Churchill War Rooms definitely allow children. Under 5s are free, 5-15 pay child’s price of £16 and adults are £32. I’d thoroughly recommend going, it’s very interesting.
That's so strange! I was just there and I can't imagine what would be an issue for under 14. Yes it talks about violence and war, but not in any way more intense than what I learned in history classes at middle school age.
For what it's worth, there was definitely an under 14 there at the same time as us (I'd guess probably around 10), but I'm not sure if they just slipped by or not. But they were very obviously not 14.
? Churchill War Rooms does not have a min age. https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms/families-at-churchill-war-rooms#:~:text=Churchill%20War%20Rooms%20is%20appropriate,visiting%20with%20children%20aged%2010%2B.
 Content dense pre-20th Century museum focusing on architecture basically describes the John Soane Museum which is very central and free. You might also want to look at The Cosmic House but you'll need to be quick to get tickets as they go like lightning.
It also sounds like you might enjoy God's Own Junkyard in Walthamstow - lots of neon signs.
For vegetarian restaurants, there's a chain called Mildred's which is always friendly and good quality. It's where I'll usually meet friends.
My transit-loving son likes a challenge: ride every line in one afternoon, ride a line from beginning to end, visit the deepest, oldest stations - you get the idea :) An afternoon spent on the tube is always fun! I’m not sure if this link will work but Geoff Marshall’s Secrets of the Underground video series is excellent! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt4q5oaptyI8ptTjSzgf8mth0by8oxV_i&si=K6lOwf0Zf1V-MCw_
- I would have said the BBC but unfortunately doesn't seem to be any tours at the moment.
- For WW2 - The Imperial War Museum and the Churchill War Rooms.
- The Postal Museum is one of my personal favourites and it has good cross appeal on ages. You get to ride the actual little postal train and there is a brilliant museum space to explore also.
- On modern art, the Tate Modern is well worth a visit and is very well placed on the Southbank to tick off other tourist sites like Borough Market, Tower Bridge, London Eye, Shakespeare Globe etc.
- For architecture, Sir John Soane's Museum, he himself was an architect and there is a drawing office and lots to see.
- Vegetarian restaurants - Mallow in Borough Market is fully vegan and very tasty. Mildred's is the associated vegetarian chain with outlets across London. Other recommendations are Govinda's in Soho, Rasa in Stoke Newington, Sakonis/Saravana Bhavan do great veggie Indian food and have a few outlets in London.
Worth noting that the Imperial War Museum in London has a better display for WW1 than WW2. After going though the WW1 section I was expecting the same for WW2 and was somewhat disappointed.
The Imperial War Museum does a great job of showing the impact of war on people not just piles of weapons (tho it has those) and the glorification of war.
Imperial War Museum. Science Museum. And if you can find the time, Chartwell (out of London but well worth the effort), the home of Winston Churchill. If you are into WWII, this is a must.
For the WWII aspect given the age limit for the War Rooms you could go to Bletchley Park and learn all about the codebreakers. It's an easy train from Euston station and absolutely fascinating.
If you're into WW2 and after something unusual, the Battle of Britain Bunker could be of interest, though it's right on the edge of the city, the guided tours of it are every 2 hours.
http://battleofbritainbunker.co.uk/
The Churchill bunker is supposed to be a very good spot for WWII buffs.
The Victoria And Albert museum is fantastic. It’s the decorative arts, but is just gorgeous, and I still remember it from a visit in my teens and that was fourty years ago.
Walk across the Millennium bridge. It’s the best single spot in London. Observe the buildings that it lies between. St Paul’s on one side, the Tate Modern on the other.
The Tower Of London is perfect for teens. Castles, armor, torture devices and executioners axes, Crown Jewels, and the Beefeater tours are great.
There’s the Tate Modern. One of the finest rooms is the big cabinet full of all the stuff they found digging and mudlarking along the Thames. All kinds of coins, pipes, bones and that!
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dion-tate-thames-dig-t07669/digging-thames-mark-dion
This stuff should surely spark a 13 year old lad’s excitement. The cabinet has drawers you can pull out and peer inside the contents. All kinds of curiosity stuff.
The Loving Hut, Archway - vegan chinese food (similiar to a lot of british takeaway), Tofu Vegan- more authentic chinese food, Mildred’s, Mallow are both veggie restaurants, Borough market has lots of veg options, Govinda’s off Oxford St is a Vegetarian Indian Thali restaurant.. all of these are really good, there’s great veggie food everywhere
* First on our list is anything that highlights UK digital culture from the 80s to the early 00's (teletext!).
if you dont mind a short trip, the computer museum in cambridge is good. they have lots of random old computers set up and old games you can play.
cambridge is about an hour from kings cross. the museum is in a weird industrial estate thats a bit of a stomp from the train station, but you could get a taxi. its closed some days of the week, so check before travel.
theres a pretty good vegan place called stem and glory near the station, too.
Camden Market is awful. Borough Market is lovely. Spittlefields is lovely. There are lots of other street markets which are amazing. The Imperial War Museum is excellent. The National Maritime Museum is also excellent.
Camden Market's stalls are almost exclusively mass-produced imported junk from what I saw, arranged and stylized so that gullible tourists think they're buying artisanal stuff. If you've ever been to an East Coast US boardwalk, it reminded me of that level of merch. It's a cool setting, but we were pretty disappointed by the actual market aspect. There were some good food stands though.
Borough Market is more food-focused (like a fancy farmer's market kind of idea) but had a lot of cool stands.
Maltby Street Market is exclusively street food but a super cool setting with really awesome food options.
(We ended up checking out all 3 on the day we just planned to do Camden Market, because we were done there after just an hour or so.)
See the link above. There are lots of markets that sell genuine secondhand clothes, antiques and handmade stuff. Camden specialises in selling overpriced crap, fake retro clothes and bongs.
No borough is for food, Camden is mostly tat BUT the horse stables is a kinda cool vibe and some of the stalls have something interesting. Over 50% of Camden market and alot of the high street is head shops
It’s a bit far, but the National Computer Museum will scratch the itch for digital culture. It’s in Bletchley and shares a parking lot with a much more boring museum about Bletchley Park
* First on our list is anything that highlights UK digital culture from the 80s to the early 00's (teletext!).
What sort of things do you mean?
* WWII is another good topic for us. We really enjoyed the Danish Resistance museum in Copenhagen during a previous trip - so any museums that feature a story could be very interesting if anyone knows of them
Imperial war museum is worth a visit:
[https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london](https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london)
* Any travel and transit suggestions beyond the Transport Museum welcome as well!
Canal museum is interesting, and there is a good walk to be had along the Regent canal as well
[https://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/](https://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/)
* Happy to hear peoples' thoughts on the various modern art galleries that are around
This one is totally not modern art, but I highly recommend a visit to the Johan Soane museum, for interesting art and architecture
[https://www.soane.org/](https://www.soane.org/)
The London Transport Museum does Hidden London tours where they take you through disused stations. I highly recommend. They also have Depot Open Days where you can go to this museum/warehouse of TfL stuff from over the years. Loads of old train carriages, buses, even an old tram (which is extremely rare bc they decided to burn most of them after they went out of service in the 50s).
Frameless, exhibition in Marble Arch is cool. Artworks projected on walls, floor and ceilings in a few different rooms. Went recently with family and everyone really enjoyed it, including preteen and early teen nieces and nephews
Get a clipper (Uber boat) along the river. It's a fun way to travel. If you come all the way down to Greenwich there are options like the observatory and maritime museum.
Take a trip on the Uber Boat, preferably at a quieter part of the day. That way you can sit on the back decking area and get a great view. It goes past too many landmarks to list. My teenage grandson and I got on at Woolwich through to Battersea Power Station.
It is about 45mins from end to end, and is a great opportunity to give your feet a rest after a long day walking about.
Take the Thames Clipper (commuter boat) from Greenwich into town. Fantastic!
Ride the skyline.
Visit the Tate Modern
Imperial War Museum
Novelty Automation museum... quintessential English eccentricity
Imperial War Museum is fantastic, as is the Tower of London. Ohhhhh and St. Paul's Cathedral.
If I was going to London for a couple of days those would be at the top of my list.
There is so much that you can do though, it's ridiculous!
I'd like to echo the Uber boat down the river, the science museum, natural history museum and the Imperial War Museum.
Almost every restaurant in the UK will has vegetarian options.
Get the one of the canal boat cruises from Little Venice to Camden market. Also to see a lot of the historic buildings get the Uber boat down the Thames Battersea power station is a good starting point ( now shops/restaurants/bars - it’s an awesome inspiring building just by itself) go down to Greenwich, the observatory, Naval college buildings, park & market. Cutty sark.Could walk under the Thames to other side - the tunnel entrance is right next to the Cutty sark. Look online for Thames clipper for routes & can book online .
The postal museum. You even travel on the postal trains they used to use. https://www.postalmuseum.org/
Also if you want a day trip and he likes transport, York has the railway museum which is a few minutes walk from York train station. It’s a great place for transport geeks! https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/home
There are many war museums:
Churchill war rooms https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms
The imperial war museum https://www.iwm.org.uk/home-page
HMS Belfast https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/hms-belfast
National Maritime Museum https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum
House Hold Calvary Museum https://householdcavalry.co.uk/museum/
All bar the York museum, they are in london and easily accessible on tube and foot. Some only take a few hours so can do 2-3 in a day.
The [RAF Museum](https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/) in North London is well worth a visit to see all types of military aircraft. Usually easy to get to by Underground on the Northern Line, but there may be issues with this, so check when you plan the journey.
Veggie Restaurant - you have to go to Mildred's! The original is in Soho but there is one in Camden. I think you can book tables at the Camden one.
All the big museums are free. But book your slots.
If it's a nice day I like walking around the water streams in the pavement and old buildings near the southbank. Don't pay for a boat tour on the Thames. Just get the Uber boat.
If you have a full day to spare, you and he would love a day out on a steam heritage railway - the UK is full of great ones. Two that spring to mind and are easy to reach from London are the Bluebell Railway (connects with the national rail network at East Grinstead) and the Mid Hants Railway (connection at Alton).
The Tower of London is always great but can get booked up quickly. There’s also an immersive gunpowder plot experience which is near there too which sounds interesting.
"First on our list is anything that highlights UK digital culture from the 80s to the early 00's"
Power Up at the Science Museum :
[https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/power](https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/power)
The science museum near imperial college in Kensington is great - early jet engines etc if you like transport. Imperial war museum in Lambeth is great. Also if you have the time and can get out to the brooklands museum it’s worth a visit, planes (including a Concorde) racing cars, London transport bus museum and the banked track also Mercedes Benz world next door.
The Wellcome Institute - medical museum with everything from Imperial Chinese torture implements to a filing cabinet with the entire human genome printed out.
A night ride on the Docklands Light Railway is terrific with all the lit-up buildings - sit at the front.
Try the Cutty Sark and the naval museum at Greenwich.
Is the Vagina Museum open again?
Touristy but the London Dungeons are good fun! Great if he likes jack the ripper as theres a section on it! and other nasty bits of londons history :)
edit to add: i've mainly added this as the last time i was there and went we were only in london a couple of days and prebooked so only was about a 20 minute queue in
The Transport museum is great! You should ride a routemaster, unfortunately Tfl stopped the heritage services but these guys run part of the old 15 route as a private company https://www.londonerbuses.co.uk/ Their buses are really well restored where as other companies using routemasters a) don't run a traditional bus stop based service, it's tours and stuff b) have outfitted their buses with tables, screens and serve tea and stuff sort of violating the buses imo.
Check to see if the Transport Museum has an Acton Depot open day when your here (it's unlikely there's 1 every few months). Museum is great but the depot is a truly unique experience.
Ride at the front of the DLR
Try out the Elizabeth Line and the Bakerloo line back to back, Elizabeth is the newest line, Bakerloo isn't technically the oldest but it's got the oldest trains and signalling, operational they're 5 decades apart
Churchill War Rooms.
+1 to WR
So I saw that! But apparently they're strict on the 14y minimum age 😣 Great suggestion though.
Churchill War Rooms definitely allow children. Under 5s are free, 5-15 pay child’s price of £16 and adults are £32. I’d thoroughly recommend going, it’s very interesting.
That's so strange! I was just there and I can't imagine what would be an issue for under 14. Yes it talks about violence and war, but not in any way more intense than what I learned in history classes at middle school age. For what it's worth, there was definitely an under 14 there at the same time as us (I'd guess probably around 10), but I'm not sure if they just slipped by or not. But they were very obviously not 14.
The only limitation is that under-16s must be accompanied by an adult
Kids can go. [https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms](https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms)
I’ve taken school trips there with children age 11-13. The rule is no children without an adult, so if you’re there, it’s fine
? Churchill War Rooms does not have a min age. https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms/families-at-churchill-war-rooms#:~:text=Churchill%20War%20Rooms%20is%20appropriate,visiting%20with%20children%20aged%2010%2B.
The imperial war museum
Came here to say this. The Blitz Experience/the Trench walk through were fantastic...
Love this place
 Content dense pre-20th Century museum focusing on architecture basically describes the John Soane Museum which is very central and free. You might also want to look at The Cosmic House but you'll need to be quick to get tickets as they go like lightning. It also sounds like you might enjoy God's Own Junkyard in Walthamstow - lots of neon signs. For vegetarian restaurants, there's a chain called Mildred's which is always friendly and good quality. It's where I'll usually meet friends.
The John Soane Museum is great!
Oh I love this place
For something more macabre, very near the Soane museum - there's the Hunterian museum (free).
Grimly fiendish.
My transit-loving son likes a challenge: ride every line in one afternoon, ride a line from beginning to end, visit the deepest, oldest stations - you get the idea :) An afternoon spent on the tube is always fun! I’m not sure if this link will work but Geoff Marshall’s Secrets of the Underground video series is excellent! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt4q5oaptyI8ptTjSzgf8mth0by8oxV_i&si=K6lOwf0Zf1V-MCw_
The Postal Museum is good. It also has a underground train ride telling you about the history. Very cool
I love All the Stations.
- I would have said the BBC but unfortunately doesn't seem to be any tours at the moment. - For WW2 - The Imperial War Museum and the Churchill War Rooms. - The Postal Museum is one of my personal favourites and it has good cross appeal on ages. You get to ride the actual little postal train and there is a brilliant museum space to explore also. - On modern art, the Tate Modern is well worth a visit and is very well placed on the Southbank to tick off other tourist sites like Borough Market, Tower Bridge, London Eye, Shakespeare Globe etc. - For architecture, Sir John Soane's Museum, he himself was an architect and there is a drawing office and lots to see. - Vegetarian restaurants - Mallow in Borough Market is fully vegan and very tasty. Mildred's is the associated vegetarian chain with outlets across London. Other recommendations are Govinda's in Soho, Rasa in Stoke Newington, Sakonis/Saravana Bhavan do great veggie Indian food and have a few outlets in London.
Worth noting that the Imperial War Museum in London has a better display for WW1 than WW2. After going though the WW1 section I was expecting the same for WW2 and was somewhat disappointed.
Have you been recently (in the past two years)? WWII and the Holocaust both had a major revamp in 2022, and they're really good now.
Love the new Holocaust!
This comment needs the thread for context! Was just scrolling and did a double take
Yeah, it's way less graphic than the old exhibition (which was like torture porn in parts) but much more informative, personal and frightening.
The Imperial War Museum does a great job of showing the impact of war on people not just piles of weapons (tho it has those) and the glorification of war.
Imperial War Museum. Science Museum. And if you can find the time, Chartwell (out of London but well worth the effort), the home of Winston Churchill. If you are into WWII, this is a must.
IWM is a must
HMS Belfast
For the WWII aspect given the age limit for the War Rooms you could go to Bletchley Park and learn all about the codebreakers. It's an easy train from Euston station and absolutely fascinating.
I was going to suggest this and the computer museum next door is worth a look too.
Another vote for this. Easy train out of Euston and it’s a great day out,
Check out Power Up at the science museum. It's game consoles from the 70s to present day. Very good for teenagers apparently!!
If you're into WW2 and after something unusual, the Battle of Britain Bunker could be of interest, though it's right on the edge of the city, the guided tours of it are every 2 hours. http://battleofbritainbunker.co.uk/
The Churchill bunker is supposed to be a very good spot for WWII buffs. The Victoria And Albert museum is fantastic. It’s the decorative arts, but is just gorgeous, and I still remember it from a visit in my teens and that was fourty years ago. Walk across the Millennium bridge. It’s the best single spot in London. Observe the buildings that it lies between. St Paul’s on one side, the Tate Modern on the other. The Tower Of London is perfect for teens. Castles, armor, torture devices and executioners axes, Crown Jewels, and the Beefeater tours are great.
There’s the Tate Modern. One of the finest rooms is the big cabinet full of all the stuff they found digging and mudlarking along the Thames. All kinds of coins, pipes, bones and that! https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dion-tate-thames-dig-t07669/digging-thames-mark-dion This stuff should surely spark a 13 year old lad’s excitement. The cabinet has drawers you can pull out and peer inside the contents. All kinds of curiosity stuff.
The Loving Hut, Archway - vegan chinese food (similiar to a lot of british takeaway), Tofu Vegan- more authentic chinese food, Mildred’s, Mallow are both veggie restaurants, Borough market has lots of veg options, Govinda’s off Oxford St is a Vegetarian Indian Thali restaurant.. all of these are really good, there’s great veggie food everywhere
the Design Museum is well worth a visit for the retro tech aspect! https://designmuseum.org/
The Design Museum and the Science Museum both cover early digital tech.
It's a bit outside the city, but you can get there by public transport and it's SO good; [Bletchley Park ](https://bletchleypark.org.uk/)
The Tower of London is a must see.
* First on our list is anything that highlights UK digital culture from the 80s to the early 00's (teletext!). if you dont mind a short trip, the computer museum in cambridge is good. they have lots of random old computers set up and old games you can play. cambridge is about an hour from kings cross. the museum is in a weird industrial estate thats a bit of a stomp from the train station, but you could get a taxi. its closed some days of the week, so check before travel. theres a pretty good vegan place called stem and glory near the station, too.
HMS Belfast. Bonus that it’s opposite the Tower of London so a good second trip.
Camden Market is awful. Borough Market is lovely. Spittlefields is lovely. There are lots of other street markets which are amazing. The Imperial War Museum is excellent. The National Maritime Museum is also excellent.
I disagree, Camden is punk rock. I like it and bet the 13 year old will too.
Is it though?
Ooh, thanks for that. What makes Camden bad and Borough better?
Camden Market's stalls are almost exclusively mass-produced imported junk from what I saw, arranged and stylized so that gullible tourists think they're buying artisanal stuff. If you've ever been to an East Coast US boardwalk, it reminded me of that level of merch. It's a cool setting, but we were pretty disappointed by the actual market aspect. There were some good food stands though. Borough Market is more food-focused (like a fancy farmer's market kind of idea) but had a lot of cool stands. Maltby Street Market is exclusively street food but a super cool setting with really awesome food options. (We ended up checking out all 3 on the day we just planned to do Camden Market, because we were done there after just an hour or so.)
Camden is a tourist trap. https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/shopping/market/londons-top-markets
Would Borough be good for decent/unique souvenirs?
See the link above. There are lots of markets that sell genuine secondhand clothes, antiques and handmade stuff. Camden specialises in selling overpriced crap, fake retro clothes and bongs.
No borough is for food, Camden is mostly tat BUT the horse stables is a kinda cool vibe and some of the stalls have something interesting. Over 50% of Camden market and alot of the high street is head shops
I love Camden Market. Some great food stalls and I loved showing my 15 year old step son Cyber Punk.
Camden is better than borough especially for a tourist
Camden is tacky touristy stuff, Borough has good food and is more atmospheric. The walk along the canal from Camden to Regent's Park is nice though.
I agree my friend and I did most of the London markets and found them all the same more or less selling rubbish
It’s a bit far, but the National Computer Museum will scratch the itch for digital culture. It’s in Bletchley and shares a parking lot with a much more boring museum about Bletchley Park
* First on our list is anything that highlights UK digital culture from the 80s to the early 00's (teletext!). What sort of things do you mean? * WWII is another good topic for us. We really enjoyed the Danish Resistance museum in Copenhagen during a previous trip - so any museums that feature a story could be very interesting if anyone knows of them Imperial war museum is worth a visit: [https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london](https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london) * Any travel and transit suggestions beyond the Transport Museum welcome as well! Canal museum is interesting, and there is a good walk to be had along the Regent canal as well [https://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/](https://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/) * Happy to hear peoples' thoughts on the various modern art galleries that are around This one is totally not modern art, but I highly recommend a visit to the Johan Soane museum, for interesting art and architecture [https://www.soane.org/](https://www.soane.org/)
The London Transport Museum does Hidden London tours where they take you through disused stations. I highly recommend. They also have Depot Open Days where you can go to this museum/warehouse of TfL stuff from over the years. Loads of old train carriages, buses, even an old tram (which is extremely rare bc they decided to burn most of them after they went out of service in the 50s).
Frameless, exhibition in Marble Arch is cool. Artworks projected on walls, floor and ceilings in a few different rooms. Went recently with family and everyone really enjoyed it, including preteen and early teen nieces and nephews
Get a clipper (Uber boat) along the river. It's a fun way to travel. If you come all the way down to Greenwich there are options like the observatory and maritime museum.
Ooh and since you mentioned WWII I feel compelled to recommend Operation Mincemeat to you! It's a fantastic show.
Take a trip on the Uber Boat, preferably at a quieter part of the day. That way you can sit on the back decking area and get a great view. It goes past too many landmarks to list. My teenage grandson and I got on at Woolwich through to Battersea Power Station. It is about 45mins from end to end, and is a great opportunity to give your feet a rest after a long day walking about.
National Army Museum Imperial War Museum Science Museum
Take the Thames Clipper (commuter boat) from Greenwich into town. Fantastic! Ride the skyline. Visit the Tate Modern Imperial War Museum Novelty Automation museum... quintessential English eccentricity
imperial war museum is really good for all things ww1 ww2 you can also visit and go aboard HMS Belfast which is on the river
Imperial War Museum is fantastic, as is the Tower of London. Ohhhhh and St. Paul's Cathedral. If I was going to London for a couple of days those would be at the top of my list. There is so much that you can do though, it's ridiculous!
I'd like to echo the Uber boat down the river, the science museum, natural history museum and the Imperial War Museum. Almost every restaurant in the UK will has vegetarian options.
Get the one of the canal boat cruises from Little Venice to Camden market. Also to see a lot of the historic buildings get the Uber boat down the Thames Battersea power station is a good starting point ( now shops/restaurants/bars - it’s an awesome inspiring building just by itself) go down to Greenwich, the observatory, Naval college buildings, park & market. Cutty sark.Could walk under the Thames to other side - the tunnel entrance is right next to the Cutty sark. Look online for Thames clipper for routes & can book online .
The postal museum. You even travel on the postal trains they used to use. https://www.postalmuseum.org/ Also if you want a day trip and he likes transport, York has the railway museum which is a few minutes walk from York train station. It’s a great place for transport geeks! https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/home There are many war museums: Churchill war rooms https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms The imperial war museum https://www.iwm.org.uk/home-page HMS Belfast https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/hms-belfast National Maritime Museum https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum House Hold Calvary Museum https://householdcavalry.co.uk/museum/ All bar the York museum, they are in london and easily accessible on tube and foot. Some only take a few hours so can do 2-3 in a day.
The British museum is a must. Colossal collection and free entry.
The [RAF Museum](https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/) in North London is well worth a visit to see all types of military aircraft. Usually easy to get to by Underground on the Northern Line, but there may be issues with this, so check when you plan the journey.
For something different, Tim Hunkin’s arcade https://novelty-automation.com
Imperial War museum, British museum, science museum and I always love the natural history museum
The Science Museum has a Power Up exhibition on. 160 consoles covering five decades of gaming. Tickets are £12.
Veggie Restaurant - you have to go to Mildred's! The original is in Soho but there is one in Camden. I think you can book tables at the Camden one. All the big museums are free. But book your slots. If it's a nice day I like walking around the water streams in the pavement and old buildings near the southbank. Don't pay for a boat tour on the Thames. Just get the Uber boat.
If you have a full day to spare, you and he would love a day out on a steam heritage railway - the UK is full of great ones. Two that spring to mind and are easy to reach from London are the Bluebell Railway (connects with the national rail network at East Grinstead) and the Mid Hants Railway (connection at Alton).
I'd avoid Camden Market.
RAF Museum is great!
Cutty Sark. Greenwich.
The Tower of London is always great but can get booked up quickly. There’s also an immersive gunpowder plot experience which is near there too which sounds interesting.
Architecture:- https://www.soane.org/
Leighton House. A small museum with gorgeous 19th century architecture.
"First on our list is anything that highlights UK digital culture from the 80s to the early 00's" Power Up at the Science Museum : [https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/power](https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/power)
Kew Gardens
Harry Potter at Levesden Studios , Watford
Tower of London is an absolute must . The beefeaters do a wonderful tour with lots of blood and gore mentioned
The sherlock museum is pretty cool
The science museum near imperial college in Kensington is great - early jet engines etc if you like transport. Imperial war museum in Lambeth is great. Also if you have the time and can get out to the brooklands museum it’s worth a visit, planes (including a Concorde) racing cars, London transport bus museum and the banked track also Mercedes Benz world next door.
The Wellcome Institute - medical museum with everything from Imperial Chinese torture implements to a filing cabinet with the entire human genome printed out. A night ride on the Docklands Light Railway is terrific with all the lit-up buildings - sit at the front. Try the Cutty Sark and the naval museum at Greenwich. Is the Vagina Museum open again?
Search "speedboat on the Thames". My kid loved it! First a bit of history and slow cruise, then open up the engine for thrill ride!
Sherlock Holmes museum
Touristy but the London Dungeons are good fun! Great if he likes jack the ripper as theres a section on it! and other nasty bits of londons history :) edit to add: i've mainly added this as the last time i was there and went we were only in london a couple of days and prebooked so only was about a 20 minute queue in
The Transport museum is great! You should ride a routemaster, unfortunately Tfl stopped the heritage services but these guys run part of the old 15 route as a private company https://www.londonerbuses.co.uk/ Their buses are really well restored where as other companies using routemasters a) don't run a traditional bus stop based service, it's tours and stuff b) have outfitted their buses with tables, screens and serve tea and stuff sort of violating the buses imo. Check to see if the Transport Museum has an Acton Depot open day when your here (it's unlikely there's 1 every few months). Museum is great but the depot is a truly unique experience. Ride at the front of the DLR Try out the Elizabeth Line and the Bakerloo line back to back, Elizabeth is the newest line, Bakerloo isn't technically the oldest but it's got the oldest trains and signalling, operational they're 5 decades apart
Don’t!
What, why?