London Transport Museum Christmas day out

There aren’t many places in London which my daughter has visited before me – but the London Transport Museum is in that select bunch. So with the London Transport Museum Christmas events running, including Santa on site looking for sleigh inspiration, a grotto and decorating sessions, it was the perfect excuse for me to finally go.

review visit*

As an added bonus, the current exhibition on Hidden London is fascinating for adults and older kids, with plenty of quirky facts to capture my seven-year-old’s interest and the museum’s brand new cafe, Canteen, had just opened days before we were invited along.

If seeing behind the scenes at the London Transport Museum depot open day had whetted my appetite, the main museum is even better – not just for the vintage transport on display, but for all the interactive options for kids, quirky facts and even some transport-themed Christmas jumpers.

For more of the best things to do for Christmas in London with kids, check out my top picks

Right from the first lift, where a screen counts the years down to 1800 as you climb the floors, there were some really fun touches.

Then interwoven between the history of transport in London are individual stories – including some unusual tales of women’s involvement over the centuries – as well as the hands-on displays and plenty of facts to get you thinking.

The journey begins over 200 years ago, when sedan chairs and carriages would have been London’s transport options (apart from feet, obviously) and then only for the wealthy – the disgruntled sedan carrier at the start had Minnie’s aggrieved sympathy at having to carry his master around.

From here, the first ‘omnibus’ and horse-drawn cabs began to make their appearances on the capital’s streets – complete with the eye-watering statistic that at the height of horse traffic, they’d create 1,000 tonnes of dung every day.

My daughter’s disgusted face was a picture as she happily pointed out the models of horse poo dotted around the displays. Some things are guaranteed to appeal to small children!

It’s not all about the roads, of course, with reminders that much of London’s traffic was on the river – for years, the Thames was one of the main ways to get around.

Along the way, there are lots of interactive exhibits too – wheels to turn, pulleys to pull, arches to build, signs to reconstruct, buttons to push, which all entertained my seven-year-old as I lingered over the history, with changing transport telling its own story of London’s changing society and technological advances.

There’s also a free stamp trail to follow around the museum. We even got to peer inside a model of the underground network being constructed, with little figures showing the cut and cover method.

I’m so used to thinking of the tube purely as a necessary way to get around the capital but as the first underground trains transformed London, I discovered that as the lines developed, they had more benefits than getting people to work.

Special tickets and booklets of country walks were produced, encouraging those who lived in the urban sprawl to venture out and enjoy the rural scenery now within reach – although for anyone who’s sat on the Metropolitan line as far as Amersham and Chesham, it’s a surprise to think of either as the countryside.

Before we headed back down to the ground floor – complete with Santa’s grotto, buses and more train carriages, plus more displays – there’s the Hidden London exibition, running to January 2021.

For a while, you’ve been able to head down into some of the disused stations on special tours but they’re not for children aged under 14, so this is also a great option to let younger kids discover the secrets of the Underground.

At Highgate, where the last trains ran almost 50 years ago, bats have made their homes in the tunnels – it’s now a protected space. 

And although Ongar has been shut for nearly 30 years, all distances on the Underground are measured (in kilometres) from here – the easternmost point of the network.

King William Street, meanwhile, was forced out of service as the lines extended further… and its platforms ended up being the wrong way around. And while some are used for storage and ventilation, who knew that there are also lettuces grown underground?

The best known has to be Aldwych – and if you think you’ve never seen it, you’re almost certainly wrong. The station has turned up in a string of movies; one room of the exhibition has clips from different films showing the tube network.

In scenes which could have come straight from a movie – but were very much a matter of reality during the Second World War – there is also a section on the underground’s use as a shelter for many Londoners from the wartime bombs.

Although I knew people had slept down there, I’d never realised that trains would have been running until the late evening as Londoners tried to catch up on their rest: you could understand why there needed to be signs about not leaving bedding on the tracks!

It was slightly amazing to think we’d seen all this before we reached the main hall of the museum – set in the former flower market building with its decorative metal arched roof, it’s a fantastic space.

As well as the usual temptations of old buses and trains, including the carriages of the first electric train to go underground (the originals, rather than a replica) and the chance to try driving some, there was also Santa waiting for us.

Which helped soften the blow of the discovery that aged seven, she was too old for the play area (for under-sevens).

For more places to see Santa in London with kids, check out my top picks

There are various activities throughout the day in the grotto, including singing sessions, the chance to meet Father Christmas there and getting crafty in another area to make your own Christmas decorations.

As the cheerful elf told us, Santa does like to get out of the grotto occasionally too – taking inspiration for a new sleigh perhaps – before she punched a ticket, cracked some jokes and pointed out some of the unmissable exhibits.

We didn’t have too far to go before we spotted the man in red relaxing by one of the vintage trains. 

Previous trips to see Santa have been met with shyness and tongue-tied awe. This time, she wasted no time in chatting – I later realised I was too busy taking photos to eavesdrop on any requests (ooops) – before coming away with a badge.

As we climbed on board old tube trains and clambered up to the top deck of a Routemaster, my husband and I both shared memories of using them to get around – his tube journey to school, mine on holidays visiting my grandmother, as well as when I moved to the city in the 90s.

Looking at the familiar old moquette, remembering the way the Routemasters swayed as you balanced on the windy metal stairs, it seemed rather alarming to realise they’re now in a museum. I suspect my daughter thinks I’m about as old as Santa.

Fortunately there were more activities to distract her (and me) from my great age – getting behind the wheel of a bus, and the controls of a tube train, as she got the hang of the Dead Man’s handle, which needs to be pressed down to activate the controls.

Which brought back more memories of one tube driver announcing our train was to be taken out of service because of a ‘dodgy dead man’ on board. Which I’m sure entertained him hugely…

We decided to skip the queue for the main tube train simulator – about the only thing with much of a wait, and we were ready for lunch – with just a quick look inside some of the final galleries.

More interactive displays on making the tube greener, a fabulous collection of some of the iconic London Underground designs (from that famous map and roundel to the instantly recognisable fonts used), more information on wartime London with displays on the women who kept the trains and buses running.

There’s a nod to the future in the last sections as well; not only can you try to design your own mini city (balancing transport links and environmental concerns), we were encouraged to wonder about London’s transport in the years ahead. Which of us was the dreamer, the fixer, the planner?

By this stage, we were all dreaming about lunch. And happily our visit coincided with the opening of the new cafe upstairs, called Canteen. With lots of quirky touches like Underground style seats at the booths and train tracks on the floor, plus the roundel as the Canteen sign, it’s a great fit.

There’s also an impressive range of food and drink – a separate kids menu, but also anything from fish finger sandwiches to burger and steak for adults, various cakes, not to mention wine and cocktails.

We weren’t the only ones keen to try it out so be prepared to queue if you arrive at lunchtime and to wait to be able to order. Less than 48 hours after opening, it’s not entirely surprising that there were some teething problems, although hopefully those will be smoothed out before too long.

As a final Christmassy finishing touch, there are Christmas jumpers and baubles on the shelves of the shop too – my daughter had been given a jumper as a gift (I may have been a little jealous) – along with games and homewares.

I was even more tempted by the moquette style socks and mugs using the Underground font. And who doesn’t love the idea of a doubledecker bauble?

London Transport Museum Christmas: need to know

Tickets to the London Transport Museum cost from £22.50 for adults and you need to prebook a timed entry slot as well as your ticket before visiting. Children aged 17 and under go free.

Admission is valid for a year with unlimited entry to the galleries and temporary exhibitions.

There’s a cloakroom, buggy park (although the museum is also buggy accessible) and baby changing in both men and women’s toilets.

You can find activities at the family station near the entrance as well as the stamp trail. The London Transport Museum Christmas activities are also included in your ticket, and Christmas at the museum usually runs from late November to early January.

Activities vary from year to year, but crafts usually take place during the day – making Christmas decorations was aimed at families with children aged three to 12 and open for drop-in sessions by Santa’s Hideaway (the ground-floor grotto).

You can also find extra sessions including storytelling and a seasonal sing-a-long which take place several times during the day, in the ground-floor grotto. All ages are welcome but this was aimed at children under seven years.

London Transport Museum opening times are 10am to 6pm, with last entry at 5.15pm year-round, except for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The cafe and shop have separate longer opening hours – there is also a picnic area by another cafe on the ground floor of the museum.

The museum depot in Acton is open several times a year for Open Weekends, usually in April, July and September, but also in October 2020, as well as some prebooked tours.

For more ideas of the best things to do in London with toddlers and preschoolers, check out this post

PIN FOR LATER: LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM CHRISTMAS

Disclosure: My entry and lunch (plus my daughter’s jumper) were courtesy of the London Transport Museum for the purposes of review. All opinions and possibly disastrous decision not to listen to my daughter’s chat to Santa are my own.

Images copyright MummyTravels

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