London Museum will open the doors to its new permanent galleries in Smithfield’s historic General Market in November 2026, marking a new chapter for the world’s largest city museum.

Aerial view of the new London Museum in Smithfield © Secchi Smith

A major new cultural destination, the museum brings together thousands of years of London history alongside a new social space for the city, with a day to night programme of events, experiences and entertainment.

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 building to public use for the first time in over three decades.

The adjacent Poultry Market will open in 2028, expanding the museum with two temporary exhibition spaces, a dedicated learning centre and a collections store. 

‘Real Time – National Heritage Street’ in the General Market © Secchi Smith The AOC

In the General Market, the museum unfolds across three interconnected spaces. Visitors will enter via ‘Real Time’ on ‘National Heritage Street’ – a covered former street that acts as the museum’s main entrance.

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.

‘Our Time’ in the General Market © Secchi Smith Asif Khan

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.

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.

‘Past Time’ in the General Market © Secchi Smith Atelier Brückner

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.

The restored General Market dome © London Museum

Sharon Ament, Director of 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.

“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!”

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’s new free permanent galleries will open in Smithfield on 28 November 2026.

If you or your group would like to visit London Museum on a tailor-made trip to London or England, please do contact our friendly team today. Or perhaps you would like to include the museum as part of a dedicated Heritage Tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland? If so, we can help!