London Canal Museum

Immerse yourself in the colourful history of London’s canals at the London Canal Museum at Battlebridge Basin on the Regent’s Canal.

Discover how the canals came to be built, what cargo they carried, who lived and worked on them and how horses played an important part in the operation of the canal barges. Get a flavour of life on the canals when you venture inside a narrowboat cabin.

The museum is housed in a former ice warehouse and also tells the story of the ice industry in London. Gaze into the depths of a Victorian ice well used to store ice brought by boat from Norway to keep London cool.

Combine your visit with a trip on the museum’s canal boat, Long Tom. Choose between a 60-minute tunnel boat tour from Battlebridge Basin at King’s Cross through a pitch-black tunnel into Islington (Thursdays and Sundays), or the longer canal cruise on Fridays which finishes in either Little Venice or Victoria Park, and takes two hours each way.