London Canal Museum

Take a tour of the London Canal Museum to learn all about the city’s network of waterways and their uses over the centuries.

The London Canal Museum is set inside an impressive Victorian ice warehouse on the Regent’s Canal in King’s Cross, and features replica boats, a sensitively restored narrowboat cabin and a recreation stable for the horses that were once used to pull cargo boats along from the towpath.

You’ll find out how narrowboats are painted and the traditions behind their cheerful designs and get a real flavor of London’s canals and the people who lived and worked on them.

There’s also an opportunity to view the building’s original ice well. Swiss ice cream entrepreneur Carlo Gatti ran his empire from here in the mid-19th Century, shipping huge quantities of ice from Norway and storing it in the well here. He’s credited with being the first person in London to sell ice cream to the public.

The museum’s scenic location on Regent’s Canal makes it the perfect start or end point for a towpath stroll. There’s a handy audio-guide available on the official website that leads you on a walk from Camden Town to the museum – you’re sure to see many narrowboats and pleasure craft bobbing along the canal as you go.