The Museum of London Docklands sits in a handsome Georgian sugar warehouse on West India Quay, telling the story of London through its river and port. Free to enter, it traces the capital's life as a trading power, from the Roman waterfront to the docks that built and scarred the modern city.
Why visit
It is one of London's most thoughtful free museums, unflinching on the difficult history of trade, slavery and empire, while bringing the lost world of the working docks vividly to life. The warehouse setting beside the water is atmospheric in itself.
What to see
Highlights include the immersive Sailortown recreation of a Victorian dockside quarter, the powerful London, Sugar and Slavery gallery, and displays on the wartime Blitz and the docks' decline and rebirth as Canary Wharf.
Visiting tips
Admission is free. West India Quay (DLR) is right outside, a couple of minutes from the towers of Canary Wharf.
