Did you know there is only one museum in the entirety of the UK that is dedicated to LGBTQ+ history? Sure, there are a handful of museums around the country that feature prominent exhibitions or showcases, but only one is wholly dedicated to queer history. And you’ll find it right here in London. Tucked away in King’s Cross, Queer Britain is a gorgeous museum that works to “represent the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community” throughout history. The museum team has recently given the space a revamp and reopened for 2026 with all-new exhibitions and displays.
The museum only opened back in 2022, but it quickly earned a name for itself. At the Museums Association’s Museums Change Lives Awards 2022, Queer Britain was awarded the Best Small Museum Project for their inaugural exhibition, ‘We Are Queer Britain!’. Not a shabby showing at all!
In the time since, the museum has made a point of taking visitor and community feedback on board. The museum’s mission is to “Reclaim and Preserve queer people’s stories and objects and Inspire by celebrating and educating about LGBTQ+ lives, impact and culture.” One of the ways it can do that is by letting the community help decide what exhibitions and showcases should focus on. And as the museum reopens this month, it does so with “gallery themes [that] have been informed by visitor feedback…, maximising the museum’s ability to represent the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Exhibitions at Queer Britain
Across the museum’s four galleries, Queer Britain now has exhibitions that hone in on six themes, telling stories of “queer life, love, protest and artistry”. There are over 200 pieces on display, ranging from photographs and posters to clothes and banners. These have come from collections from all across the UK. Pieces have been sourced from the National Football Museum, the Women’s Liberation Music Archive, and many private lenders.
The themes explored in the museum are:
- Resist!
- Club Kids
- Queer Creativity
- Body and Mind
- Live, Laugh, Love
- The World Around Us
Across these themes, the exhibitions encompasses everything from LGBTQ+ activism to football, clubs and gathering spaces, health and disability, and domestic queer love.
Within the galleries themselves, the individual stories will change on a rolling basis. This will allow the museum to paint a truly diverse picture of LGBTQ+ history, without only focusing on a select few stories.
Special events at Queer Britain
Queer Britain isn’t stopping at overhauling the museum’s exhibitions. The museum will also host a huge variety of events. These include meet and greets with authors and artists, creative workshops, panel discussions, and more.
Special exhibitions will also take over portions of the museum throughout 2026. These will explore topics like queer media representation, gay protest music, and Mariano Vivanco’s photographs of trans individuals. Keep an eye out for these special exhibitions at Queer Britain:
Queer Print (February 4 – May 3)
Magazines, flyers, posters, zines, and ephemera from LGBTQ+ gatherings, organisations, and communities, showing the “radical and alternative print cultures in a pre digital age.”
40 Years of BFI Flare (February 4 – May 3)
A display of movie and festival posters from the 40-year history of the BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival. The festival has gone on to become “one of Europe’s biggest queer film festivals”.
Trans is Human (August 5 – September 27)
Portraits by renowned photographer Mariano Vivanco celebrate “thirteen inspiring,
familiar and very ordinary transgender people from across the UK.”
Head on down, learn a little, and maybe see yourself represented in a museum in a way you haven’t before. Queer Britain is here to remind us of Britain’s LGBTQ+ history and ensure we never forget it.
Admission to the museum is by ‘Pay What You Can’ donation. tickets can be booked in advance here.
📍 Queer Britain, 2 Granary Square, Kings Cross, N1C 4BH. The nearest station is King’s Cross.
🕰️ Open Wednesday to Sunday: 12–6pm.