A small museum with a lot of music memorabilia.
Coventry and its neighbours have a long history with music. The museum displays items and information from different eras and genres. From ska to punk, The Specials to Hazel O'Connor, Delia Derbyshire to James Morrison. There are also some hands-on activites and a small room on the ground floor where visitors can play different instruments, including guitars, drums, and a theramin.
We (a group of adults) spent about 30-40 minutes in there. It is run entirely by volunteers. They are all lovely, knowledgeable, happy to help, and seemed to genuinely enjoy being there.
I visited with my sister and my two sons (both students). The cost is £5 each or £3 for concessions. Even though my sons didn't have their NUS card or anything on them, we were still only charged the student price after being asked their age and mentioning that they were students.
I've known about the Music Museum for years but this was my first visit. Would definitely go again and recommend to anyone interested in the Coventry music scene, music history, and music in general.
...
Getting there: It's not easy to find and there is no parking. We followed the Waze App to get us there but had to continue a little further down the road, parked in a side street, and walked about 5 minutes back up the road. The museum is in Two Tone Village, which is not sign-posted until you get there, and is in between other shops on a main road. There is an Egg Free Cake Box shop on one corner, and a Subway on another corner. The village is through an archway about halfway between the two. If walking from Coventry City Centre, it's about a 20 minute walk. There are also buses from the city centre.
...
Accessibility information: The museum is based mainly on the first floor up a fairly narrow flight of stairs. The museum can accommodate visitors who can't climb stairs but recommend letting them know in advance. The space also has some rather narrow parts so may be difficult for wheelchair users to navigate.
There is no toilet in the museum but visitors can use the toilets in the 2Tone...
Read moreDuring a trip to Coventry had few hours to spare, the choice was between go and see the Transport Museum or the Music Museum, I wisely choose the latter one. Few minutes walk from the centre, in the middle of the lively Coventry streets (with A LOT of Barber shops, why so many is still a mistery to me) and I arrive in this internal alley called 2-tone courtyard, and just passed the 2-tone Cafe that looked really nice, but the museum closes early at 16.00, so no time for coffee, and after a very very reasonable entrance fee, you enter in a phantasmagorical time capsule that illustrate all the musical universe from Coventry and Warwickshire, you don't need to be a Ska fan and part of the 2-Tone cult (there, i said it!!!!!) To appreciate it, in a small place you'll be overloaded with more memorabilia that you can ask for, from old programs to hundreds of records and costumes (one from Tracey Tracey from The Primitives comes to mind....and stays there!!!!) Trainers autographed by Madness members, a whole John and Yoko corner, and a whole wall dedicated to the singles that made the charts, my personal favourite is the recreation of a bedroom from some youth with posters, records and a Marathon bar on the side table. The staff are friendly and approachable and being this an independent museum what really transpire is the total love and dedication given to put it together, forget for a moment that is a museum and consider it instead a visit to a friend that is eager to show ya his collection accumulated during many years. You'll be touched as me that he decided to share it and...
Read moreFabulous museum of music featuring artists connected with Coventry. Obviously, the Two-tone label, The Specials and Selecter are heavily featured with Coventry being the birthplace of the label, but other Coventry artists like Frank Ifield, Hazel O' Connor, King and The Enemy , as well as pioneers of other musical styles, are featured. The museum is relatively small and will take between 1 to 2 hours to look round. Entry costs £5 for adults. Volunteers are on hand to answer questions, all very friendly and very knowledgeable. I have wanted to visit here for a while, and as we were in Coventry at a wedding for the weekend, we took the opportunity to pop in whilst we were sight seeing. One of the best run attractions I've been to. Lots of nice memorabilia. Certainly if you are a fan of the music of the Two-tone revival of '79 , this place is an absolute" must- visit" if you happen to be in Coventry. Nice Two-tone themed cafe opposite. Highly...
Read more