SEA LIFE London Aquarium

My ten year old daughter was determined to go to the London Aquarium, but after reading the reviews here I was dreading the possible major disappointment. I couldn't have been more wrong, we had a great time. I thought that going in half term at 11am was probably going to be a nightmare, but we only queued for 5 minutes to buy our tickets. Once inside, there were plenty of people, but we had no trouble seeing all of the exhibits. There was masses to see, the place was well laid out, the descriptions of the fish were succint enough to keep our interest without going into over lengthy detail and I thought that the whole thing had been done with great imagination. Although I agree that it's quite expensive, I felt that it was worth it. Everywhere you looked there was something that was interesting. We both loved the shark tank, the hands-on tank, all of the smaller tanks with easy to see exhibits in them and especially the sea horse 'temple'. it was good to see that our indigenous fish weren't forgotten either. At last I have seen a home-grown stickleback. I thought everything looked well-tended and clear and the underwater feel of the whole place was totally in keeping with the fishy feel of it all. There have been lots of comments on trip advisor about how difficult it is for small children and babies in prams to see anything. I took note of the deep shelves that there are at the edges of most of the tanks, where children could sit to see inside and if I were going there with a baby in a pram, I would make sure I avoided the busy times. True of practically any tourist attraction. I am looking forward to going back there with my three older children, they will love it.

Just don't bother going... this is one of the worst 'environmental' attractions that I have ever seen. The attempt to demonstrate some commitment to the environment by pushing The Shark Trust is about as good as it gets.

The enviornment is stale, creatures especially the turtle are in need of stimulation, the lighting is so bad that if you want to read anything you will need to take your own torch and the worst thing of all, the staff we encountered expressed NO interest in the creatures they should be caring for.

Close it and turn it into a laser quest venue or an educational dive centre. That is all its good for...

Some friends took us to the London Aquarium in May when it had first opened. Very very disappointing. Considering all the other Aquariums throughout the world this was extremely poor for the money. I was embarrassed by the fact that our friends paid money for this attraction. London deserves better than this. Some teething problems as it was the first week but the place inside did not inspire. It was small, claustrophobic and poorly stocked. I believe tourtists are getting a bad deal. Because tourists are not going to return to London having done all the sites, the London Aquarium can get away with ripping them off.