tagging along. I remember the onsite archiologists always stopping work, much to the dismay of 'my friend the foremen', who was overlooking the digging of the plague pits. My bedroom was pretty macarbe as action men were replaced with human skulls and horse jaws, much to me ol mums dissapointment. ☠

This brought back fond memories of the MOL. I live in Australia but my partner got the position of Director of Public Programmes from 2003 to 2008. It was the best five years of our lives. My partner was involved in many changes in the museum over those years, especially the redevelopment of the Medieval gallery and gallery of the 20th century. It was interesting as his partner to see the changes behind the scenes and to see things the public didn’t get to see. I remember while he was there there were talks about the Smithfield Markets as a site for the new London Museum. My partner had many stories to tell but unfortunately he developed dementia and passed away a couple of years ago. I would love to visit again when the museum has been reestablished at the new site. This was an excellent video and I will be checking out lots more.

Sad to see it go, thanks Rob for putting this up, I will be looked at again over the coming years with fondness by those of us who knew it like this.

I was hoping to go back. Loved that video piece they did for one of the Enlightenment plays they screened in there.

Thank you Rob, didn’t get the chance to visit and seeing just a little of it is very pleasing, the accompanying narrative was excellent.

Impressive production and so detailed!

We. Visited this wonderful museum several years ago and spent hours viewing the most interesting historical exhibits. It was one of our favorite memories of our visit. I have been to London several times and visited museums both large and small but this one was stellar for me.

Dunno how I got this, I’m Scottish and haven’t been to London since the spice girls were big but it was very enjoyable.

Great video - although I'd have liked much more of Victorian London... The shopping parade, the penny farthing, etc. And in the Roman section, the mock-up of the Roman villa with the mosaic floor. It really was the highlight of that particular exhibit. But this vid is great work, a lovely tribute to one of London's greatest museums.

Absolutely adored this rather easy to find museum, with my Mum, when we visited in the late 1980’s. Free maps made it easy to find!❤️

Thank you for this, the Cheapside Hoard was always my favourite exhibit. Trying to remember where it was before it moved to the Barbican.I am an old lady now, hope I get to see the new one.) I have subscribed.

Hello Rob We did go to London Museum and really enjoyed it. Love the roman area. When I saw the chunky cell phones all I can think of was one of the Driscoll brothers saying hay Delboy is that one of our phones up your routor. LOL We sat and had our packed lunch looking over the little green space atop of the wall of death. Thanks Take Care Chris and Sandra of Canada.

Thank you Rob for another great video. Like many l remember visiting the museum with my family and then my school in the 80s. It was snowing and we had to wear our uniforms, thank teacher

Never knew this even existed. Would love to visit when it reopens.

Really enjoyed the video thanks. Although, I must say, that early taxi, far from having no dashboard, had a massive one! The name dashboard comes from old horse-drawn carriages and is the board giving protection from being dashed with spray and dirt from the road. Later, on cars, the dashboard became the place to attach instrumentation to aid the driver.

Damn, I didn't know that had closed! I used to work round the corner and I drove round it every day for about a year on my daily commute in. I always planned to go but, as always, it never happened. Great channel by the way - as a Mancunian originally who has now lived more of my life just outside London, I love the place but I don't get in enough; must try harder...

nice tour . We have been there a couple of times . I hope the new museum is as good . Nice details you added in the commentary

True. Was hard to find but we Canadians really enjoyed. New venues look really interesting!

The London before London exhibition was interesting.

Every time I've been in London, I've meant to go to the Museum of London and never made it. I like the sound of the new location much better! Thanks again for an excellent video. 😊

I've never visited there and now I'm very sorry I hadn't. I didnt know where it was though. But when you've only got 2 days in London you can't do it all. I'm glad I watched this film. 2012 may seem just yesterday. I'm at an age when 1985 seems just yesterday.

That was very interesting. Thanks

So sad to hear the museum was closing. I have been there on both my trips to London over many years. So glad to hear it's simply moving locations. Unfortunately sounds like will not open this coming spring when I am hopefully coming.

This was very interesting. I believe I visited the Museum of London on a primary school trip. I thought I left it in 1975, but seem to recall being accompanied by old headmistress who I think left in 1974. I can recall it being in a modern building and I think there was a bit of city wall nearby.I remember lots of Roman skulls with worn teeth a product we were told of roman mill stones losing bits of themselves. Rather confusingly I can remember two chinese jade burial suits. But heaven knows why they would be in the Museum of London.

I wish they could have had the new building ready before closing the old one. The new facility will be an improvement over the current one at the Barbican. My last visit was in 2018 and getting into the museum was depressing.

Thank-you so much for this video. I was just in London from June through December of 2022 and visited the museum frequently, including, like you, visiting right at the end to document some of the uniqueness that the geographical location added to this fantastic museum. I will treasure this video as a record of one of my favorite places in London and a way to remember it in this format. I am sure the new one will be lovely, too, and I plan to visit it just as much in years to come. Your videos are terrific and I appreciate how much work and effort you put into them. Thanks for adding so much London love to the world!

Great tour. I used to work at the Museum of London for a while as a temp back in the end of 92. It brought back some memories of it.

Great video. A museum I’d love to see someday. 👍

Happy Chtistmas Rob thanks for all the great content this year!

Many thanks for sharing the last days of such a fantastic place. I was very saddened to learn it was closing. I spent my youth in the 1970's and 80's wandering through the many galleries and being thrilled by the amazing display system. It was one of a kind and boasted some great artefacts.

I was one of the early aficionados of the museum, I went to City of London College and later got a job in the City in the 1960s and 70's. Having always been fascinated by history and archaeology, I, like others, used to spend at least part of my lunch hours exploring the museum. I'm b

Great video as always. I enjoyed watching it and also loved it very much too. Thanks Robert.👍👍👍💜💜💜

Lethargy almost got me, too. One of my favorites was the Great Fire of London diorama. I remember seeing that as a child, though. Was it somewhere else before? Kensington Palace?

I had no idea this was closing, especially as I thought it had had a big renovation not very long ago.

Thanks Rob, I never got the chance to visit this museum so I appreciate you taking us on a tour before it closed. Super interesting and informative as always. Seasons Greetings to you and yours from Perth Oz.

Great presentation Rob, in fact as a non Londoner I never knew it existed. Lots of attractions covered everywhere else but never knew about this museum. On a weekend dalliances to London as a mid 20's something I stayed in a 'mansion' it even had a library/ballroom in it B&B in Bethnal Green just round the corner from Museum of childhood and toys (I think?) I don't know if it's still there or not. Cheers DougT in Mancs Oh and have Merry Christmas and a fab 2023

Really enjoyed this. Thank you. I’ll look out for the new location. Perhaps they’ll have room to go back further in time.

I’ve visited the museum twice and I think it was one of the best museums in London. I loved the Roman and Medieval sections. They also had a good gift shop. I’m still using the tea towel in got there several years ago! 😄 Looking forward to seeing their new home on a future visit to London, my favorite city in the world. ❤

Lovely video Rob. At least it's getting a new home. All the best for Christmas.

Sad to see the closing of this magnificent museum. But will look forward to the replacement. I visited in the 1970's as a child and have returned many times up to this year. Thank you for a great video Rob.

Shame it closing but fortunately I visited it twice, both some time in the 2010s. I vividly remember the mad route you had to take there, but very much enjoyed it. The Museum of London Docklands is a also a good visit, and has the Sainsbury's museum in it.

thank you for this last look around the wonderful Museum Of London. Spent many a happy hour wandering around all those exhibits (used to work just around the corner so it was easier enough to find the entrance !). Looking forward to seeing exhibits and new ones when it opens in the new location in 2026

I'm so grateful for being able to visit last May. Thank you for making this video.

I hope all these wonderful artefacts will find their new home in Smithfield 🙏🏻 London…as a great and ancient capital…deserves its own museum…as this great video so well supports 😊👍👍

Looked like a brilliant museum Rob Thank you for taking us round!

Oh, I had this on my to-do list for next week (first time to England)

Thanks!

Excellent as ever, thanks Rob. Always love your vids in our house. Have a great Christmas, and eagerly anticipating more of your work next year!

Thank you for posting this. Every time I've visited London (I've been away for far too long now), I've always looked forward to a visit to this Museum. It really was one of the best museums I've ever experienced -- and I've been to a great many museums of all sorts in many countries. I remember being really unprepared for the graffiti on the walls of the reconstructed prison cell. Very emotionally powerful. I'm a glass artist, and I really enjoyed the examples of glass from Whitefriars. It's now considered highly collectible. As you said, let's hope the new London Museum will be better still. Thanks again. This brought back many memories.

Thank mate. Great content .

thank you for this revisit of the museum. I cannot wait to see it in it's new home

Thank you for your excellent video. As mentioned in your earlier video I visited a few weekends before the museum with my lady friend Judy. If was a lovely day we spent quite a lot of time looking at the Roman displays. Which of course in space & time where London truly begins (along with Lincoln London still uses a variation of it Roman name). Judy noticed that many of Londinium reconstructions would be quite livable in today. In the London Before London display one thing that is interesting is the development of the stone 🪓 from a very crudely dressed lump of flint to an incredibly well finished and highly polished item that must have had a very high status symbolic value. Judy also loved the clothes particularly the Regency dresses which are so very elegant. Whilst it is sad that the museum in its present form has gone. We are both looking forward to the new museum.

Thank you for the excellent, comprehensive, and interesting video. I live in London and have visited the Museum many times. I particularly liked being able to look from the Museum and see the bit of Roman.wall in situ. I shall miss it. A pity they decided to close the Museum for such a long time until the Smithfields site opens. The annex in Dockands is still open and also very interesting.

Loved the old museum and its location by the wall. I fear the new one will be naff as most new things are.

If I had to guess, that mention of "teeth" on the death record was most likely some kind of gum abscess or tooth infection, cause without treatment they can cause sepsis really easily 🤢🤮

Wonderful video as ever Rob, particularly your friendly and knowledgeable narration.