Brighton Toy and Model Museum — Local services in England

What a lovely museum tucked away under Brighton Station. It was well worth the trip from London. And being fans of three wheels it was great to see the "full size" Peel P50 just inside the door. The staff were very friendly and it was great having a chat. And the group of children on a visit were a credit to their school. The museum was well laid out and the interactive pieces were good and were either just press a button or 10p. The well placed chairs were of great help to get down to see the lower parts of the showcases. The model cars were of great interest and memories jogged on lots of other things. It was good to hear about the visits they have for people with dementia. It might be small but we spent the best part of 2 pleasurable hours inside. A return visit is...

The museum is quite small, but into it is packed a huge collection of model trains, Meccano and other construction kits, model cars (including someone's ambulance collection) dolls, puppets and marionettes, coin-operated pinball-type machines, and more. The model trains in particular take up a lot of the space with large-scale model structures. Some are always operable but the main central one only runs on special occasions. The collection has been put together from several private collections and donations. The museum has only two staff and is otherwise maintained by volunteers. One thing you need to know is it's quite hard to find as it's underneath Brighton's real railway station - you need to find the steps down to it from the square...

Went here with my 7 year old daughter and 1 year old and I must say this compact museum was a hit with both! We had an hour to kill before boarding our train from Brighton to London and given the close proximity to the station, decided to give it a go! A family ticket cost us £14 and the place was packed with all manners of nostalgia ranging from Meccano to puppet theatres and (my personal fave) model trains and cars. There was a treasure hunt for my daughter to complete and given the compact space I was surprised when my husband reminded me our train time as could easily have spent longer there! Couldn't resist getting a couple of vintage postcards on the way out :))...