Childhood Memories Toy Museum in Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom | Museum

Welcome to Childhood Memories Toy Museum, Tynemouth, United Kingdom. Childhood doesn’t belong in a museum - it’s noisy and fun, not quiet and tidy.  When you walk into the barn-like space that is the Childhood Memories Toy Museum the overall effect is of a chaotic bedroom that’s had a last minute tidy up for visitors. The name really fits, as soon as you come in the door it’s like being a kid again, looking at a whole heap of exciting things and wondering what to play with first.

In the middle of the floor large dolls and cuddly toys of all ages are corralled inside miniature vehicles. Some of the old ones would give you nightmares, their glass eyes staring at you in the dark. A teddy sits in a Sinclair C5, not actually a toy car even though it looks like one. Although many of the exhibits are highly collectable there’s no indication that that makes them more important. Classic toys are on show alongside tiny disposable things and famous names jostle with others that have been long forgotten. That makes sense – kids don’t discriminate either.

The Childhood Memories Toy Museum, Tynemouth, is the only toy museum in the north east, with over 5000 toys on display from 1890s to the 1970s. There is also a dolls hospital and toy repair service.