London Museum announced this week that it will open the doors to its new permanent galleries in Smithfield’s General Market on 28 November 2026, marking a new chapter for the world’s largest city museum.
London Museum announced this week that it will open the doors to its new permanent galleries in Smithfield’s General Market on 28 November 2026, marking a new chapter for the world’s largest city museum. At its heart, London Museum has been envisioned as a social space for the city, drawing on the distinctive architecture of the market to unite the museum’s collection and London’s communities, to honour the past and present of this major global capital.
Designed by Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, alongside conservation architects Julian Harrap, the museum is located in one of the oldest parts of the capital, the City of London. The opening completes a decade-long restoration of the Victorian General Market, returning the disused historic building to public use for the first time in over three decades. The £437m project has been developed through a unique partnership between the City of London Corporation and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, alongside support from a range of philanthropic supporters including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Goldsmiths’ Foundation, The Linbury Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In the General Market, the museum unfolds across three interconnected spaces. Visitors will enter via Real Time (on Heritage Fund Street) – a covered former street that acts as the museum’s main entrance – enriched by data capturing London in the moment. From there, they move into Our Time (in the Linbury Hall), a vibrant central hub for events and activities, anchored by 13 large installations – eclectic objects from London in living memory. Below ground, in the museum’s cavernous subterranean galleries, the permanent displays of Past Time offer a compelling overview of London’s history through chronological and thematic displays.
Highlights confirmed for display across the museum include the Whitechapel Fatberg, The Lord Mayor’s Coach, Banksy’s Piranhas artwork, Charles I’s execution vest, Emmeline Pankhurst’s hunger strike medal and Anna Pavlova’s ‘Dying Swan’ dress. There will be objects from the museum’s eminent archaeological archive, including Roman writing tablets from The Bloomberg Collection capturing the city’s earliest surviving voices. The tablets form part of The Bloomberg Collection, a world-renowned trove of more than 14,000 Roman artefacts, the largest archaeological deposition ever gifted to the museum. In The Goldsmiths’ Gallery, the glittering Cheapside Hoard, one of the most significant collections of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewellery, will be shown in the fullest display of the hoard ever assembled.
Sharon Ament, Director, London Museum said: ““This has been a long undertaking – not without its challenges but mostly filled with immense joy and hyper-creativity – and now we are counting down the days to welcome our first visitors. At the beginning we asked ourselves how to be the best museum for London, the answer is, to be London itself, in all its grit and glitter. We’ve done it with the very best; designers, historians, curators, builders, architects, artists, poets, writers, creators to name a few, all are shapers of London. And the very best includes over one hundred thousand people who have contributed along the way. I hope our museum is a place where people can come together, feel at home, and find themselves grounded in the lives, treasures, challenges and innovations of this city’s vast history. Above all, I hope we make Londoners proud!”
At the heart of the museum is Our Time in the Linbury Hall, a new social space for London set beneath the market’s restored dome. Here, visitors can gather and experience London’s vibrant culture as it unfolds under one roof.
Around its perimeter, a restaurant, shop and show space for families and schools will sit alongside 13 large anchor displays. These eclectic snapshots of London in living memory will include the Lord Mayor’s Coach, paraded annually on London’s streets, and East End icon Syd’s Coffee Stall. Hanging Out – a display paying homage to places that have brought Londoners together – will include signs from the India Club, Topshop and the Galtymore Dance Club, whilst the voices of London’s Generation Alpha will be captured by a display drawn from the museum’s first major collecting project with young people.
A day to night programme of activities will animate Our Time’s centre, delivered with London partners including fabric nightclub, Morley’s chicken shop, Punchdrunk Enrichment and Hive Curates.
Highlights will include:
Tuesday Tea Club (every Tuesday, from November 2026) – free hot brews from Syd’s Coffee Stall. Joining the museum’s collection in 2019 after 100 years of trading in Shoreditch, Syd’s will bring Londoners together over workshops, live performances and more.
Shared Late Nights (every Friday and Saturday, from November 2026) – The lights go down and the music goes up in these after-hours sessions, featuring curated DJ sets.
Dinner Club (monthly, from January 2027)– For the foodies, London’s best culinary talent will serve up a monthly feast, framed by a distinct theme and served up with a side of entertainment.
House Party (first Saturday of the month, from February 2027)– the museum’s monthly bash, thrown with our nightclub in residence, fabric – a chance to mingle amongst the artefacts and make the market floor your dance floor.
The museum will invite Guest Editors to explore the city through their eyes, reflecting on one of four key themes: tastes, sounds, plays and wears. Their ideas will act as a unifying thread, shaping a season of experiences and events that run through Our Time, including its regular house parties, family events and dinner clubs, as well as influencing the museum’s shop and restaurant. In a vibrant, evolving city of almost 10 million people, they will offer visitors the chance to experience a slice of their city.
The museum’s inaugural programme, London Tastes (November 2026 – August 2027) will celebrate the city’s rich and vibrant food culture, led by Guest Editors Ruby Tandoh (All Consuming, Cook As You Are), whose work explores the intersections of food and social change, and Jonathan Nunn, founder of the influential food publication Vittles. The programme is sponsored by Sainsbury’s, whoseroots in London date back to its first store on Drury Lane over 150 years ago.
London Tastes will feature a spotlight exhibition across two display pavilions, exploring the changing appetites of a global food city. Crossing London’s neighbourhoods from Enfield to Park Royal, Southall to Walworth, it will touch on stories of Covent Garden market, Brick Lane, London’s traditional pie and mash shops, chicken shop culture, and the markets, manufacturers, retailers and artisans that make up London’s ever-evolving food scene.
Descending below ground into the permanent galleries set at Roman street level, visitors will encounter the stories and people that have shaped London through time – from the lives of the earliest prehistoric inhabitants and rare artefacts from the city’s Roman origins nearly 2000 years ago, to transformative events including the Great Fire and the Blitz, and cultural milestones like the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Voices of past Londoner’s will shine through in object-rich, theatrical and sensory displays, presented both chronologically and thematically for the first time.
Drawn from the museum’s 7-million-strong collection – the world’s largest relating to a single urban centre – Past Time reveals a city shaped as much by its grit as its glitter. In its first permanent display, the Cheapside Hoard will dazzle alongside rare objects from the Goldsmiths’ Company collection. Old favourites will return including the glamorous Selfridges lift and a chunk of the infamous Whitechapel Fatberg. There will be artefacts linked to iconic Londoners and defining moments for the capital – including Tom Daley’s 2012 Olympic diving trunks, Queen Victoria’s mourning dress, Charles Dickens’ chair and the vest believed to have been worn by King Charles I at his execution (on display for six months).
London’s rich history as an epicentre of protest and activism is also explored, from an unparalleled collection of suffragette material – including Emmeline Pankhurst’s hunger strike medal and the court warrant issued to Sophia Duleep Singh – to more contemporary objects such as a statuette of Lady Phyll, co-founder of UK Black Pride, and placards from trailblazing disabled-led group Transport for All. From punk to ballet, London’s status as a global creative powerhouse will shine through iconic cultural artefacts: On loan from The Clash’s Paul Simonon, the smashed Fender Precision Bass guitar, immortalised on the band’s 1979 album London Calling, tablas belonging to British Bhangra pioneer Kuljit Bhamra and Anna Pavlova’s Dying Swan costume.
Christopher Hayward, Policy Chairman, City of London Corporation said: “This is a landmark moment for the Square Mile and the City of London Corporation is proud to have been a major partner in making this happen and funding it. London Museum at Smithfield is a flagship investment that brings new life to one of our most historic buildings, opening it up for the public to enjoy for the first time in a generation. This sits at the heart of our Destination City vision, a Square Mile that is alive seven days a week, where world-class culture, history and ambition exist side by side. By combining world-class heritage with a dynamic programme of events and experiences, the museum will not only tell London’s story in all its richness, but play a vital role in shaping its future, strengthening the City’s appeal as a place to work, visit and invest.”
Set amongst displays exploring London’s evolving landscape, a six-metre viewing window will offer visitors a world first museum experience: the chance to watch live trains rumble through the galleries as passengers peer in from the passing Thameslink line.
Opened in 1883 and designed by Sir Horace Jones – the architect behind Tower Bridge and Leadenhall Market – the Victorian General Market saw over a century of trade before being shuttered in the 1990s and falling into disrepair. Leading its meticulous restoration and transformation are Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, working with conservation architects Julian Harrap. Together they are moulding a historic landmark into a sustainable 21st century cultural destination.
The vast project has drawn on expertise from over 70 trades, and since 2023 has given more than 40 apprentices a start in fields ranging from plumbing and electrical engineering to emerging disciplines like sustainable construction management. The building’s heritage as a working market is being carefully preserved and celebrated through the work of some of the UK’s leading craftspeople – from the country’s last heritage coppersmiths to master stonemasons and Welsh blacksmiths restoring decorative ironwork. The reanimation of these historic buildings has been guided by their distinctive character – with features including a rediscovered 800sqm system of vaults beneath London’s streets and a perimeter of heritage shopfronts. At the same time, the project will be futureproofed for generations to come as a world-leading ‘green museum’. Incorporating cutting-edge sustainability measures – from toilets powered by rainwater to renewable geothermal energy and an industry-first eco-concrete mix – it is set to rank among the top 1% of buildings worldwide with a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ sustainability rating.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The opening of the new London Museum will be a hugely significant moment both for London and internationally. Backed by one of the largest ever cultural investments in our capital, London Museum will attract millions of visitors and Londoners and reinforce our status as the culture capital of the world. London Museum celebrates the past, creates opportunities in the present and will inspire future generations, as we continue to build a better London for everyone.”
