London Photo Gallery - Art Exhibitions & Special Events

Pollock's Toy Museum

Benjamin Pollock was a publisher of Victorian toy theatres, which were popular during the Regency period. Boys could put on plays at home using paper-cut figures and these items were sold from his shop in Hoxton.

After his death in 1937, an enthusiast bought everything left in the store and re-opened the shop in the West End, but it didn't survive and another customer saved the collection, setting up a shop and museum near Covent Garden in 1955, a time when children started growing up with cinema and television.

The museum closed its doors in early 2023 and a new temporary home was set up in Croydon, with a smaller secondary site in the Leadenhall Market opening later that year.