Brighton Toy and Model Museum

Brighton Toy and Model Museum sits under Brighton station in four early Victorian brick arches that once stored Bass Brewery beer barrels. The arches supported a station forecourt bridge built in the 1840s to help horses climb Trafalgar Street. Three arches still show Bass’s red triangle, Britain’s first registered trademark. The space was later used for dray-horse stalls and corn storage before becoming a museum in 1991. The arches form part of the Grade II* listed station and are said to be haunted.

The museum holds more than ten thousand toys and models across four thousand square feet. Founder-Director Chris Littledale began collecting as a child and worked for Christie’s on model railways. His 1930s layout became the core of the collection, joined by donations from fellow collectors. A separate trust safeguards the items so they cannot be sold or dispersed. Overhead radio-controlled aircraft by Denis Hefford and Gordon Bowd share space with commercial toys from makers like Corgi, Dinky and Meccano.

Visitors enter through the free lobby arch where a quarter-scale traction engine and a motorised Meccano Ferris wheel stand beside a radio-controlled Spitfire. The ticketed area in the next three arches contains three model railway layouts and more than fifty display cases. Puppet Corner and the Glamour of Brighton exhibition show local scenes including Magnus Volk’s electric railway and the Brighton Belle. A free online encyclopaedia, the Brighton Toy and Model Index, offers details on every exhibit via QR codes and museum screens.