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A political history of Britain in the places where it happened: parliament and palace, courts and counting houses, and the streets where people pushed back.
Britain's highest court is younger than the iPhone, and anyone can walk in - to the exhibition downstairs, or into a hearing.
Law & justiceFree to enter
Until 2009 the final court of appeal was a committee of the House of Lords: the most senior judges sat inside Parliament, which made the modern idea of separate branches of government very hard to see. The Supreme Court moved them across Parliament Square into the former Middlesex Guildhall - a 1913 building that had been county government and then a Crown Court - and gave judicial independence its own address, facing the legislature it is independent of. It hears appeals on points of law of general public importance: devolution, human rights, the limits of what a government may do.
The permanent exhibition is on the lower ground floor and is free, like the rest of the building. It was rebuilt in 2026 around what the court actually decides rather than who the judges are: seventy appeals heard here, at the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, or at the House of Lords committee that came before, each one laid out as the argument, the ruling and what changed afterwards. The cases are not abstract - whether Uber drivers are employees, how a contested divorce is settled, what rights an employee keeps on strike. Films, wall panels, a set of ceremonial robes, judicial letters patent, and an exemplification of Magna Carta in modern English. There is seating, and a cafe open when the courts are sitting.
Upstairs, hearings are open and free, the courtrooms were rebuilt without the raised benches of a criminal court, and every case is streamed. When the court is not sitting you can usually go into the courtrooms anyway. There is a security check on the way in.
| Monday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
| Thursday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
| Friday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
| Saturday | Closed |
| Sunday | Closed |
Hours from the page that lists them, checked 6 September 2026.
Last entry is 16:30, and the building is closed at weekends and on bank holidays.
Submit a correction for this listing.
Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.