The closed Booth Museum is running tours of its dioramas and stores

The Booth Museum of Natural History on Dyke Road is running tours of its dioramas and stores on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October, though it is still closed for refurbishment. Brighton & Hove Museums^1,2,3 has added extra tickets.

The museum closed to the public on 20 April 2025. Visitors on the tours see the dioramas and some of the collections kept in the stores, plus an early look at the changes being made before the Booth officially reopens in February 2027. The works include upgrades to the building’s essential infrastructure.

It is 150 years since Edward Thomas Booth first put his bird dioramas on public display, in the halls of the Royal Pavilion. The Dyke Road museum is the one he built to house them.

Tours run from 10am to 12pm and 3pm to 5pm on both days, with an extra evening tour from 6 to 8pm on the Friday. Tickets are £15, or £60 for a group of five.

The main diorama tour is suitable for wheelchair users, with an accessible entrance at the rear. The upstairs stores are reached by a narrow staircase and are not wheelchair accessible.