Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
London Transport Museum
Covent Garden Piazza • Daily 10am-6pm, Fri from 11am • Adults £15, under-16s free •
T
020 7379 6344,
W
ltmuseum.co.uk •
!
Covent Garden
A former flower-market shed on the piazza's east side houses the ever-popular
London
Transport Museum
. A sure-fire hit for families with kids under 10, it's a must-see for
any transport enthusiast, though restrictions of space mean that there are only a
handful of large exhibits.
Still, the story of London's transport is a fascinating one - to follow it chronologically,
head for Level 2, where you'll find a replica 1829 Shillibeer's Horse Omnibus, which
provided the city's first regular
horse-bus
service, and a double-decker horse-drawn
tram, introduced in the 1870s. Level 1 tells the story of the world's first underground
system and contains a lovely 1920s Metropolitan Line carriage, fitted out in burgundy
and green with pretty, drooping lamps.
Down on the ground floor, the museum's one double-decker electric
tram
is all that's
left to pay tribute to the world's largest tram system, which was dismantled in 1952.
Look out, too, for the first
tube
train, from the 1890s, whose lack of windows earned it
the nickname “the padded cell”. Most of the interactive stuff is aimed at kids, but
visitors of all ages should check out the tube driver simulator.
A good selection of London Transport's stylish
maps and posters
are usually on
display, many commissioned from well-known artists, and you can buy copies at the
shop on the way out. Real transport enthusiasts should check out the reserve collection
at the
Museum Depot
in Acton (details on the website), which is open occasional
weekends throughout the year.
8
London Film Museum
45 Wellington St • Daily 10am-6pm • Free •
T
020 3617 3010,
W
londonfilmmuseum.com •
!
Covent Garden
Such is the success of the main branch of the
London Film Museum
in County Hall
that this satellite museum has opened on the site of the former Theatre Museum.
The exhibition is basically a celebratory history of the era of celluloid, which is
drawing to a close. It begins with the early experiments in cinema from magic
lantern to stereoscopes, and features some of the earliest silent moving pictures
ever made. The rest of the displays concentrate on the history of London in film,
and are grouped into themed sections - Literary London, Gas-lit London, Wartime
London and so on. There are plenty of film clips and stills to keep you amused,
but only a handful of artefacts to look at, from Fagin's gloves and hat to Ali G's
orange shellsuit.
Bow Street
Covent Garden's dubious reputation was no doubt behind the opening of
Bow
Street
magistrates' o
ce in 1748. The first two magistrates were Henry Fielding,
author of
Tom Jones
, and his blind half-brother John - nicknamed the “Blind Beak”
- who, unusually for the period, refused to accept bribes. Finding “lewd women
enough to fill a mighty colony”, Fielding set about creating London's first police
force, the
Bow Street Runners
. Never numbering more than a dozen, they were
employed primarily to combat prostitution, and they continued to exist a good
ten years after the establishment of the uniformed Metropolitan Police in 1829.
Bow Street police station and magistrates court (both now closed) had the honour
of incarcerating Oscar Wilde after he was arrested for “committing indecent acts”
in 1895 - he was eventually sentenced to two years' hard labour. In 1908 Emmeline
Pankhurst appeared here, charged with leafleting supporters to “rush” the House
of Commons, and, in 1928, Radclyffe Hall's lesbian novel
he
Well of Loneliness
was deemed obscene by Bow Street magistrates and remained banned in this
country until 1949.
