From the Natural History Museum to the V&A, the Museum of the Home to the Horniman, London’s museum offering is genuinely world class. But despite this city’s proclivity to open museums around everything from neoliberalism to vaginas, we haven’t ever had one focused on LGBTQ+ history. But it’s not just London that has been lacking in this department. The entire country has, too, which seems like a pretty big oversight when you consider how rich, diverse and endlessly fascinating Britain’s queer history is.
Which is why we were thrilled when a new charity called Queer Britain was founded back in 2018, with the aim of opening the country’s first-ever LGBTQ+ history museum. And why we’re even more thrilled to hear that, after a four-year search to find a suitable home for the project, Queer Britain will finally open in King’s Cross this spring. It’ll take over the ground floor of 2 Granary Square, which formerly housed Quentin Blake’s House of Illustration, and is being leased to Queer Britain by national arts charity Art Fund.
Located in a fully accessible building, the Queer Britain museum will be an inclusive space that welcomes everyone regardless of sexuality and gender identity, and celebrates ‘the stories, people and places that are intrinsic to queer community in the UK and beyond’. Trustees of the charity gained access to its new home this month and have announced that the museum will open to the public free of charge in the spring.
Already planning your first trip to the vital new museum? Keep an eye on the Queer Britain website where further details about the grand opening will be announced in due course.
And in the meantime, read our love letter to London’s LGBTQ+ venues.
Or check out these weird and wonderful museums in London.
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