The London Museum (formerly the Museum of London) has confirmed its delayed reopening date will be later this year, on 28th November 2026.

The former Museum of London closed in December 2022, and its replacement site near Farringdon station was due to open in 2024. That was later pushed back to early 2026, and the opening date has been confirmed as 28th November 2026.

The original £337 million budget to convert the two old market buildings into the new museum has also slipped, and the estimated cost is now in the region of £437 million.

The City of London has provided £222 million for the new museum, and the Mayor of London has contributed £95 million. The museum has been raising funds to cover the shortfall, with about half of it raised by September 2024.

Part of the cost increase was put down to the usual problems of converting an old building to a new use, as well as the discovery of unexpected vaults in the basement, which are being opened up as an immersive exhibition space.

The museum is split between two neighbouring buildings, the older Victorian meat market and the 1960s former poultry market. The Victorian market will be the museum’s permanent gallery space, and it will open on Saturday 28th November, while the poultry market is expected to open in 2028 and will house the museum’s temporary exhibition galleries.

The road between the two buildings is already covered and is being made weather-tight, so it can act as an indoor plaza between the two zones.

It’s taken longer and cost more than planned, but at the end of November, London gets “its museum” back.

The Museum of London was formed in 1976 from the merger of the City of London’s Guildhall Museum and the South Kensington based London Museum. As part of its move to the Smithfield site, they’ve rebranded again and will be known as the London Museum.

The Museum of London originally had a logo showing Dick Whittington and his cat, then three overlapping wiggles for their three divisions (City, Docklands, MOLA). As part of the rebrand, they also have a rather controversial new logo, of a pigeon shitting glitter, and your correspondent has yet to meet a single person who likes it.