Bank of England Museum – See their collection of old British coins & pick up a gold bar

Photo: Craig Cross

Craig’s review… I don’t suppose many tourists consider visiting this museum, but I’ve always had a soft spot for this place. It sounds a bit boring on paper (a museum about money?) but if you’re prepared to give it a go then it’s a decent way to wile away an hour.

But first of all you have to get past the serious-looking security guards who make you empty out your pockets into a tin tray so in goes my clattering coins and keys, tissues and train ticket, mobile phone, polo mints and one of those old pandemic face masks I forgot was in there. Once you’ve got the nod from their beeping machines you can start learning about the Bank’s beginnings.

Photo: Craig Cross

Apparently we’ve got the French to thank for the Bank of England because shortly after they beat us at the Battle of Beachy Head, William III discovered that he couldn’t afford to repair his battered boats. His solution was to hand over all of the government’s money to a newly created bank and promptly borrowed a million pounds from it. With the government’s money backing it up the bank grew into a behemoth and ended up funding all of our empire adventures for the next 250 years.

Portraits, Paintings, Banknotes & Cheques

The walls are full of portraits and old oil paintings that were originally hanging in the foyers and boardrooms of the Bank of England’s various buildings (you can see another of their Romanesque mosaics on top of One New Change).

They’ve got display cases filled with old cheques and chests, carved wooden lock boxes, beautiful old charters, and calligraphic bank notes that are almost too beautiful to spend.

Photo: Craig Cross

They’ve got some interesting little exhibits about historical customers as well, like Admiral Nelson’s Powers of Attorney which were signed once with his righthand, and again with his left after he lost his arm fighting the French. There’s also a board about how George Washington remained a shareholder all the way through the American War of Independence. (It’s a good job they didn’t have social media in the 1770s because imagine the backlash if that had leaked out – this was the bank that was funding Britain’s war effort!)

Counterfeit and forged bank notes

After that comes a little section on all the sneaky security features they add to banknotes to stop you copying them – raised lettering, micro lettering, watermarks, foil strips, transparent patches and even some invisible images that only show up in UV light.

Photo: Craig Cross

Try and pick up a real gold bar

If you drag a little kid along then this is probably the only exhibit that they’ll actually be interested in: trying to lift up a genuine gold bar (99.79% pure gold). They’ve got it locked up inside a bullet-proof box so you can feed your hand through a hole in the front and touch it.

If you’re going to try and lift it then remember to bend your knees first because this thing will give you a hernia. Obviously I managed it easy-peasy, but I don’t know how all those weedy bank robbers manage it in the movies. You always see them chucking a couple of gold bars into a bucket and then carting them off to a waiting van out the back, but trust me – if they threw this bar into a bucket then it would go straight through the bucket, straight through the floor, and end up buried in the foundations.

British coins and bank notes

Photo: Craig Cross

The final section is like a Who’s Who of British coins. You can have a walk down memory lane past the old gold sovereigns, guineas and groats, shillings and sixpences from your youth. I can just about remember the halfpennies from the 1980s, but only because that was half a week’s wages at Sainsbury’s.

Museums like this are never going to appeal to everyone, and I’m pretty sure that the majority of tourists will be bored silly by it. But if you enjoy your British history (like me), and you enjoy looking at old photos of the city (like me), then I reckon you’ll enjoy it (like me).

Worth a visit? ★☆☆Value for money? freeGood for kids? ☆☆☆Easy to get to? ★★★

I also recommend… If you enjoy this then try Museum of London (you can walk it in 7 mins). If it’s the paintings you enjoyed most then the Guildhall Art Gallery has lots of old paintings of the City’s streets and buildings. If London’s historic old buildings interest you more then try the Guildhall, Mansion House and Royal Exchange

The author Craig Cross owns city-guide.london and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook London Squire is available from Amazon. This review was updated on 18th August 2023