National Portrait Gallery

One of my favourite places to visit in London. Can get annoyingly crowded but the paintings are wonderful and worth beating through the tourists just to spend a couple of hours in the company of such wonderful art.

I feel horrible putting 3 stars here since they just reopened but honestly they have a lot of work to do. So many people at this museum, they let in way too many people so what's the point of booking a time slot in advance like I did? I couldn't see a lot of the painting because of how crowded. Too many school children here at once (it was not just one school there were many). Really long wait for toilets and a few toilets had already been overflowing and it had only been identified for 1.5 hours. At this point I can't reccomended anyone go here unless it changes.

It is open again after three years - and it is glorious. A smart new entrance punched through where there used to be a window on the north side of the building and a reimagined and rehung collection. It felt as though there’s a greater emphasis placed now on the history of women’s rights and suffrage and on the effects of Empire, rather than it’s supposed glories, and less emphasis on generals, dukes and imperialists. It’s a wonderfully informative place to visit and you grasp history in an entirely novel way, through a selection of individuals, many of whom are overlooked in traditional history. And Larry’s speakeasy-style cocktail bar restaurant, in the basement, is worth the visit for its photographs and cool decor alone.

Not the biggest gallery. But because it focuses on one aspect of art one of the most interesting. As well as loads of pictures of old white people the new displays are starting to look at modern themes and examining the experience of immigrants into the UK. And I'm all in favour of that.