Every year on The Daily Constitutional, as the high season for visitors to London hots up, I spend August sharing a few archive posts. This year I'm reposting recommendations from our If You Do One Other Thing In London slot (a regular feature of our Saturday London Spy posts) and updated posts from the Best Museums In London series, in which the London Walks guides shared their best London museum tips.
If theres' a London Walks tour starting or ending nearby I'll add the details at the bottom of each post. I hope you find these posts helpful over the course of the summer.
Keep in touch - I'm not going into hiding! - I'll be posting throughout August and, of course, I'll see many of you "out there" on London Walks tours. All of our regular features – and some new ones, too – will return in September.
A.S-G London, August 2016
I need precious little encouragement to blog about The Grant Museum of Zoology.
Whenever a London Walker siddles up to me and asks, in that delicious, conspiratorial way, for a secret, off-the-beaten track thing to do in London, the Grant is always top of my list.
It’s not one of your flashy Hollywood museums – in film terms, it’s more an arthouse cult classic. Which is all the more reason for you to take yourself down to Gower Street and have a look for yourselves. The fact that it's a teaching museum – the last of its kind in London for zoology – dictates its opening hours, 1pm to 5pm, but it's a small inconvenience for the vast rewards inside
They've got a Quagga. A whatta? A sub-species of zebra hunted into extinction, that's what. There are only six other known quagga skeletons in the world and the Grant's is one of 'em!
Here's an audio intro to the collection…
And here's a map…
So what are you waiting for?
Grant Museum of Zoology, Rockefeller Building, University College London, University Street, WC1E 6DE
The museum is open from 1pm-5pm
Admission: Free A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
