London Transport Museum. Copyright Gretta Schifano
Parked in the middle of Covent Garden, the London Transport Museum shows the development of public transport in the city from sedan chairs right up to Emirates Air-Line, a London cable car coming this summer. Kids get in for free, and are issued with a card on arrival to follow a ‘stamper trail’ around the museum, collecting different shaped stamps as they go.
The waxwork figures in the various vehicles were deemed ‘freaky’ by the eldest, but she was soon consoled by the shopping opportunities on offer once we left the museum, H&M being the main attraction. The youngest and the cousins tore around the three floors collecting their stamps as quickly as they could, stopping only to clamber onto the trains, trams and buses on display. There’s a wealth of information on offer, but we didn’t have time to read it all, what with our stamper-obsessed livewires. My husband reckons it was actually more interesting for adults than children, as we can see how much things have changed even in our lifetimes.
Inevitably we had to exit through the gift shop, but there were actually some quirky things on sale, such as door stops and cushions made of bus seat fabric, as well as many beautiful London Transport poster designs from the archives.
Cost: Entry costs £13.50 for adults, and the ticket is valid for a year.
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