London's new museum is moving into a market hall. From 28 November 2026, the General Market at Smithfield, built in 1883, houses the London Museum, and the building is as much an attraction as the collection. Add a story that stretches from prehistory to the 2012 Olympics.
The architects are Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, working with conservation architects Julian Harrap. Their job was to make a Victorian market useful for a modern museum without wiping out what made it special. The result is a place that should feel like a working London landmark rather than a purpose-built box. The permanent galleries are free to enter, which makes this a rare chance to wander at leisure through the city's history.
The highlights are well chosen. The Cheapside Hoard is a famous cache of Jacobean jewellery, found in the early twentieth century, and it rewards close looking. The Lord Mayor's Coach is a gilded piece of ceremonial theatre. Banksy's Piranhas brings the story right up to the present with a dose of mischief. And one detail you will not find elsewhere: a window looks onto live Thameslink trains passing below, a reminder that the whole site sits above a working railway.
Alongside the permanent displays is the opening programme, London Tastes, co-curated by Ruby Tandoh and Jonathan Nunn. It runs from November 2026 to August 2027. Food is one of the best ways into a city's history, and in Smithfield, a district of markets and meals, it is a fitting choice.
The address is Smithfield, London EC1A 9AG, a short walk from Farringdon and the Barbican. Go on a weekday morning if you can. Opening months of any museum bring crowds, and the early hours will give you space to look at the architecture without a queue of heads in the way. Allow half a day. Between the galleries and the building itself, there is more to see than a lunch break allows.
The story is not finished. The adjacent Poultry Market, which will have temporary exhibition spaces, is due in 2028, and the full Smithfield complex will take shape then. For now, this first phase is reason enough to go.
Best for Lunch nearby and a long afternoon inside.
