Pollock`s Toy Museum

The Georgian House Hotel is a great place to stay if you are planning to visit Pollock's Toy Museum.  The museum is based in West End and is easy to reach by bus or underground.

Benjamin Pollock, 1856 - 1937, owned a toy shop in Hoxton, East London, and was a well-known maker of toy theatres, one of the customers was the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. Toy theatres were extremely popular in the 19th century but as interest fell in the 1900's Pollock's became the last toy theatre shop in London. Behind Goodge Street, in two 18th century houses, this small museum has an assortment of historic toys from all over the world.

Most of the exhibits date from the last 200 years but there are some rare pieces, including an Egyptian clay mouse dating from 2000 BC.

The small rooms of the museum, which opened in 1956, are crammed with collections of toys. Items on display include dolls, puppets, teddy bears, a rocking horse, cars, trains, construction sets and optical toys. The collection of dolls' houses illustrates changing tastes in decor over the years.

One room in the museum is devoted to puppets and stages from Pollock's toy theatres and there is also a reconstruction of his workshop.

Toy theatre performances can be booked for groups of children during school holidays. There is a toyshop offering traditional toys and model theatres.

The Museum and its retail shop opened at 1 Scala Street on 1 January 1969; real progress for the museum had, however, to wait another two years. Not long after, Pollock's moved in to 41 Whitfield Street, with a short-term tenancy (later the freehold was purchased) and permission to drive internal passages to connect with 1 Scala Street. The gain was in part the extra rooms, but more important still the second staircase, vastly improving the safety of the building in the event of fire and so allowing the museum, for the first time, to ask visitors for a contribution.

There could now also be visits by school parties, and these are regular features of the museum's life in term-time. Pollock's Toy Museum has come a long way from Benjamin Pollock and may it continue to bring pleasure to children and adults alike for many more years to come.
For more information visit www.pollockstoymuseum.com.

Georgian House Hotel is ideally situated in a very central location, so visiting sights all over London is quick and easy. Why not book Georgian House Hotel when you plan a trip to Pollock's Toy Museum? You can book online or email to make a reservation on reception@georgianhousehotel.co.uk, or telephone on 0044(0)207 834 1438