Imperial War Museum Reviews Summary

Accessibility

Pros:

• "Just a five minute walk from Lambeth north underground, the IWM is easy to get to."
• "A short walk from Lambeth North tube station on the bakerloo line."
• "There are several lifts / elevators to transport visitors up and down the floors, as well as plenty of staircases."
• "Facilities are excellent including plenty of lifts to access the upper levels."
• "There is a lift to every level, which was fantastic for my 79 year old Dad as he was able to see all the exhibits."
• "The floors are smooth. There are 4 lifts at one end of the central hall. The lifts serve all floors."
• "Wheelchair accessible via the west entrance. The wheelchair ramp is just past the cafeteria."

Cons:

• "Access to 2nd floor and above is awkward - stairs and lift are on opposite side of the entrance while another pair of stairs to only basement, ground floor, and 1st floor are near entrance."
• "Only had an hour and only got to see the First World War exhibit which was great but the lighting used makes it a little hard to see things."
• "Sometimes the lighting is rather dim, maybe to avoid deterioration of the exhibits, but makes it hard to read the accompanying write-ups to the exhibits."
• "Also the lighting was very dim, which I know added to the immersive atmosphere but many items (especially text based) were really difficult to see clearly."

Exhibits and Educational Value

Pros:

• "Very educational and impactful. We must never forget what happened."
• "The museum is self guided and is very well directed."
• "Excellent and respectful display of original war artifacts from WWI and WWII also from newer wars as the cold war and northern Ireland."
• "Considering that this museum is free it has a very good set of exhibits."
• "Truly amazing museum, not visited since I was a teen and it was just as good as I remembered."
• "A must visit if you are a world war history buff!"
• "The Holocaust exhibition was a hearth booking."

Cons:

• "There have been many conflicts that the British Armed Forces have been involved in since WW2, The Falklands war in particular could do with better representation."
• "I miss some of the old, interactive exhibits."
• "Only the first two floors are interesting (WW1 and WW2), the others are mostly empty or used for temporary exhibitions."
• "The exhibits were very good but there just aren't enough of them overall."
• "Was nice, but too much written modern material and not enough artifacts."
• "Very interesting, the first World War was documented very well and immersed you in the whole tragic event. The Second World War was less so documented which was disappointing."
• "Minus 1 star because parts of the museum have gone a bit ‘woke’ trying to push some kinda agenda rather than just exhibit the items and let the public make up their own minds."

Facilities and Services

Pros:

• "Free baggage lockers which use £1 refund."
• "Most importantly, the toilets were clean and I didn't have to queue at all as there were lots of cubicles."
• "The guides there are happy to chat and explain exhibits."
• "It has a cafe and gift shop and several excellent exhibits."
• "We very much enjoyed the freshly baked pizza in the café too."
• "The staff and volunteers are brilliant at explaining and guiding visitors around the exhibitions."
• "There are free restrooms that are extremely clean on the ground floor."

Cons:

• "The only set back is the cafe/bistro. Absolutely appalling the prices for the quality of food. About a 200% markup on everything. Cash not accepted either."
• "My only gripe would be some of the prices in the Cafe."
• "The cafe was very overpriced."
• "The cafe is ludicrous for price and service and think the museum needs to seriously rethink it."
• "Café and shop are rather pricey."
• "Cafe is quite expensive & quality not the best."
• "Cafe food good but the catering needs more staff."