To the Bank of England Museum!
Blimey.
I never knew this even existed.
Thanks to a helpful tip-off from the always informative Ian Visits, we decided to drop in on the After the Fire exhibition. Actually it was just any old excuse to gain entry into the hallowed Walls of Dosh.
As expected there was a serious security check just to get into the museum. This included flashing my belt. There was something of an uncomfortable moment when I went to loosen the belt to take it off.
“No! NO! NO!!!! Sir”
Phew, I think I just about got away with that one.
The exhibition itself was very compact but also informative. It’s a story that’s not normally told: how London was rebuilt after the Great Fire, and then subsequently how this led to the rise of the insurance business and coffee houses.
It’s a pretty fundamental concept, but one that I’d never really considered - namely how, after a FUCK OFF great big fire, insurance then became a thing. People were worried about the Great Fire of London, part two.
The exhibition takes the form of a visual display as you look at four large picture boards, each detailing the chronology and developments around insurance and coffee houses.
You find out how the Royal Exchange was built as a consequence immediately after the Great Fire.
Oh the irony that it was then burnt down. I hope the owners had insurance.
I also learned that the first fire engines were known as giant squids. That’s a random fact that will be filed away and probably never used again.
On a more serious note it was good to see that the exhibition didn’t shy away from the slave trade and the involvement of Lloyds of London.
After having finished the Great Fire exhibition I wasn’t expecting to hang around at the Bank of England. I wasn’t expecting there to be a dedicated museum all about banking in England.
But there it was, laid out in superb detail, with a dedicated section all about the history of the building, its predecessors, plus how the bank came into existence.
Time was a little tight. We managed to take in most of the rooms. One of the highlights was lifting up a gold bullion that was so heavily encased so you couldn’t slip it down your shreddies, even with a loosened belt.
We didn’t quite get to see every exhibit. My attention was mainly taken by the amazing architecture right in the depths of the Bank of England.
A decent find.
