Twinings Museum
At 216 Strand, the world’s narrowest powerhouse of tea history squeezes a mini-museum, tasting bar and shop into London’s longest-running retail address (since 1706). Come for a fast, fragrant primer on how tea shaped Britain—taxes, smuggling, status—and leave with a blend you actually like. Plan 20–40 minutes; it’s busy at lunchtime.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
The Shopfront
An 18th-century icon still in useTwin Chinese figures and a golden lion top the lintel—commercial theatre that’s greeted customers for three centuries.
📍 216 Strand, pediment and doorway
Mini-Museum Cases
Tea’s rise told in objectsCaddies with secret locks, early adverts and royal warrants sketch how tea moved from luxury to everyday habit.
📍 Back of the shop
Tasting Bar
Palate > packagingStaff will tune water temperature and brew time so you can taste the difference between, say, Darjeeling and Assam—or Earl Grey and its modern cousins.
📍 Rear counter
Royal Warrants Wall
Tea by appointmentFrom Queen Victoria in 1837 onwards, the warrants chart a continuous relationship with the Crown.
📍 Along the side displays
Inspire your Friends
- Thomas Twining opened on this very spot in 1706—making it one of London’s longest-trading shops under the same brand and address.
- Twinings once ran a bank: ‘Twinings Bank’ (founded 1825) later merged into Lloyds—proof that tea financed more than teatime.
- The craze for locking tea caddies was practical: in the 18th century tea was so expensive that households kept it under literal lock and key.
- The ‘Earl Grey’ story is murky, but Twinings created ‘Lady Grey’ in the 1990s as a lighter, citrus-forward blend for modern palates—and it stuck worldwide.
