The UK’s only museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ history is reopening this week

Before Queer Britain launched in King’s Cross in 2022, there wasn’t a single museum in the whole of the UK that focused on LGBTQ+ history. Four years later, it’s still the only space of its kind. 

The museum closed for redevelopment at the end of November, but this week it’s back with six brand new displays and a rich lineup of special temporary exhibitions. Queer Britain will reopen its doors at 2 Granary Square in King’s Cross on Wednesday February 4.

From explorations of LGBTQ+ protest music to stories of gay representation in sport, there’s a lot to look forward to. There will be more than 200 objects on show, taken from collections like the National Football Museum and the Women’s Liberation Music Awards. 

The relaunched space will have a collections gallery split into six different themes. Each of those six themes will spotlight an individual story in British queer history, with those stories changing on a rolling basis. 

‘Resist!’ will focus on the story of London’s Black Lesbian and Gay Centre; ‘Queer Kids’ will highlight the Women’s Liberation music-making movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s while ‘Body and Mind’ will aim to reclaim narratives around LGBTQ+ experiences of health, illness and disability, displaying a panel from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Then, there’s ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ which will tell stories of queer domesticity and relationships, focusing on Bloomsbury group members Lytton Strachey and Dora Carrington; ‘The World Around Us’ which will look at the wider place of queer life in society, opening with the story of Justin Fashanu, the first openly gay professional footballer and ‘Club Kids’, which will celebrate ‘alternative ways of coming together’ in collaboration with South Asian LGBTQ+ space Club Kali. 

On top of all of those, Queer Britain has a programme of temporary exhibitions planned too. From February to May, it’ll host ‘Queer Print’, an exhibition on radical and alternative print cultures and ‘40 Years of BFI Flare’. Later on in the year, it’ll partner with alcohol brand Diageo to explore progressive advertising and campaigns from brands like Smirnoff, Guinness and Johnnie Walker; there’ll be an exhibition of portraits by Mariano Vivanco titled ‘Trans is Human’ and an installation featuring ‘A Gay Song’, thought to be the first LGBTQ+ protest song. 

Admission to Queer Britain is on a ‘pay what you can basis’ and you can book tickets in advance here. More exhibitions will be announced throughout the year and there’ll be a host of workshops, panel discussions and screenings to keep an eye out for, too. 

Explore all of the best exhibitions in London right now here.

Plus: Highly anticipated new London museum the V&A East opens this spring – and tickets are now on sale. 

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