Appeal to save the London Museum of Water & Steam

Thanks to our amazing community and supporters we’ve had a very successful start to the fundraiser to save the London Museum of Water & Steam. Moving forward we have a very exciting announcement, a generous donor has agreed to match donations! All donations up to £250 will be matched, £1 for £1!

This can give us a new lease of life and a renewed sense of vigour and possibility. Covid 19 wore us down. It changed the face of cultural heritage visiting and visitor numbers have still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. To compound this, high inflation has increased many of our core costs, in particular utilities, insurances and cleaning. We have no support from government or local authorities, we are an independent charity. We need your support to get us through so we can strive to be the cultural asset you need!

Who we are

Since 1974, the Museum has been the guardian of the history of the Kew Bridge Waterworks and our amazing collection of world-class steam engines. This is our foundation. Our vision is to harness the potential of our engines to celebrate the remarkable story of human ingenuity, innovation, and engineering, inspiring audiences to our cause. We show the determination of a city to ensure access to clean water for millions. This timeless narrative is just as fundamental today as it was then. It guides us towards a collective commitment to forge a better, more sustainable future for generations to come.

The world has moved on from our foundation in 1974, and the choice to steam is not as straightforward as it once was. We’ve been working with international specialists, supported by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. We want to futureproof the heritage of steam engines sustainably, both environmentally and financially. We want to work creatively to move the industrial museum sector forward, continuing the engineering tradition we’re built on by adopting green technology and processes which respect our world, educate our visitors and make the Museum a centre for innovation and learning.

We’ve got big plans. We’re striving to become the creative, inspirational cultural asset the city of London now needs.  Our story and the story of water has never been more relevant – can you help us to survive this cold snap so we can achieve all this and more for our audiences and communities?