The Pankhurst Centre

What it’s like

A small suffragette museum where kids get a garden to chalk in and a photo op, not just glass cases to file past.

This is the actual house the Pankhursts lived in, and the museum takes you through the suffragette movement room by room rather than just putting it behind glass. Kids can get outside afterwards into the garden, which has chalk graffiti laid on for them and doubles as a quiet spot if the museum bit has been a lot to take in. There's a suffragette selfie moment too, which is the sort of thing that'll actually get mentioned at teatime.

It's only open Thursdays and Sundays, 11am to 4pm with last entry at 3pm, so this isn't a spontaneous rainy Tuesday plan. It's a small museum with limited capacity and they'd rather you booked ahead than turn up on spec, though they will let you in on the door if there's room. £6 for an adult if you just walk up, £5 if you get the yearly pass, and under-fives go free with a paying adult, which makes the yearly pass an easy call if you think you'll be back.

Access needs a bit of thought. It's a listed Georgian building, so there's a step at the front, but there's step-free access through the garden door if you ask a volunteer to guide you round. Some of the original doorways are only 80cm wide though, so not every wheelchair will get through everywhere, and the gravel garden paths, while built with buggies and wheelchairs in mind, aren't the easiest to push over. One gallery has flashing images and sound effects, and they'll switch that off if you ask, which is worth knowing if that sort of thing bothers your kids.

There's a café on site and a gift shop for the obligatory end-of-visit purchase, though there's no online shop if you fancy browsing from home first. Parking is next door at the Grafton Street NCP, which has accessible spaces and a floor 1 blue badge bay, and there's a drop-off point right outside the garden gates.

Facilities

Need to know

Last entry

3pm

Parking

NCP Grafton Street car park next door with accessible spaces

Pushchairs

Step-free access through garden door

Wheelchairs

Step-free access through garden door

Getting there by bus or train

Oxford Road train station: 20 minutes on foot or 9 minutes by bus

Worth knowing

Yearly pass valid for 1 year from date of first visit with free repeat visits

• Yearly pass runs for a year from your first visit and includes free repeat visits, worth it if you're local
• Nappy changing is in the accessible toilet
• The garden's open through the week even outside museum opening hours
• Nearest station is Oxford Road, about 20 minutes on foot or a short bus ride

Plan your visit

Featured in 2 Huddlepin lists

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