Bank of England Museum

The lowdown

Inside the great windowless wall of the Bank of England is a free museum most people never think to go into. It tells the story of money, from the founding of the Bank in 1694 through hand-engraved banknotes, old ledgers and the gold that underpins it all.

The bit everyone comes for sits in a glass case with a hole in the side. You reach in and lift a genuine bar of solid gold, around thirteen kilos of it, worth several hundred thousand pounds, held in place by a very serious security system. It is heavier than you expect and you will grin like a child.

Around it are surprisingly good galleries on inflation, forgery and how the whole strange machine of money works, told more clearly here than anywhere. A proper free half hour in the middle of the financial district, and a great one with kids.