Cockney Museum

About the museum

The Cockney Museum was created by George Major, known as the Pearly King of Peckham, who had collected material on Cockney life and the Pearly tradition for over sixty years. It opened to visitors in 2020 in an outbuilding behind shops on The Broadway in Stoneleigh, on the Surrey edge of Greater London.

Visitors walk through a recreated London street from the early 1900s, with cobbles, gas lamps, terraced houses, a period kitchen and living room, a market square and a pie and mash shop. Thousands of captioned photographs show Londoners and their neighbourhoods, and panels explain Cockney rhyming slang. A collection of Pearly costumes covered in mother-of-pearl buttons shows how costermongers became Pearly Kings and Queens, and a small cinema shows historic films. A yellow Reliant van from the television series Only Fools and Horses stands outside.

Highlights

• Recreated early 20th-century London street
• Pearly King and Queen costumes with mother-of-pearl buttons
• Photographs of historic London neighbourhoods and Cockney rhyming slang
• Small cinema with historic films
• Reliant van from Only Fools and Horses

Permanent exhibition

• Cockney London street and Pearly costumes – A recreated early 20th-century street with houses, shop and market, a collection of Pearly costumes, photographs and a small cinema.

Founded

2020

Operated by

George Major (founder and curator)

Admission & discounts

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

A short walk from Stoneleigh station; the museum is in an alley off The Broadway.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.