Maths World London Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.
Reviewed by Amanda Hayes
If you are bored of the same old attractions and looking for somewhere different to go, you have to give Maths world a try. On London’s South Bank and surrounded by lots of other attractions, restaurants and a few minutes from the river, it’s the perfect place to spend a couple of hours.
Tickets are booked in advance via the website https://mathsworld.com and are by date and time slot, with the last slot being one hour before the 5pm closing time. If you don’t want to book a specific time straight away, or you want to purchase for someone else, you can also buy gift vouchers, which I thought was a great idea. Tickets are £14.50 for adults and £13 for children over 3 years old, free for under 3’s. There is also a family ticket, 2 adults and 2 children that costs £50.00. Every ticket also includes an annual pass so you can visit anytime in the next year for free, which is an excellent deal for any attraction, let alone one in central London.
We initially wanted to go over half term, and then tried a couple of different dates after that, but the time slots get filled quickly, so you need to book up as soon as you can if you want a particular day and time.
When I told my son we were going to Maths World he was unsure what to expect and was worried that it would be boring, so the train journey up to London was mostly surmising what it would be like. There are plenty of really easy transport options to get there, including a 6 minute walk from Southwark tube station, a 15 minute walk from London Bridge or a 5 minute walk from Blackfriars station. We decided to go into London Bridge and out of Blackfriars, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake as a rare sunny Saturday afternoon meant we were battling the crowds, and it took far longer than the 15 minutes expected. On arrival, the very friendly staff there reassured us that being a few minutes late was no problem and we soon had our tickets scanned and were in.
Maths World is set inside a railway arch so has a fairly unassuming entrance, although is easy to find just off a main street, inside it’s the same, two smallish floors of pretty plain space, just letting the exhibits do the talking. Every exhibit is hands on and interactive, great for kids but equally as fun for adults. Some of the exhibits were more physics than maths world, with every action having a reaction, for example fun bridge building or looking at speed and velocity. Some were working out codes or using shapes, all were engaging and thought provoking. I found it interesting to see how every brain works differently with the same puzzle being either very easy or very difficult for two different people. With forty different exhibits you can easily spend two hours here, especially as some were like experiments, so you would want to try them several times, and some were more like puzzles that took some time to work out. We particularly liked the giant bubble!
Maths World London also holds monthly evening talks, the next being intriguingly sounding “The Hidden Maths of Knitting” on the 31st of March, with a very reasonable £5.00 entrance fee.
We all really enjoyed our trip to Maths World, it was fun and engaging and without a screen in sight. It isn’t a large space, but it is packed with things to do, and the annual pass means you can pop in whenever you are in London with no additional charge. Perfect for all ages, including school groups and those homeschooling. All exhibits are accessible to wheelchair users and are suitable for those with ASD. For those of you in the North of the country try out Maths City Leeds for more fun maths related exhibits.
Rating: 5/5 Highly recommended
Tickets cost from £13.00. Maths World is at Arches, 6 Burrell St, London, SE1 0UN, For more information or to book tickets visit mathsworld.com