Grant Museum of Zoology
Grant Museum of Zoology
4.5
Monday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Friday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
Closed
About
The Grant Museum is the only remaining university zoological museum in London. It houses around 67,000 specimens, covering the whole of the Animal Kingdom. Founded in 1827 as a teaching collection, the Museum is packed full of skeletons, mounted animals and specimens preserved in fluid. Many of the species are now endangered or extinct including the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine, the Quagga, and the Dodo. The Museum relocated to a new larger space on March 2011.
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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The area
Address
Neighbourhood: Bloomsbury
Snuggly nestled within Central London is academic and leafy Bloomsbury, an area that boasts walking distance access to many of London's most popular attractions. It is also home to some of Britain's most celebrated museums, including the must-see British Museum. Despite an understandable popularity with students, tourists and day trippers, vast sections of Bloomsbury retain a quiet, residential feel year round and throughout the week.
How to get there
- Euston Square • 4 min walk
- Warren St • 4 min walk
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
522 reviews
Excellent
346
Very good
154
Average
17
Poor
6
Terrible
0
Elliot
Harrogate, UK7 contributions
Sept 2024 • Solo
Even as someone with little interest in zoology I found this place fascinating. A relatively small museum packed to the gills with bones, preserved specimens and even some animals that are now extinct. Maybe one to avoid if you're of a squeamish disposition (or a pet lover!) but if not then there's plenty to pore over in this free experience.
Written 30 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ShaunH290
London, UK3,022 contributions
May 2024 • Couples
Zoological museums, like this one, are really important for university students, and this is the only remaining teaching museum for the subject in London. Founded in Victorian times, it has managed to acquire specimens which are just not available today (e.g. a Thylacine skull (Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf)). It was revamped earlier this century so it is bright and airy, but it has kept the ideals of an academic collection. As well as classic specimens, there are touches here and there showing how it is keeping up with the latest research.
Well worth visiting - but check the website for details.
Well worth visiting - but check the website for details.
Written 5 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SkateMinsteronSea
Isle of Sheppey, UK477 contributions
Apr 2024 • Family
Visited here with my granddaughter who had been before. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't this crowded room of bones and specimens which I found absolutely fascinating. It was school holidays and therefore there were a fair number of families there but on a quiet day it would be good to sit down and just immerse yourself in this historical collection.
Written 24 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Myrvin C
22 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
Saw this on the way to the Petrie museum. Like the Petrie, crowded, old fashioned cases and exhibits. Some steps up to the entrance. For toilets you need a key from the staff. Lots of preserved animals and skeletons. The strangest exhibit is the pot of moles. There is also a wall of mice.
Written 10 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Mikan999
Bristol, UK571 contributions
Mar 2022
This relatively unknown museum is a treasure trove of all things zoological. Entry is free although as it is small, numbers are limited so you may have to queue a little while.The museum is quite small so it can be visited within one hour. The staff are very friendly and helpful if you need any additional information on the exhibits - which are all weird and wonderful. The range of exhibits covers all aspects of zoology and most are all inside glass cases.
Written 3 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Amy
52 contributions
Apr 2022 • Solo
I had a couple of hours to spare and decided to spend it here. Found it to be very interesting and I really enjoyed the visit. Luckily it wasn’t too busy when I went, as I can imagine it being less enjoyable if too busy. Despite being a small size museum there is so much to see and I thoroughly recommend visiting.
Written 7 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brian T
London, UK8,091 contributions
Oct 2022 • Solo
My goodness. It was like being back in Mexico City for the ‘Day of the Dead’ celebrations. All those skulls and skeletons and bizarre creatures in old jars and more stuffed animals than you could poke a stick at. But what a curious and bizarre little spot the Grant Museum of Zoology is.
Robert Edmond Grant founded the museum in 1827 as a teaching collection for the University of London, now the University College London. It opened its doors to the public in 1996. It’s all stuffed into one huge room, like a vast antique shop of animal bits, with skeletons peering down at you from the balconies above. It’s one of the most quirky little museums I’ve been to in a long time. What a place it is. Kids would love it! I loved it.
There’s a wall made up of over 2000 tiny glass bottles filled with the skeletons of mice collected from the Scottish islands; the other 2000 are not on display!g There’s a skeleton of the extinct South African zebra known as the quagga. The last quagga died in in 1883 and the museum’s skeleton is one of only seven in existence making it the rarest in the world (but it’s missing a leg so check your attics for old bones). There’s dodo bones, and the skeleton of a huge python. There’s bottles of animal brains, wallaby heads, and a wall made up of slide specimens of microscopic animals.
Whilst the room that contains the museum is quite small, you’ll need a good hour or so to peer into all the cabinets, displays and glass jars. Not everything is labelled. However, the lass at the desk at the time of my visit was knowledgeable, and answered my numerous questions about stuff in the display that had no accompanying information.
On week days the museum is open Tuesday to Friday in the afternoon, from 13:00 - 17:00, as it is also a teaching room for the university. It’s open slightly longer on Saturday, from 11:00 - 17:00. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. The museum is free to visit. It’s a short walk from Warren Street underground station, in the Rockefeller Building at 21 University Street.
If you are looking for a quirky little museum, this is your spot.
Robert Edmond Grant founded the museum in 1827 as a teaching collection for the University of London, now the University College London. It opened its doors to the public in 1996. It’s all stuffed into one huge room, like a vast antique shop of animal bits, with skeletons peering down at you from the balconies above. It’s one of the most quirky little museums I’ve been to in a long time. What a place it is. Kids would love it! I loved it.
There’s a wall made up of over 2000 tiny glass bottles filled with the skeletons of mice collected from the Scottish islands; the other 2000 are not on display!g There’s a skeleton of the extinct South African zebra known as the quagga. The last quagga died in in 1883 and the museum’s skeleton is one of only seven in existence making it the rarest in the world (but it’s missing a leg so check your attics for old bones). There’s dodo bones, and the skeleton of a huge python. There’s bottles of animal brains, wallaby heads, and a wall made up of slide specimens of microscopic animals.
Whilst the room that contains the museum is quite small, you’ll need a good hour or so to peer into all the cabinets, displays and glass jars. Not everything is labelled. However, the lass at the desk at the time of my visit was knowledgeable, and answered my numerous questions about stuff in the display that had no accompanying information.
On week days the museum is open Tuesday to Friday in the afternoon, from 13:00 - 17:00, as it is also a teaching room for the university. It’s open slightly longer on Saturday, from 11:00 - 17:00. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. The museum is free to visit. It’s a short walk from Warren Street underground station, in the Rockefeller Building at 21 University Street.
If you are looking for a quirky little museum, this is your spot.
Written 15 October 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alison W
3 contributions
Jul 2021
This is a truly fascinating collection. There is a wide range of specimens ranging from skeletons (including those of extinct animals), skulls, stuffed animals, preserved animals in jars etc. We were engrossed and amazed! The staff were energetic, helpful and knowledgeable. We would highly recommend a visit for anyone aged 3-103!
Written 11 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Anne0319
Kingsbridge, UK292 contributions
Jul 2022 • Solo
I was so excited for this museum, it was top of my list to visit but unfortunately was thoroughly disappointed. The staff that were there when I entered weren’t very welcoming and asked why I was waiting in the foyer bit five minutes before they had opened. Five minutes before opening arrival I feel is a very reasonable amount of time considering I didn’t know what the wait time would be like for entry.
Upon entering there was hardly any information about the actual origin of the collection, very little about Grant himself and nothing really about where the collections had originated from. Very little context of Darwin etc. This is a great place to take young kids to enthuse them with specimens, however definitely not somewhere for anyone in the field to visit.
Some of the specimens weren’t labelled and/or the labels were in the wrong place. There was no order to the collections, you had freshwater in with saltwater species, starfish in with mammals…it was all very strange and is certainly not good classification for a zoology museum!
The descriptions under some of the labels was not accurate (can only speak for the marine and freshwater specimens, not any of the other collections) and there were many grammatical errors.
Sadly thoroughly disappointed as this place has so much potential.
Upon entering there was hardly any information about the actual origin of the collection, very little about Grant himself and nothing really about where the collections had originated from. Very little context of Darwin etc. This is a great place to take young kids to enthuse them with specimens, however definitely not somewhere for anyone in the field to visit.
Some of the specimens weren’t labelled and/or the labels were in the wrong place. There was no order to the collections, you had freshwater in with saltwater species, starfish in with mammals…it was all very strange and is certainly not good classification for a zoology museum!
The descriptions under some of the labels was not accurate (can only speak for the marine and freshwater specimens, not any of the other collections) and there were many grammatical errors.
Sadly thoroughly disappointed as this place has so much potential.
Written 22 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Gizbab
Bethesda, MD251 contributions
May 2022 • Couples
A fantastic array of specimens presented in this collection. Definitely a shout out to the past when such displays showed what we know about animals - and is our basis to what we currently know. The room isn’t very large, but you’ll spend an hour easily just looking at what’s there. If you love biology or zoology, this is a place in your to visit list. Entrance is free. Enjoy!
Written 27 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
William E
Liverpool, New York
522 contributions
How long would you recommend for this museum 2-4 hours? Or more?
Written 2 March 2019
2-4 hours is a good amount of time, though you could spend longer
Written 7 April 2019
It's free addition, but you can make a donation if you want to
Written 11 March 2016
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