Regular followers of London Shoes will know that its blogs are not always exclusive to London’s unusual/lesser known historic landmarks – my collection of blogs also identifies and highlights lesser known museums and other places of interest.
Last week ‘Shoes’ ventured out to visit one such location….the “Museum of Youth Culture” that has recently been set up in the West End’s famous Shaftesbury Avenue.
The ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ is a new museum dedicated to the styles, sounds and social activities and trends of young people throughout the past decades.
The Museum had its origins in youth culture magazines, and collections of archived photos capturing the history of youth culture throughout the decades.
It was in 2015 that the organisation got its big break when they were invited to ‘show’ at the “Festival of Love” held at the ‘Royal Festival Hall’ – an event that considerably raised the profile of the business.
Today the Museum of Youth Culture is formed from the archives of ‘Youth Club’, a non-profit Heritage Lottery & Arts Council Funded collection incorporating photographs/posters/badges/patches/skates/skateboards/DJ mixing desks plus many many more items of youth culture history.
From post-war 1940s London, to the Acid House ravers of 1980s – the Museum of Youth Culture captures the everyday stories of growing up in Britain. 
Throughout the Covid19 pandemic the Museum has added to its vast collection of ‘everyday’ photos from thousands of submissions from the general public through an online campaign, ‘Grown Up in Britain’ that invited the public to send in their own photographs, showing what it was like for them growing up, in their personal circumstances and situations, up and down the country.
The Museum have secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and also receives income from donations and merchandise sales.
The Museum are also focused on educating youth from Secondary School age upwards plus Pupil Referral Units – by providing skills training, talks and workshops, all designed to inspire future generations through the power of youth culture. 
The Museum of Youth Culture is located at 154 Shaftesbury Avenue-W1, just a couple of mins walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station – and is open Monday – Sunday 12 – 7pm.
It has a fantastic and interesting collection of photos and artefacts that capture and evidence ‘youth’ social history throughout the past decades – and is well worth a visit in my opinion – so if you find yourself in the Tottenham Court Rd/Theatreland district of the west-end, then get yourself down to Shaftesbury Avenue, and pop in to the Museum and have a look around.
So – having spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours mooching around in the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – I headed off to the quite unusual “Montague Pyke” pub for a quick ‘cheeky’ one – before heading back home. 
Now – the last time ‘London Shoes’ nipped into a pub for a cheeky one, was way back in 2020, just prior to the arrival of the Covid19 pandemic !!!
What better place to resume cheeky one activities than at the Wetherspoons – Montague Pyke pub.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Montague Pyke was known as the “Cinema King” of London. The current Montague Pyke pub building in the Charing Cross Road, was the last of the 15 cinemas he owned throughout central London, when he opened it in 1911.
However – it appears he was a bit of a chancer/rogue, who owed a lot of money to a lot of people. 
In 1915 a cinema employee was working in the basement of the Cinema, that is now the Montague Pyke pub. Loads of old film were being stored in the basement, and a fire erupted and tragically the employee was killed – which ended up with Montague Pyke being brought to justice and charged and found guilty of manslaughter.
Today – this massive pub operates within the old cinema structure – really unusual in typical ‘Spoons’ style, and the perfect setting for me to neck down a couple of ‘gold watches’.
Hope you find this blog interesting and enjoy the photos.
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See below the full gallery of photos supporting this ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ blog
Tottenham Court Road station – the closest tube station to the “Museum of Youth Culture”
The Museum of Youth Culture, was located in Carnaby Street a little while back – but is now located in Theatreland’s ‘Shaftesbury Avenue’.
The “Museum of Youth Culture” 154 Shaftesbury Avenue – London -W1
The front window of the “Museum of Youth Culture” 154 Shaftesbury Avenue – London -W1
Me – across the road from the “Museum of Youth Culture” 154 Shaftesbury Avenue – London -W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – and its collections of historical archives and public collections of photos plus physical artefacts such as posters/badges/patches/skates/skateboards – plus loads of other material, referencing youth culture and its social history – mainly from the late 1960’s up to date.
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Just one of the hundreds of the social history of youth culture photos, on display at the Museum.
Me – among the exhibits of the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Just one of the hundreds of the social history of youth culture photos, on display at the Museum.
Me – among the exhibits of the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Articles for sale – Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Just one of the hundreds of the social history of youth culture photos, on display at the Museum.
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1 – I used to own this album back in the 70’s (it got nicked at a party!! )
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1 – Another album I used to own, this time in the 1980’s – It got thrown on a skip when CD’s came along 🙁
Me – among the exhibits of the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
Just one of the hundreds of the social history of youth culture photos, on display at the Museum.
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Just an example for the many types of books on sale at the Museum of Youth Culture.
Me – down in the basement lecture room of the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1 – was so close to buying this, but I didn’t think my Mrs would approve, especially if I wore it when with my young grandkids 🙂
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Just one of the hundreds of the social history of youth culture photos, on display at the Museum.
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Me – among the exhibits of the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
Inside the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ – Shaftesbury Ave-London-W1
One of the Museum’s originators/curators – dog……the star attraction of the museum 🙂
The current promo flyer for the “Museum of Youth Culture” – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
Me -with Jon – one of the originators and curators of the Museum of Youth Culture – Shaftesbury Ave-W1
The ‘Montague Pyke’ pub in Charing Cross Rd – Opened as a cinema in 1911 – converted to a Wetherspoons in 1996
Inside the old 1911 cinema building that is now the ‘Montague Pyke’ pub
Me – knocking back a cheeky drop of ‘gold watch’ in the ‘Montague Pyke’ pub – Charing Cross Rd – having spent an enjoyable couple of hours visiting the ‘Museum of Youth Culture’ in nearby Shaftesbury Avenue.
I really enjoyed Museum Of Youth Culture , really worth a visit and glad you went too!
Hi Denise – I thought it was worth a visit – hopefully, my blog may help raise a bit of awareness of its existence – and encourage others to pop along to it.