Services at the museum
WiFi is available throughout the museum—look for the network 'Free Museum Wi-Fi'.
Download a map of the museum to plan your visit.
Free volunteer-led tours run throughout the year. You can find out more on See and Do.
Explore our range of self-guided trails on the Science Museum blog.
There are separate male, female, all-gender and accessible toilets throughout the museum. There is a Changing Places Toilet on level 0.
Please look after your personal property while at the museum. Any property left unattended may be removed from the museum. If you lose any item during your visit, please speak to a member of staff.
Our self-service lockers are located on level -1 of the museum and are card payment only. Prices:
- Small—£3.00: Fits coats and hand-sized items (35cm H, 25cm W, 43cm D)
- Medium—£5.00: Fits rucksacks and small bags (43cm H, 33cm W, 43cm D)
- Large—£7.00: Fits carry-on luggage and medium-sized bags* (53cm H, 40cm W, 43cm D)*
*While our large lockers can fit carry-on sized luggage we advise that suitcases and larger items are left at home.
When scanning the locker QR codes, please ensure you follow the correct link to the Science Museum website if using a third party QR code app.
We have several cafés and picnic areas in the museum. When you arrive please speak to a member of staff if you'd like to know which cafés are open.
If you’ve pre-purchased a lunch, you can collect your order from the designated collection point in the Energy Café on level 0 during your chosen time slot.
Find out more about how to pre-book your lunch on our Food and Drink page.
Buggies are allowed in the museum and galleries. However, in certain areas, you may be asked to leave your pram in a buggy park as it will be too bulky to be allowed into the area or exhibit.
Buggy parking is available free of charge in the Spare Room, located opposite The Garden gallery on level -1. Please ensure that the pushchairs are empty.
Additionally, you can use the coin-return pushchair locks that require a £1 coin. You can access the Spare Room by using glass lift D, which is situated in the middle of the museum.
We have a small free buggy parking area next to Pattern Pod on level 0 for the duration of your visit in that area.
If you are planning to visit Wonderlab, pushchairs can be parked behind the showspace inside Wonderlab.
Please note that belongings left in the above buggy parks are left at the owner’s risk, and they may be removed by the security team if left unattended for extended periods of time.
Baby changing facilities are located throughout the museum.
We have a Family Room on level -1. If you need to take a break or would like a quiet space staff can direct you.
Our visitors are welcome to breastfeed anywhere on site. However, if you would like a quieter space a family room is located on level -1.
A multi-faith room is located on level 2 for quiet contemplation.
As part of our sustainability efforts, we only offer fabric tote bags and no longer offer plastic carrier bags. If you would like to support the museum by making a purchase, we recommend you bring your own bag to carry your gift home in.
If you have pre-purchased a souvenir book, you can collect this on the day at the information desk on Level 0 at the front of the museum.
Conditions of entry
Our priority is providing an enjoyable and safe visit for everyone and it is a condition of entry that you abide by our guidelines and the instructions of our staff.
If it is necessary to close all or part of the museum temporarily for any reason, we may direct you to leave by certain routes, or prevent you from leaving by certain routes.
You must leave the museum by closing time (see Opening Times or times posted for your event). Staff may ask you to begin leaving up to 30 minutes before closing.
While you are at the museum, please take care of your own health and safety and our collections and do not:
- Disregard alarms, signs or directions given by staff
- Run within the museum, particularly in the galleries or on staircases
- Leave personal property unattended
- Bring in to the museum any restricted item (see below)
- Cross barriers, cordons or protective spaces in front of objects on open display
- Touch objects on open display unless invited to do so by our staff, for example at an object handling session
- Climb on any part of the collection, or the fabric of the building including walls, barriers, and columns
- Affix items (anything from stickers to people) to any part of the collection, or fabric of the building
- Block or obstruct entrance/exit doors or steps in any way
- Eat and drink other than in designated areas
- Smoke in the museum (including electronic cigarettes and vaping products)
- Fundraise, demonstrate or distribute campaigning material, without prior agreement
- Exhibit behaviour which is considered antisocial or disruptive by the Duty Manager
- use any laser pointer or laser pen for any purpose within the museum
- Ride bicycles or scooters
- Leave any children in your care unattended or allow them to behave antisocially.
If you do not comply with any part of these regulations, you may be asked to leave the museum.
The Science Museum Group (SMG) reserves the right, at the sole discretion of the Duty Manager. to refuse admission or order the immediate removal without entitlement to a refund of any person who fails to act in accordance with the conditions of entry.
We require all visitors to keep footwear on while on site and children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult (18+). Other age restrictions may apply for particular experiences in the museum.
For education groups, separate advice and guidance on supervision of children is available in our Learning section.
For safeguarding, and to ensure health and safety in the museum, our adult to child ratio policy for groups is:
Ages 5 and under – 1:4
Ages 5 to 11 – 1:8
Ages 11 to 16 – 1:10
Ages 16 to 18 – 1:30
Over 18s – 1 responsible adult per group
Please ensure you have enough accompanying adults before you request your visit. They must be aged 19 or over.
Children arriving without accompanying adults may not be allowed into the museum. Find out more about booking a group visit.
We take the safety of our visitors and guests very seriously. Please cooperate fully with security checks and support our team as they carry out their role.
We will sometimes conduct bag searches at the Science Museum. This may be on arrival, at a secondary search point or on entry to exhibitions. If asked, you must allow our security officers to search your bags.
The searches look for restricted items (see list below) and any other material that might be considered a risk to our collection, or to the health and safety and enjoyment of our visitors.
If, on searching your bag, our security officers find any of these items (or other item that may be a risk to other visitors, staff, the collection or building) they will remove it, and return it to you when you leave the museum.
If our security officers find an illegal item in your bag they will confiscate it, and hand it to the police.
We may ask our security officers to carry out more general searches as a condition of entry to the museum and reasons for this will be explained.
- Alcohol. Alcohol may only be consumed, if purchased on site, in a designated area
- Clothing with offensive messages or logos
- Animals, with exception of working guide and assistance animals
- Potentially dangerous items such as fireworks, knives, paint or sprays. Knives which are carried for religious or cultural observance (such as the Kirpan) are normally exempt from this policy
- Items designed to be thrown, which could cause harm to visitors, our staff or objects on display
- Balloons, as these can interfere with our alarm systems if they float away
- Flags, banners, leaflets, posters and similar items
- Loudspeakers, voice amplifiers or microphones
- Illegal items
- Any other item deemed unnecessary for a museum visit.
Please look after your personal property while at the museum. Any property left unattended may be removed from the museum. If you lose any item during your visit, please speak to a member of staff.
You must not leave any of your property unattended in the museum. We reserve the right to remove and/ or destroy unattended property without warning in the interests of safety and security. You will not hold us liable if we remove or destroy any property that you have left unattended.
If it is handed in to us, we will keep your lost property for three months in accordance with our lost property operating procedure.
Mobility scooters are welcome in the museum. Electric mobility scooters may not be charged in any of the museum power points without permission of the Duty Manager.
No electric scooters are allowed in the museum. You can lock your scooter in the bike racks available on Exhibition Road.
You are not permitted to cycle or ride scooters anywhere inside the museum.
Non-electric scooters and folding bikes can be stored in the self-service lockers (please check the locker sizes above). If your scooter or bike will not fit in a locker, you are required to keep it with you for the duration of your visit.
All our staff are identifiable from their Science Museum passes.
There is a Duty Manager on site whenever we are open to the public, to ensure that you have a safe and enjoyable visit.
Our staff are authorised by the museum to require you to comply with these visitor guidelines or other directions.
If you fail to do so, or staff believe you are intoxicated or behaving antisocially or that your conduct causes or is likely to cause risk, annoyance or disturbance to other visitors, to our staff, to the collection or to property, you may be refused admission to the museum, or to a specific event or area of the building, you may be asked to leave and/or you may be escorted from the museum.
We will not tolerate abuse or violence towards any visitor, contractor, or member of staff. Failure to cooperate with the lawful directions of our staff may put you at risk of committing a criminal offence.
Visitors are permitted to use hand-held cameras or phones within the museum for private and non-commercial purposes, but must not:
- Use cameras in any areas where video or photography is restricted (this will always be clearly signed)
- Make any recording or take any photograph of any person without the authorisation of that person
- You must respect the privacy of other visitors while taking photographs, filming, or making audio recordings in the museum. If a visitor complains that your photography, filming, or recording is intrusive you may be asked to stop and/or delete any imagery and/or leave the museum.
We will always let visitors know if filming or photography is taking place in the museum during their visit.
Non-private or commercial use of cameras/recording devices, and the use of tripods or lighting, is only allowed by prior arrangement. For any media filming or photography requests, please contact the Press Team.
CCTV is in use throughout the Science Museum; images are recorded for the purpose of prevention and detection of crime, safety and good management, in line with Data Protection legislation.
The Science Museum has a premises licence for regulated activities under the Licensing Act 2003, pursuant to which we must:
- Refuse any person entry or ask any person to leave, if our security officers believe them to be intoxicated or behaving antisocially.
- Apply age restrictions and/or require proof of age identification for entry to some events.
- Limit the number of people permitted into our premises at any time.
- Refuse to serve alcohol or to supply other services to any person who is intoxicated or behaving antisocially.
- At the end of all events, you are asked to leave the premises quietly and with due consideration for our neighbours.
The removal of any visitor from the premises may result in the issuance of a letter barring them from the premises in the future. SMG reserves the right to report any visitor deemed to be exhibiting antisocial or disruptive behaviour to the police for further investigation.
Tickets
We recommend you book tickets online, particularly during busy periods. Walk-up entry is available each day for those who arrive without advance bookings. If visitor numbers are very high, non-ticket holders may have a longer wait to gain entry.
You can log in to your account to view your tickets. Please be ready to show your e-tickets on arrival. If possible, please avoid printing your tickets. We will ask for you to scan your own tickets using our self-service scanners so make sure that your brightness is turned up on your mobile phone screen. Our staff will be on hand to help.
You will receive your tickets by email which you will need to bring with along with you, either on a mobile device or as a print-out. As part of our commitment to sustainability we are asking that you avoid printing tickets where possible.
The tickets will have a barcode that will be scanned by a contactless scanner on arrival at the museum.
If you are unable to find the email, you can log into your account on a mobile device and access your tickets from there. If you don’t have an account, please speak to our Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058.
We will do our best to accommodate latecomers, however if we’ve reached capacity for the time slot that you have booked, you will be asked to wait until the next available timeslot or book again for another time.
Yes. You need to book free general admission tickets to the museum as well as a separate ticket for exhibitions or experiences.
When choosing your timeslot, we advise visitors to allow enough time to reach the exhibition or experience after you enter the museum. Please allow at least 15 minutes to reach Wonderlab or the IMAX cinema from the entrance.
Yes, you can leave the museum and re-enter on the same day by showing your e-tickets to our staff at the main entrance.
Yes. All advance ticket bookers will receive a pre-visit email with helpful information about how to have a safe and enjoyable day out at our museum.
Visitors should receive this at least 24 hours before their visit. If not please check your spam folder and make sure we’re marked as a safe sender.
If you are unable to find the email, you can log into your account on a mobile device and access your tickets from there. If you don’t have an account, please speak to our Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058.
Our phone lines can get very busy so please submit a return request for free tickets up until 08.30 on the day of your visit. You are welcome to book new tickets for another day online.
Please note that donations, including those made as part of your booking, are non-refundable. Your support large or small will make a huge difference—thank you.
If your order contains paid tickets then please call our Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058 prior to the date and time of your visit to discuss your request. Our phone lines can get very busy so please bear with us.
If you would be happy to donate the value of your tickets to the museum, please email our Contact Centre at info@ScienceMuseumGroup.ac.uk with your name and order number.
We offer free carer tickets for some paid activities and exhibitions.
These are currently unavailable to book via the website so you can either book online without carers’ tickets and then email the Contact Centre at info@ScienceMuseumGroup.ac.uk with your order number, and the team will be able to add free carer tickets onto the order.
Alternatively, you can call the Contact Centre on 033 0058 0058 and they’ll be able to book in the complete order over the phone.
Advance tickets for both free general admission and paid experiences are released regularly throughout the year. Sign up to our newsletters to hear when new dates go on sale.
Offering free admission tickets allows us manage the number of visitors in the museum and provide everyone with an enjoyable day out. We would encourage you to Login or create a new account so that we can email you with helpful information in advance of your visit. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
We can’t guarantee that tickets will be available on the day, however, you can still enter the museum when we are not at capacity, without providing any personal data or having a pre-booked ticket.
Safety measures in the museum
We would encourage visitors to protect themselves and others by maintaining their distance while exploring the museum and queuing.
We have also taken reasonable steps to provide adequate ventilation in enclosed spaces.
Pacemakers and other medical devices
Some exhibits in Wonderlab use magnets that may affect pacemakers or other medical devices. Warning signs are displayed next to these exhibits, and for reference, they are:
- Matter: Magnetic liquid (ferrofluid)
- Space: Aurora
- Electricity: Floating magnet, Tesla coil, lightning strike
- Maths: Tessellation tiles with magnets on the back of each
- Chem Bar: Only for use by explainers for certain demos
You may also ask an Explainer for guidance upon arrival. For more information on accessibility throughout the museum, please visit our accessibility page.