London Brand and Packaging Museum

This summer we've got to enjoy London at its best. The sun has been shining almost every day and we've been able to get out and about making the most of it. 

Some of the best discoveries have been unplanned. We took our visiting teenage niece to Portobello Market but found it too crowded and hectic. 

Having stopped off at the Hummingbird Bakery for delicious cupcakes, Google Maps tipped us off about the London Brand and Packaging Museum around the corner. 

At £5.80 each for an adult to get in, and £2 for up-to-16s, it's far less expensive than visiting a special exhibition at one of the big museums and far more accessible. Though youngsters won't recognise many of the names emblazoned on the various tins and presentation packages, some brand names have endured. Frosties, Star Wars, Superman and other space-age favourites are all well-represented. 

Colman's, Pears, Cadbury, Heinz and Guinness are some of the best-known brands on show, but we also get to see the many guises and monikers for various soda crystals and soap powders. The tour starts with the now fashionable again vogue for making do, growing your own and self-sufficiency that the Second World War and its aftermath necessitated. Even the Suffragettes were used as a merchandising opportunity.

Suffragette playing cards

Commentary about the various brands on show is spartan, but there's an interesting exhibit showing how tin cans are made - still a staple of the packaging industry. It's also interesting to see how marketing materials have evolved, from simple two or three-colour designs to the more sophisticated photo imposition and graphics of today. 

Once you've had your fill and need a break from the marketing onslaught that several rooms full of branding include, there's a small cafe where you can get a mug of tea and settle down in front of the retro telly and watching classic ads from the 70s and 80s. A pretty good end finish to a worthwhile trip down memory lane. 

The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising is at 2 Colville Mews, Lonsdale Road - just next door to Temperley's mecca of Britpop cool. 
It's open Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am to 6pm and Sundays 11am to 5pm.  

Beatlemania resulted in plenty of spin-off merchandising