New Museum of London to offer water from historic spring

The Museum of London could make history by becoming the first museum in the capital offering visitors water from its own spring.

Builders working on the site of the new £337 million museum in West Smithfield, which is due to open in 2026, found the previously unknown freshwater spring during renovation work.

Museum director Sharon Ament said they had no idea it was there when they first planned. She said: “There are so many things about this building that we simply did not know so there’s a whole section of vaults that run alongside and slightly under Farringdon Road.

“Nobody knew they were there until we smashed down the wall and they’re going to be amazingly evocative and as they were excavating they found this fresh water spring.”

The source of the spring is not known but it is not part of the River Fleet, which runs beneath nearby streets, and tests have revealed it is safe to drink.

Ms Ament added: “We’ve just capped it off but hopefully if I’ve got anything to do with it we’ll be able to let people fill up their water bottles from it.”

It follows other discoveries in the abandoned buildings including a surviving Victorian cocoa room which will become a cafe.

The original plans for the redevelopment included a well reaching down to the Fleet but that proved impossible.

One original idea that has survived the design process is a railway track that will take Thameslink trains through the museums galleries on their way to the nearby station.

Ms Ament said: “It feels like there will be lots of firsts. We’ll be the first museum with a trainline running through it and now we’ve got this spring.

“It’s that sense of connectedness to the geology of London and the infrastructure of London that’s just there below our feet.”

The current museum building on London Wall will close this December before reopening in 2026 when it will be known as the London Museum.

Its Docklands building, which hosted an exhibition on London’s secret rivers in 2019, will remain open throughout.