Bank of England Museum

When James II declared war against France in the 17th century, he looked over his shoulder and soon realised he didn’t have the funds to finance his armed forces. A Scottish merchant by the name of William Paterson came up with the idea of forming a joint-stock bank that could lend the government money and, in 1694, so began the Bank of England and the notion of national debt. The bank rapidly expanded in size and stature and moved to this site in 1734. During a financial crisis at the end of the 18th century, a cartoon appeared depicting the bank as a haggard old woman, and this is probably the origin of its nickname ‘the Old Lady of Threadneedle St’, which has stuck ever since. The institution is now in charge of maintaining the integrity of the British currency and financial system – and, since Gordon Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave it the power in 1997, even sets interest rates. The gifted Sir John Soane built the original structure, although the governors saw fit to demolish most of his splendid bank in the early 20th century and replace it with a utilitarian, no-frills model that they would soon regret. The centrepiece of the museum – which explores the evolution of money and the history of this venerable institution, and which is not nearly as dull as it sounds, even if it’s no substitute for some of London’s more essential museums – is a postwar reconstruction of Soane’s original stock office complete with mannequins in period dress behind original mahogany counters. A series of rooms leading off the office are packed with exhibits ranging from photographs and coins to a gold bar you can lift up (it’s amazingly heavy) and the muskets once used to defend the bank.