The Covid Diaries 76 – London Transport Museum incl. Hidden London

A review of a recent visit to the London Transport Museum including their exhibition Hidden London. In which I enjoy a socially-distanced museum experience, or at least as much of the experience as is available under current distancing rules.

A Museum In The Heart Of Covent Garden

The London Transport Museum occupies an 1871 flower market in Covent Garden. The museum has been here since 1980, and reopened after a major redevelopment in 2007. The foundation collection was that of London Transport (now Transport for London/TfL), but it has since expanded to cover all aspects of transport in the city. So inside you can learn about trains, buses, river transport, as well as connected topics like advertising, transport during war, and so on.

The museum is now open again after 152 days of closure. I went recently for one of their Museum After Dark events: 18+ themed late openings with drinks and activities. This still gives a lot of scope to enjoy the museum itself, so I’m going to give you a quick overview of my experience. I will then tell you about a current special exhibition, Hidden London.

The Conundrum Of Interactivity In A Pandemic

As you can see from the images above, the London Transport Museum is hugely experiential. It’s all about getting inside a bus, playing transport-themed games, trying out interactive displays and so on. The huge challenges that museums like this have at the moment is keeping visitors interested vs. keeping them safe. You don’t want someone touching displays that have had grubby fingers on them all day. And it’s not practical to keep enough cleaning staff around to make things spick and span. So when you go to the Museum at the moment, it’s fair to say that a lot of things are off-limits.

That is not to say that it’s boring. There’s plenty of visual stimulation. There’s still a lot you can do. And a lot to learn about a myriad of different transport-related topics. I actually found the Museum After Dark series a great way to experience the museum right now. I would put the London Transport Museum in the same category as the Imperial War Museum; it appeals to children and families, so can feel busy and overwhelming when it’s full. With an 18+ crowd you don’t need to spend so much time thinking about personal space. Instead, you can relax and enjoy. And with table service for drinks, it feels very luxurious. In those circumstances I would recommend most people give it a go. If you’re visiting during normal hours (or even worse, over school holidays) and are worried about social distancing, then pick your moment more carefully.

Hidden London at the Transport Museum

Hidden London is an exhibition which ties into a series of guided tours the Transport Museum (or TfL?) have been running for the last few years. The London underground network is almost 160 years old, and in that time… things have changed! Sometimes stations have closed because traffic was so low it wasn’t worth keeping them open. Sometimes they have had a second life, for example as bomb shelters or accommodation. Or maybe the station is still in use, with some areas blocked off. There are lots of these ‘ghost’ stations, and for a fee you can now visit a handful of them. It’s not cheap, but it’s a great experience.

Hidden London is part recreation of the experience, part deeper exploration through archival materials. Each section gives a feel for what the disused station is like now, as well as explaining how it was used in the past, and why it’s no longer in use. Like in the rest of the museum, there are fun interactives and displays along the way. It gave me renewed vigour for booking onto one or two of the tours at some point.

On its own merits: 3/5
Hidden London: 3.5/5
Implementing Covid measures: 3.5/5

Hidden London on until Autumn 2023

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