Science & Engineering

The museums, the machines and the men and women who worked it out: laboratories kept as they were, beam engines under steam, the tunnel, the barrier, the roofs, and the plaques on the houses where the ideas came.

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London Zoo

The first scientific zoo in the world, opened by the Zoological Society in 1828 for study before it was opened to the public, and still the Society's laboratory.

Natural historyGo inside

Photo by heena_mistry, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Harry Potter.

The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and Humphry Davy to advance zoology, and its gardens in Regent's Park were for Fellows and their science for nearly twenty years before the public was let in; Darwin came in 1838 to watch Jenny the orang-utan and wrote up what her expressions told him about the emotions of animals and people. The buildings are a history of how animals have been shown - Lubetkin's penguin pool and Hugh Casson's elephant house among them - and the Society's research institute still runs conservation science from the site.

Where
Outer Circle, Regent's Park, NW1 4RY
Nearest station
Camden Town · 12 min walk

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Hours

Monday10:00 – 17:00
Tuesday10:00 – 17:00
Wednesday10:00 – 17:00
Thursday10:00 – 17:00
Friday10:00 – 17:00
Saturday10:00 – 17:00
Sunday10:00 – 17:00

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 5 September 2026.

Closes at 16:00 from 24 October to 12 February. Last entry an hour before closing.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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