8 Unusual Museums in London Most People Miss

London holds over 170 museums. The famous ones earn their reputation. The strange ones earn your curiosity. Below are eight unusual museums in London that trade grand halls for genuine surprise.

1. The Hunterian Museum — surgery, specimens, and science

Tucked inside the Royal College of Surgeons on Lincoln's Inn Fields, the Hunterian Museum displays the anatomical collection of surgeon John Hunter. Expect rows of preserved specimens, surgical instruments, and the skeleton of the "Irish Giant" Charles Byrne. It is not for the squeamish. It is unmissable for anyone fascinated by the human body. Entry is free.

Closest landmark: Covent Garden (10-minute walk)

2. The Grant Museum of Zoology — bones, jars, and a brain collection

Part of University College London, the Grant Museum packs around 68,000 specimens into a single room. You'll find skeletons, taxidermy, and the famous jar of moles. The Micrarium, a backlit wall of microscope slides, is a quiet highlight. Small in size, vast in wonder, this is one of the most unusual London museums for natural history lovers.

Closest landmark: The British Museum (10-minute walk)

3. Sir John Soane's Museum — a house frozen in time

Architect Sir John Soane left his Holborn home to the nation on one condition: nothing could be changed. The result is a townhouse crammed with antiquities, paintings, and an Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement. Hogarth's "A Rake's Progress" hangs here too. Cluttered and clever, it remains one of London's most atmospheric free museums.

Closest landmark: The British Museum (8-minute walk)

4. The Cartoon Museum — a century of British wit

Near the British Museum sits a celebration of cartoons, comics, and caricature. The Cartoon Museum traces British satire from the 1700s to today, with original works and rotating exhibitions. It is playful and pointed in equal measure — a reminder that London has always laughed at power.

Closest landmark: The British Museum (5-minute walk)

5. The Old Operating Theatre — medicine before anaesthetic

Climb the spiral staircase of a church tower near London Bridge and you reach Europe's oldest surviving operating theatre. Dating to 1822, this is where surgeons once worked on patients without anaesthetic. The herb garret next door once dried medicinal plants. Eerie and educational, it brings Georgian medicine vividly to life.

Closest landmark: Borough Market (2-minute walk)

6. The Fan Museum — elegance in a Greenwich townhouse

Greenwich holds the only museum in the world devoted entirely to fans. The Fan Museum displays over 5,000 examples spanning centuries and continents, set in a pair of restored Georgian houses. Delicate and disciplined, it is a small detour that rewards anyone with an eye for craft.

Closest landmark: Cutty Sark (5-minute walk)

7. The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities — the wonderfully weird

In Hackney, the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History gathers two-headed animals, celebrity hair, dodo bones, and more. Part cabinet of curiosities, part cocktail bar, it makes no claim to logic. Strange and theatrical, it is one of the most unusual museums in London for the truly adventurous.

Closest landmark: Columbia Road Flower Market (10-minute walk)

8. The Museum of Brands — packaging through the decades

In Notting Hill, the Museum of Brands tells the story of consumer culture through everyday objects. Its "Time Tunnel" walks you through tins, toys, and adverts from the Victorian era to now. Nostalgic and clever, it turns the contents of your kitchen cupboard into social history.

Closest landmark: Portobello Road Market (5-minute walk)

The big museums are worth your time, they’re popular for a reason. However, the unusual museums in London offer something different: oddities you won't see anywhere else and a story most visitors never hear.

Choose the unusual ones if you value quiet, surprise, and a more personal day out. Many are free or more affordable than the bigger ones, and most are small enough to see in an hour.

Getting around to see these museums is simple. Our Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour links the city's best-known stops, putting many of these unusual London museums within easy reach. 

• Near Covent Garden (Hunterian Museum)

• Near The British Museum (Grant Museum of Zoology)

• Near The British Museum (Sir John Soane's Museum)

• Near The British Museum (Cartoon Museum)

• Near Borough Market (Old Operating Theatre)

• Near Cutty Sark (Fan Museum)

• Near Columbia Road Flower Market (Viktor Wynd Museum)

• Near Portobello Road Market (Museum of Brands)

It’s a fun, flexible way to explore London at your own pace. 

Explore by Hop-On Hop-Off Bus