London Canal Museum
London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Road, London, Greater London, N1 9RT
The museum is housed in an ice warehouse built in the early 1860s for Carlo Gatti, a Swiss-Italian entrepreneur who imported natural ice from Norway using London's canals to transport it from the docks. View into the two large ice wells beneath the building from above. They are the only Victorian ice wells in the UK that you can visit.
The museum tells the story of London's canals from the industrial revolution to the present: the navvies who dug them, the families who lived and worked aboard, and the cargoes they carried. The first-floor exhibition covers the 'Golden Age' of canal building, when the UK network stretched over 4,000 miles at its peak — and how that era of rapid construction changed London forever. Our narrowboat, Coronis, sits on the museum floor and is open for visitors to step inside and explore what it was like to live in small spaces. Our 1950s tug Bantam IV is permanently moored alongside the museum on Battlebridge Basin.
A free digital guide is available (via web or app), with audio tours and guided trails in over 50 languages.
The museum is usually closed on Mondays. The Heritage Open Days opening on Monday, 14 September, is a rare opportunity to visit on a day we are not normally open.
Open 10:00–16:30, last entry 16:00. No booking required.
12–13 New Wharf Road, King's Cross, London N1 9RT
canalmuseum.org.uk
Timings
- Monday 14 September:
- Museum open 10:00 - 16:30
- Tuesday 15 September:
- Museum open 10:00 - 16:30
Location & directions
London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Road, London, Greater London, N1 9RT
- Directions:
- The museum is located in the King's Cross area of central London and is very easy to reach from multiple train/underground stations and bus stops. Our What3Words location is trails.backs.spirit. By London Underground The nearest London Underground station to the museum is King’s Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, and Vitoria lines), and is around a five- to ten-minute walk. This Underground station also includes a Visitor Information Centre. By Train The museum is around a five- to ten-minute walk from both King's Cross and St Pancras International stations. By Bus The nearest bus stop, Wharfdale Road/London Canal Museum, is a two-minute walk from the museum and is served by the 17, 91, 259, 390, and 476 bus routes. The King's Cross area is served by numerous other bus routes.
- Contact on day:
- London Canal Museum
- Telephone number:
- +442077130836
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Pre-booking not required
Accessibility details
All floors of the building have step-free access. The museum has two lifts, taking visitors from the ground floor to a mezzanine floor, and from the mezzanine floor to the first floor. The door to the wharf at the rear of the museum is power-operated, and there is a shallow ramp for access outside. No staff assistance or key is required to use them. Our staff would be happy to help you on request. There is a gender-neutral accessible toilet with changing facilities on the ground floor. You do not need a key to access the toilet. The nearest Changing Places Toilets can be found at King's Cross.
Additional information
There is plenty for children and families to see and do at the London Canal Museum. Our visitors tell us that they love how many of our exhibits can be touched, explored, and played with and how our small, family-friendly size makes for a relaxing, stress-free visit. - take a trip back through time by dressing up in traditional canal children's clothes, - explore our narrow boat Coronis and see how a family would have lived, and use our play food to lay out a delicious meal for your family, - play in our ice cream parlour and serve up some pompom ice creams after taking your family’s order.
