access london in 2024 and earlier

London is famous for its museums, most of which are free, and amazing. Keep coming back to check for updates on this article, as I am slowly adding detail.

I live in London, and therefore should visit the museums more often than I do, but hey ho. Most of my trips start from Fenchurch street station, which is accessible from the front entrance only. From there the choice is to get a cab or walk along Fenchurch street. A nice walk is to Aldgate where the 100 bus will take you to the Museum of London, and along the London wall.

Museums of London.

There are two, one is at the Docklands and the other at the Barbican. The latter one will move to Smithfield in the coming years. Both are great, and largely about London. Both are free, although you will need to book a ticket online.

The primary museum of London lives above the London Wall and not far from Farringdon station. It is elevated above the road level, and there is a lift and escalators giving access.It is brilliant, and as the name implies, it is about the history of London through superb exhibitions.

In 1994, the museum created a 21 point mapping of the London Roman wall from the Tower. Some of these still exist, and parts of the wall are to be found around the museum below.

Whilst you are here, also take a visit to postmans park, the northern wall was once part of the London Roman wall, but is a very pretty area, and joins the Museum to St Bartholomews hospital at the other end..

The second Museum of London is at docklands, in an old warehouse, and has some brilliant exhibitions which tend to be more related to London as a sea port. Well, it was once. It also has an amazing slavery exhibition which is a must, and needs to be revisited regularly. The museum has a small cafe, and puts on occasional exhibitions, e.g. I visited the Crossrail exhibition, but sadly missed that on the hidden rivers under London. Tomorrow, on the 21st July 2021, a new exhibition starts, the Havering Hoard of 453 Bronze age weapons. The DLR runs from Limehouse to West Ferry, and then it is a few minutes walk to here. All DLR services are very accessible excepting BANK, which is not.

These two museums sink into insignificance against the British Museum. This is in Great Russell street, a short distance from Tottenham Court road station. This is the brand new TFL crossrail station which has no toilets, seriously. It is also step free with many escalators and lifts, but avoid the Northern line at all costs, and the Central line trains look fit for a seat refit, plus they are very hot. I could not find any bus stops near the museum, although there are hundreds of empty buses sitting in the traffic. Lots of stationery taxis everywhere, running their diesel engines.

The British museum is free to visit, donations welcome, and you need to book a time slot to visit, online. There is a bag search, and suitcases are not permitted. The museum has a lift,, or lots of stairs between floors, and lots of spaces to sit as you wander around the miracles of history, as each exhibit is a wonder of the world in itself. I cannot speak highly enough of how wonderful this museum is, and all the articles are all priceless. My first place to go was room 49 which holds many Roman treasure troves found in the South, and amazing stuff. I think the exhibits must have changed through the years, as I have been visiting on and off for over 50 years now.

Another small, and inobtrusive find was the London Mithraeum, which would fit nicely into the museum, except it is in Ludgate hill, opposite Cannon street station. This station has lifts at each end, amidst the many stairs. one public toilet, and serves many of the parts of the TFL region to the south. The miseum is small, it has a lift and toilets, and the famous Temple of Mithras has been reconstructed on a lower basement floor. a very enjoyable visit. It is only a fairly short walk from Fenchurch street, via Bank (not the station, don’t go into Bank station, it is a deathtrap for those who are disabled!).

After a quick visit to Mithras, go forwards 2000 years to the Millenium bridge (aka the wobbly bridge). When it opened, if too many people walked across it at the same time, the natural reverberations caused it to severly wobble. It is still a bit like it, but not as bad. If you look directly northwards from the bridge, the St Pauls cathedral is in view, and south is the Tate modern art gallery, and Shakespeares Globe theatre (well, a replica). Both are open, and both worth a visit.

Crossing the Millenium bridge is entirely step-free although there is quite a long slope at the southern end. Looking east along the river Thames, is Southwark bridge and Blackfriars bridge is westwards. Further westwards still, we have Waterloo bridge, Charing Cross railway bridge and Westminster bridge, leading me to this spectacle.

Not quite a museum, but I am adding a freely available walk, best in good weather, is the covid wall. It runs along the south bank from opposite Westminster, to Lambeth palace. This section of the south bank is largely accessible, whilst lots of it is not due to stairs access to the bridges. The wall is a testament to the 150 thousand deaths from covid19 in a country which should have had much less if it had been governed properly. The NHS has been ravaged, and brought to its knees, like a Churchilllian army protecting the country from the onslaught of a vastly superior army, they have been used as our last defence before privatisation. Thousands of deaths are recorded here, one in every heart, mostly nameless, and not forgotten, I walked this wall on my first trip back to London after the pandemic, and it was awesome. My walk is recorded here.

I also visited the National War museum in Chelsea, where you need to book online tickets. It is again well worth a trip, very accessible, and easily reached by a bus directly from Victoria station. It appears to be open fro Wednesday to Sunday. I will leave you to decide on what best suits you in travel arrangements, and my trip is recorded here.

In Kensington, there are several museums including :

Science museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD – The nearest tube station is South Kensington. This is on the District and Circle lines and is a 5-minute walk from the museum. The Piccadilly line does not stop here.

Natural History museum – same details for the Science museum, with two entry points, both are step free. THe bus fron Green Park also passes both of these museums.

Victoria and Albert museum. – same details for the Science museum.

In Trafalgar square is the :

National Gallery of European Art. It is near the western end of the Strand, and therefore Charing Cross station is very near by. It is very accessible, with free Wifi.

The Guildhall Art Gallery and Museum are probably too far down my list, and I have never visited before. This is now on my to do list for one of my next trips to London. I actually visited the Guildhall today, and just for fun, I went into the wrong building. Fortunately, one of the workmen pointed me in the right direction. I still got lost.

There are several separate floors to visit, including a section dear to my interest, an Roman amphitheatre.

The address is at Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, London EC2V 5AE – the whole place is very accessible with places to sit down.

I struggled to find a toilet a couple of weeks ago whilst walking in London. I don’t walk very far, or fast, with about ten thousand steps currently being my absolute limit. I was managing less than two miles not that long ago; not everyone can walk for miles. Its irrelevant, but here are some of my recommendations for finding public toilets. I am also adding some suggestions from a London facebook group I post on.

I use the c2c, and no doubt many of the overground lines have something similar, but in the front carriage which is also for cyclists and space for wheelchair users, there is a toilet, a big round one.

If you enter this loo, the door will eventually close on you, and there are some buttons allowing you to open and close this door, and also lock it. Once you have found these buttons on the wall, you then know how it all works.

Before I mention anything else, avoid Bank station for anything, its a nightmare and probably a deathtrap. There are no toilets, but also many deadends end up with lots of stairs to access platforms after a blooming long walk. In fact this is the case with much if not all of the Northern line.

In Fenchurch street station, if you exit / enter via the main entrance there appear to be public toilets at the rear of the entrance hall. They work, and are good. There is also an accessible toilet which is locked, I think?

At Liverpool street main Railway station, near to Bishopsgate, are toilets on the ground floor of the station for accessible useage. I am not sure if these are locked. The main toilets for everyone, are accessed via stairs down and then an elevator back up, from this floor, and are very clean and friendly. This floor of the station which is on the same level as the railway lines is served by many escalators from the road level, and I am guessing there is also a lift somewhere.

Don’t confuse the main railway station with the circle and northern line stations which are generally appalling for steps.

The Museum of London, in Bishopsgate, which is only open from Wednesdays to Sundays has a public restaurant near to the entrance, and toliets on the ground floor. I know you need a ticket to enter the museum to view exhibits, and I am not sure if they would allow anyone access to the restaurant, and the toliets. Yes, you can access the restaurant separately, and therefore the toilets.

I have also been advised that there is a toliet in the car park underneath the museum. I did not test this to be correct.

Blackfriars railway station has public toilets in the rail station section, and they appear to make a small charge. It is only 30 pence at present according to signage, and also offers change. I do not actually know if this is correct during covid times. Keep some change handy on visits to London.

Charing Cross station has a food outlet, and some toilets which were down some stairs. I visited these in August 2021 and they are down some steps, and very clean. A person is cleaning the toilets, at all times, certainly during the day. There is also a disabled toilet on station level, although you need to ask a member of staff to access this.

Cannon street rail station has a couple of accessible toliets which are open to anyone, and there is currently a staff person who manages the usage during covid time. These toilets are nice and clean.

I visited Tottenham Court road today in July,, and the brand spanking new station with lifts to many levels does not have any toilets! The crossrail budget must have been too small.

I remember some toilets at Kings Cross station, but it is such a vast concourse area, that it is difficult to recommend to anyone who struggles walking any distances. These toilets were in a shopping area, somewhere.

Kings Cross is notoriously badly signposted, i could not even find where the buses were sited. There were hundreds of taxis available within easy walking distance, less so the buses. The train lines have huge distances between them, and I tend not to use this station. On another trip to the British Library, I di find Kings Cross station accessible.

I have found two more public toilets. The first is at the Guildhall, if you know where this is. I have only finally worked this out. There are also toilets at Paddington railway station,although I stupidly decided not to try them. I asm sure they are very clean. Guildhall is close to Moorgate, although you will need a map.

I worked out the problem with London TFL buses today, and why there are so many empty buses queuing. It is because there are very few bus stops. Many of the working bus stops do not have any form of timetable even telling you where they are going to, and too many stops are alight-only stops. Many stops are also closed whilst building works go on nearby. Its a mess, and it is quicker to walk across London.

Today, in August 2021, I have spent the entire day on buses around London. You probably need to know where you are going before looking for a bus stop. I coped well with buses today.

Now in October, I am still getting the hang of London nbus routes, which are often brilliant. At Covent Gad=rden, at St Paul there are publoic toilets, and also two disabled toilets at the side of the London Transport museum.