About London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum hosts the world’s best collection of objects and fascinating interactive exhibits relating to London’s rich public transport history.
London Transport Museum history
In the 1920s, the London General Omnibus Company decided to preserve two retired Victorian horse buses and an early motorbus for the benefit of future generations. The Museum of British Transport was then opened in the 1960s in an old bus garage in Clapham, and from there it moved to Syon Park near Twickenham in 1973, and in 1980 to its current site – the Victorian Flower Market Building in Covent Garden’s world-famous Piazza.
The Grade II-listed iron and glass building dates from 1871 and was designed by architect William Rogers of William Cubitt & Company. For close to a century it was the epicentre of London’s wholesale flower industry until it moved just south of the Thames to Nine Elms in Vauxhall. Following which the London Transport Museum moved most of its collection into the building, with other exhibits moving to York upon the formation of the National Railway Museum in 1975.
London Transport Museum today
Today the London Transport Museum’s permanent displays take visitors through the heritage of London and its transport system, as well as the stories of the people who have travelled and worked in the city over the last two centuries. The museum also boasts a continually updated range of brilliantly interactive temporary exhibitions, taking on subjects like London Transport’s most iconic poster designs, Crossrail, and the future of public transportation.
Trains, trams, tubes and buses through the ages are on display and galleries include 19th century London & Victorian Transport, World’s First Underground, Pioneer Tube, Growth of Suburbia, On the Surface 1900-1945, London Transport at War, and Digging Deeper.
The London Transport Museum is a fun, interesting and fascinating day out for the whole family and if you buy a ticket you can go back as many time as you like for free for a whole year!
Getting to the London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum is located in the Covent Garden Piazza, and can be reached via a number of public transport options. The nearest bus stops are Strand or Aldwych, while the Covent Garden Underground station is just a 2-minute walk away. The nearest train station is also Charing Cross, a 7-minute walk away.
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