See & Do

Science and Industry Museum

Free

Attraction Heritage

Hightlight

Cafe
City Centre
Events
Family Friendly

Explore 250 years of innovations and ideas that started life in Manchester and went on to change the world on a visit to the Science and Industry Museum.

Journey through Manchester’s rich legacy of ideas and discoveries in the Revolution Manchester Gallery, from the ancestor of modern computing to one of the first Rolls-Royce motorcars.

Find out how the city’s heritage is interwoven with the cotton industry in the Textiles Gallery. Follow the textiles story through innovations in design, printing and finishing, and find out how ‘Cottonopolis’ changed the world we all live in today.

Get hands on and see science brought to life in Experiment, an interactive gallery designed for the whole family to enjoy together.

Special Exhibitions

Play your way through 50 years of video games in Power Up—the ultimate gaming experience. Try out over a hundred different consoles, from Pong to Pacman, Sonic to Street Fighter and Mario to Minecraft, plus a selection of games created in Manchester.

Dive headfirst into the digestive system for an unforgettable journey of super-sized science with Operation Ouch! Food, Poo and You – an interactive exhibition which brings the hit BBC Children’s TV series to life.

From the tip of the tongue to the end of the bum, explore the role of each organ in the digestive journey through games and challenges, fun facts and fascinating objects from the Science Museum Group’s collection.

Current Closures

A multi-million-pound restoration programme is underway at the museum’s globally significant industrial heritage site to carry out crucial restoration work, bring the story of the historic site to life, and to create a more sustainable museum for visitors to play and learn in.

This means that there is a lot of scaffolding and that some buildings will remain closed until works are complete, including the much-loved Power Hall and the historic 1830 Station, the oldest surviving passenger railway station.

Food and Drink

The museum café is open daily 08.00–17.00 Monday – Friday and 09.30–17.00 on Saturdays and Sundays, serving a delicious selection of hot and cold drinks, pastries, sandwiches, cakes and snacks.

Parking

There is paid-for on-street parking on the streets surrounding the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.

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Opening Hours

Monday: 10:00 - 17:00

Tuesday: 10:00 - 17:00

Closed

Wednesday: 10:00 - 17:00

Thursday: 10:00 - 17:00

Friday: 10:00 - 17:00

Saturday: 10:00 - 17:00

Sunday: 10:00 - 17:00

Google Reviews

Science and Industry Museum

4.420066 reviews

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Liliane Leite

a week ago

A lovely experience, mainly for kids to play and understand the origin of many things they see such as cars, airplanes and fabrics...4 different kids scientific play&learn areas, 2 of them are free entry. Too many attractions during the day, better to arrive before 4 o'clock to make it better. There is a Café inside and many family friendly restaurantes around, on Liverpool road for instance, just the street behind the museum building. We spent a lovely time there, around 2h visit.

Beth Murray

a month ago

We had a great family visit! Perfect for a train/engineer enthusiast. Lots for children to interact and engage with. Free entry, donations accepted. If you spend over £10 in the shop you get 20% off in the cafe, wish I knew before buying lunch in the cafe! Great food and drinks though.

Marc van Dellen

4 weeks ago

The museum is a really nice place. I was able to take many impressions of old Manchester with me. The department with the cotton and the hall with the machines is beautiful. In the hall with the machines, you immediately have this old smell in your nose. Then this arrangement of the machines. On my day Sunday Feb.08. In 2026 there was a demonstration of an old diesel generator. You could not only see how it works, but there was also an explanation. I thought it was very nice.

merve bayka

2 months ago

An incredibly interesting museum with so many different topics. You learn a lot about the industrialisation of England – from cars and airplanes to gravity-related topics and early computers and servers. One section focuses on weaving and old looms, including a huge hall showing how production used to work in the past. There was also a guide with a microphone explaining the historical working conditions in factories, which made it even more impressive. On the second floor, there’s a gaming exhibition – from Nintendo 64 to the first PlayStation and many classic games. So much fun and absolutely worth visiting!

Melanie Mengüş

a month ago

Everybody told me that I needed to visit this museum in Manchester. I had few extra time and the museum was supposed to be free. I say supposed because the lady who welcomed us insisted that we had to make a donation and even gave the contactless machine to my husband. I told her we didn’t want to now but would gladly at the end if the museum was worth it. She seemed annoyed… The museum was not worth a payment honestly. I don’t know if it used to be better before but today it’s just empty. Apart from the locomotives hall which was fine the rest was boring. Don’t talk to me about the cotton part… They talk a lot of about the machinery but almost nothing about the dark history behind the cotton industry which was a shame. I don’t recommend unless you absolutely have nothing else to do. But there are better museums in the city.

Science and Industry Museum

Hightlight

Hightlight

Opening Hours

Google Reviews

Science and Industry Museum

Liliane Leite

Beth Murray

Marc van Dellen

merve bayka

Melanie Mengüş

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