Expanding City

1670s-1850s

World City

1950s – today

People's City gallery

1850s - 1940s

By 1850 London was the wealthiest & most powerful city in the world, but also the most crowded

While many thrived in the prosperous imperial city, others suffered great hardship and poverty. All Londoners shared the impact of massive population growth and the experience of two world wars.

Not to be missed on your visit

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Taxi from 1908 in the People's city gallery.

Taxi, 1908

This period saw the first motor vehicles on London's city streets, gradually replacing horse-drawn taxis, carts and buses.

Selfridges lift in the People's city gallery.

Selfridges lift, 1928

This elegantly decorated lift was installed in the Selfridges department store in 1928. The panels depict cranes and the signs of the zodiac.

Children examine the Booth Poverty Map interactive display.

Step back in time with our Booth Poverty Map interactive

The Descriptive Map of London Poverty compiled by Charles Booth in 1889 showed the extremes of affluence and squalor in London. Explore it & find where you would have lived.

Find out more about the 1000 women who suffered imprisonment in their fight for the right to vote.

Banner from the Suffragette display

Part of one of the most complete displays of suffragette material in Britain. Find out more about the 1000 women who suffered imprisonment in their fight for the right to vote.

A view of a Victorian shopfront in the Victorian Walk at the Museum of London.

Explore the Victorian Walk

Our immersive Victorian Walk experience recreates the winding streets of 19th century London. Do a little window shopping at the toyshop, tobacconist, tailor or pawnbroker and get a taste of life in Victorian London.

See the Victorian barber's chair

A dozen Victorian street trades are built into the Victorian Walk, from a barber to an old-fashioned toy-shop.

Suffragette hunger strike medal, 1912

This hunger-strike medal was presented to the suffragette Florence Haig on her release from prison. Suffragettes refused food in prison to protest against political oppression of women.

Women in a shelter: 1941, painted by Henry Moore.

Artist Henry Moore created a series of drawings illustrating London during the Second World War. Here Londoners are shown sleeping in improvised shelters in tube stations during the Blitz.

Facade of the Lyons corner shop on display in the Museum of London People's City gallery.

Reconstructed Lyon's corner house

This window dates from 1922 and comes from J. Lyons Corner House restaurant in Coventry Street near Piccadilly Circus.

Group of schoolchildren view an interactive exhibit on the Second World War.

Step inside our Blitz interactive

Explore the stories of Londoners during the Second World War. A fifty kilogram German-made incendiary bomb, Sprengbrand C50, hangs in mid-air.

Gallery access

The gallery is open during the museum's normal hours:

10am – 5.40pm

The gallery is on the lower ground floor and can be accessed by lift.

Entry free, no ticket required.

Also of interest

A section of the Prevost panorama, now on display at the Museum of London.

London's lost landscape

See our free display of the epic Prévost panorama.

Find out more

A war scene of shelterers sleeping on steps at Queensway Tube Station. Joseph Batò’s watercolour depicts people sheltering on the stairs of Queensway Underground station during an air raid.

See inside London's Blitz shelters

Learn how war artists recorded the Underground at the height of the Second World War.

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