The Museum of London is Closing… And They’re Having a Party

Heard the news? The Museum of London is closing and relocating, but not without a party. 

On December 4th, the Museum of London will close the doors on its current location in favour of relocating to a more central London location. To complete the move, the museum will be out of action until 2026. 

When it reopens, the museum will have rebranded itself to the London Museum. Its sister location in the Docklands will stay open during its closure but will also rebrand itself and become the London Museum Docklands. 

The Museum of London has a fascinating collection of artefacts from London’s history that ranges from the recent past to the prehistoric. 

And, if you’ve not seen it before, you should put it on your list – then either rush down in the next few days, attend its closing music festival (read on for more) or wait patiently until it reopens. 

To be honest, we fully back the move from the awkward-to-get-to, middle-of-a-roundabout location. The museum is one of London’s low-key best and deserves a venue as historic as its contents.

Which it is certainly getting…

Musical Chairs 

The move is part of a game of London-institution switcheroo that sees another time-honoured location closing and moving elsewhere – Smithfield Market. 

The meat market that’s been doing its thing since about the 1200’s (no joke) will also be closing its doors and moving to Dagenham where it is expected to open in 2027-28. 

The Museum of London, no wait, The London Museum will then open in its place, with a nice refurb job that retains the nice historic bits of the building and removes the smell of all the animal guts and dead fish (we hope). 

Word is that, in scoping out the new location, the museum has already found hidden spaces beneath the market that had been forgotten about and lost, and that they now intend to turn into extra exhibition spaces. 

It’s even been proved that one of these spaces was a former Lockhart’s Temperance Cocoa Room – part of a chain booze-free Victorian cocoa houses linked to the temperance movement, that aimed to get people on board with the teetotal lifestyle.

Closing Parties 

To kick off the last weekend at the museum’s current location, they are throwing a two-day (3rd and 4th of December) music festival celebrating London’s impact on the music scene across the decades. Expect a genre-hopping party with disco, punk, dub, grime, and all the rest, as well as DJ Sisu sets. 

That will be happening in the daytime with the evening turning into a film festival screening The Long Good Friday and Tony – two London-based classics. Their exhibition spaces will also be open to the public for a straight 24-hour history session that spills into Sunday with morning yoga sessions and more music. 

In a strange amalgamation of interests, there’s also going to be collaborations with Fabric coming up at the new venue once it opens, mainly because they will be right opposite each other. Could be interesting. Watch this space. 

For more info, and to book tickets to the closing party, visit their website here.

Museum of London: Practical Information

Current Address: 150 London Wall, Barbican, London EC2Y 5HN

Opening times: 10am – 5pm (4pm on Friday). 

Website. 

Museum of London: Map