Horniman Museum and Gardens Reviews 4

I visited the Horniman Museum today with my two grandchildren as a special treat I booked this a month in advance.My granddaughter really enjoys art and my grandson is starting to focus more with art.

When we arrived I was greeted by a lady who then told me that the art session was full
I did explain that I had purchased tickets online
It was the tone in which she spoke to me
I felt very uncomfortable.

The ladies that actually ran the art sessions where absolutely awesome polite and accommodating and said we could come back at 11.50 for the next session

I spoke to someone in charge at the desk I believe his name was Tony. by way of apology he said we could go and enjoy the Aquarium free of charge.

Thank you so much Tony for listening and understanding my concern.you are a credit to Horniman Museum

I am a teacher so I'm always looking for places I that cater for kids and families. I've been to Horniman Cafe twice and it has a great atmosphere. It's not very upmarket but that makes it great for children. And they have a children's menu. I think it's a great option for a post-museum visit treat.

A celebration of animal abuse

This place is wall to wall of stuffed dead animals -- and sadly, taxidermy from days gone by was largely done for hunters and trophy collectors.

This museum does very little to acknowledge its historic shame -- this in itself is disturbing.

Modern taxidermy may not do this, but animals deserve dignity and respect -- we wouldn't like it if our relatives were stuffed and put in glass cases, so why do it for animals?

Interestingly, they have all manner of policies in place regarding the prehistoric human remains, but not so much for animals.

I did not visit the live-animal exhibitions -- I am not interested in imprisoned butterflies or fish; keeping non-native species captive in wrong, no matter how it gets dressed up as conservation or whatever.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid the live animal displays completely -- within the museum we alarmingly encountered mice kept in an inadequate glass cabinet where they have to endure electric lighting and the noise of visitors.

I'm sure that someone will read this and think of all manner of excuses for why they do what they do -- but, working backwards to justify an outdated principle is not ethics, it's confirmation bias.

36 hours after eating in the cafe, I was sick with vomiting and diarrhea. I was not surprised. The fish finger sandwich was served barely warm, so probably not cooked through properly.