Archives: Timeline Stories

The Friends are actively raising the profile of the new LFB Museum by attending Fire Station Open Days and meeing members of the public, updating their social media feeds and generating interest in the Museum as a whole.

In January 2022, the hard work and efforts of the Friends was rewarded when they entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the LFB Museum and were officially recognised as the Museum’s Friends Group by The Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Andy Roe.

The newly revitalised Friends of the London Fire Brigade Museum worked hard throughout 2020 and 2021 to raise public awareness of the plans for the new Museum, through social media, attending open days and by reinstating relationships with their historic supporters/membership.

In December 2019, Lambeth Council gives planning consent to the redevelopment of Lambeth Fire Station, which will include the relocation of the Museum. This was a signal for the revitalisation of the Friends group to become part of the future of the Museum.

In March 2014, the Friends were given a recap on progress, and the old LFB headquarters at Lambeth Fire Station was seen as the best option for the new Museum. The site at Southwark was marketed for redevelopment from that date and consultants were appointed to process the idea.

In September 2012, the Strategy Committee agreed to keep the London Fire Brigade Museum open until a permanent home could be found. However, as the Southwark site, which included the Museum in Winchester House was to be sold, the Museum also had to close and all the items in the collection were placed into storage, […]

The then London Mayor, Boris Johnson, visited the London Fire Brigade Museum and clearly saw the positive aspects of it. On 23 December 2008, the South London press reported that, rather than closure, Boris Johnson proposed an expanded Blue Light Museum, which would recognise all of capital’s emergency services.

The Volunteers working at the Museum along with a small group of concerned individuals form the Friends of the London Fire Brigade Museum and its membership started to grow. The embryonic membership hold a series of meetings to define the strategy, create the organisation with a formal constitution and elect its officers. The South London Press […]

In October 2008, the London Fire Brigade Budget Options Report earmarked the Museum at Winchester House, Southwark for closure. It was the start of the period of public sector austerity. The savings were minuscule and no cost benefit analysis was given. The value of the Museum as a major cultural asset, that records the role […]

The Friends of the London Fire Brigade Museum moved from being a group which was formed to help the Museum, by preventing its closure, to one that, it hoped, would help build its future.