V&A Museum Cafe

When I moved to London, I was hardly the museum type. You know, the type who enjoys going to a museum. I could go but not spend too much time there. I would simply lose interest eventually. Even now, I haven’t visited most of the London museums, free or not.

Of all those museums, the one that attracted me the most was the Natural History Museum. What a stunning building. I am in love with the facade. Specially the way it looks at night with all that strategic focus lighting.

V&A museum next door was not on my radar precisely for the opposite of this. It looks like just another Victorian building, and London has many many to offer, as you may have guessed.

After four years in London, I finally paid a visit to this museum. It so happened, that a friend of mine highly recommended the V&A Museum which I hadn’t been to. And I was going on and on about the Natural History Museum which he hadn’t been to. So, we decided to go see both of them. I am so glad we did.

I loved it the moment I entered it. The way exhibits are displayed is different and very attractive. The museum is dedicated to Design and I found it very relatable. The gift shop is good too! However, for me – the hardly-museum-type-person, the biggest attraction was the courtyard and the cafe.

At the heart of the museum is the John Madejski Garden courtyard. It has a shallow oval pool right in the centre surrounded by steps and water jets. It is a lovely place to sit and give some much needed rest to your tired feet. It is also a great spot for kids to play around. And if the sun is shining, you wouldn’t want to move.

Well, we did move because it was early March and very cold 😀 But the cold temperatures did not deter me from stopping to admire the stunning facade at the entrance to the cafe. The red brick and terracota facade of the Lecture Theatre building is a thing of beauty. Once we entered, we were in a very modern looking gallery with cafe seating. Nothing worth noting about it. We then bought some refreshments (we had coffee and cake), and headed towards the period rooms. I thought I had died and gone to cafe heaven.

The Lecture Theatre building

The cafe is made up of three interlinked rooms called the Morris, Gamble and Poynter rooms.

The one in the middle is the Gamble room. We entered it through wide arched entrances and was literally dazzled. It is so unabashedly grand and opulent with ceramic tiled walls and columns, giant fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and an ornate fireplace.

Beautiful Detailing

Giant Fairy Lights

The Gamble Room

Entrance to the Morris room

The westernmost room is the Morris room. The theme is green colour and the decoration is mostly tiles painted with olive branches and stained glass panels of female figures. It feels quite surreal.

The Morris Room ceiling

Olive Branches

The easternmost room is the Poynter room. It seemed very dark compared to the overly bright Gamble room, and had a lot of iron influences. My least favourite room.

I know most of the people go to museums to see the exhibitions. But here I am recommending to you to visit the V&A Museum, if not for the exhibits, then at least for the cafe and enjoy the beauty that it is.

I hope you enjoyed my post on V&A Museum and its cafe. I would love to know your thoughts 🙂

Cheers,

Ameeta