#55
Opening Hours
Monday: 10:00 – 17:00
Tuesday: 10:00 – 17:00
Wednesday: 10:00 – 17:00
Thursday: 10:00 – 17:00
Friday: 10:00 – 17:00
What's not to miss inside?
The Gold Bar
Weight of value, literallyA standard bar weighs around 12–13 kg—heavy enough to reset your idea of ‘portable wealth’.
📍 Central gallery, ‘gold’ section
Old Lady of Threadneedle Street
How a nickname became a personaA 1797 satirical print personified the Bank to scold its policies; the ‘Old Lady’ stuck for centuries.
📍 Foundations & cartoons corner
Banknotes & Counterfeits
Art, paper and national trustFrom hand-signed paper to polymer windows and micro-letters, design arms race vs. forgers.
📍 Note design displays
Soane’s Bank
Britain’s most influential ‘lost’ buildingSir John Soane’s windowless perimeter and luminous top-lit halls invented a new bank architecture.
📍 Architecture & archive section
🤓 Fun Facts
During WWII, the Bank hid art treasures (including the National Gallery’s) in subterranean vaults—and quietly managed Britain’s gold transfers across the Atlantic.
Nazi ‘Operation Bernhard’ forged millions in high-quality £5 notes; design tweaks and serial tracking helped the Bank outpace the hoard.
Every Bank of England note carries the printed signature of the Chief Cashier—spot how the autograph changes across decades.
The City sits above one of the world’s largest gold reserves—the Bank holds more than just Britain’s, storing bullion for other countries and institutions.
