Brighton & Hove Museum of Creativity

This place is a true hidden gem in Hove free to enter and just a short trip from the heart of Brighton. It's absolutely worth a visit. If you do go, consider making a donation to help preserve special places like this for future generations.

A great free museum! We came specifically here (during our holiday) to visit a photo exhibition by Martin Parr and JJ Waller, but the rest was also very nice. Staff was friendly too.

A great free museum with interesting local artifacts and art. A good cafe attached. Worth a visit

I went to the Hove Museum of Creativity and Art Gallery where I thoroughly enjoyed all of the art works and exhibitions on display. Afterwards I visited the ‘Rust Cafe’ which had wonderful cakes; drinks; food and pastries. Overall I would definitely recommend this place to family members and friends.

Great discovery! Really varied items on display Mechanical Circus is fabulous RUST Resto is great - good value and the best tea and cake around. Overall the whole building is very well maintained and meticulously cleaned

A lovely free museum. When I arrived it was my first visit and they had several weekends events on (Zine making and a Victorian lantern film show). This was a nice surprise and kept me entertained for a while! Child friendly and interactive exhibits. Free entry. Helpful staff. A newly opened cafe on the ground floor with an amazing array of cakes and savouries and great decor. Not the biggest museum but plenty to see with changing exhibits.

The toys were interesting for the children, it kept their attention for about an hour. There's a well decorated café inside that sells some serious coffee and chai lattes

So much information packed into basically one floor which is amazing. They do special exhibitions, but they were closed when I visited. Really enjoyed the bit about the development of Hove all the way back to Anglo-Saxon times. Even more intriguing still, is the section on Hove being a pioneer of film production. As the lady at the reception said, Hove "could have been Hollywood". Lastly, the artwork section from local people is superb.

Hove museum and art gallery is small, but perfectly formed. It's not somewhere you'd make a beeline for, unless there was something of specific interest to you personally to see, but it can provide a pleasant enough distraction for an hour or so on a rainy day. It has recently been refurbished and upgraded to provide high quality temporary exhibition space. The museum is housed in one of Hove's grandest former mansions, a large Italianate house just to the west of the shopping area, half a mile from St Andrew's old church on Church Road. The highlight of the permanent collections is actually outside the museum: the Jaipur Gate. This was made for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 held in South Kensington, and moved here in 1926. It was paid for by the Maharaja of Jaipur, whose motto is inscribed on the front, in English, Sanskrit and Latin: 'where virtue is, there is victory'. It was carved by Indian craftsmen, although its design was concieved by two Englishment, and it combines both Mughal and Rajput elements. After recent conservation work, it is now in excellent condition. Inside, the ground floor provides two temporary exhibition spaces, a small shop and a tea room, which seemed very popular on my visit, and is probably worth knowing about in its own right. Upstairs are the four main areas of the permanent collection. Most important of these is the collection of early film and cinematic equipment. Brighton and Hove were important in early British film making, and a small film industry was based at Shoreham Beach in the days of silent films. The collection includes a wide selection of early film-making and projection equipment, and a small 8-seat 'cinema' where excerpts from early films and items for children are shown. The art gallery contains a handful of attractive works by European (mostly British) artists, although none are in the 'top flight' of European painting. Details of the collection are on the website (note that this covers Brighton's collection, too, which is wider ranging and more impressive). Next comes a small display of local history, which includes a small number of objects from local excavations from the bronze age to the mediaeval period, and includes the skull of a Saxon woman, important amber Bronze-age grave goods, items from a Saxon warrior burial, and pottery from a Roman villa excavated in nearby Southwick. Finally, there a lovely toy collection, displayed in an area especially designed for children, which seems very well done -the collection covers quite a wide range from the 18th to the present. The temporary collections cover local arts and crafts and, as ever with this kind of display, the quality varies a bit, although the presentation is excellently done. The shop sells cards, postcards and toys as well as small souvenir items. Entrance is free.

Whether you're visiting to see the museum's fascinating exhibits or tp sample the quaint delights of it's small but charming tea rooms you're sure to be satisfied by Hove Museum and Art gallery. I went a few months ago during a bike ride with the simple intention of grabbing a tea before heading home. Not only did I extend my order to include a slice of carrot cake and a scone but I had to take a trip round their free exhibitions including a fascinating collection of photos and extracts from Brighton's Herald Newspaper during Word War II. This is open until Jan 10th 2010 so head down soon. Of you're reading this after that date then I would imagine they've set up an equally interesting exhibition by now, as Brighton & Hove council seem to be quite skilled in such areas. If you've lived in Brighton for a while and not yet visited then you're missing out on a very educational and cost-effective excursion. I'd happily go again just for the cream tea and scones!

Let me get straight to the point. If you live nearby and you've not visited this place yet, you're missing out. If only for the sumptuous delights of the quaint and charming tearoom it's a prime destination for people young and old. The upstairs museum has a few permanent exhibitions including a particularly interesting one about Brighton's cinematic heritage. Another room is entirely dedicated to looking at vintage toys and children's entertainment. This means it's certainly worth bringing the kids along. There's another room which changes its theme now and then so there'll always be more to see and along with its free entry this makes it an incredibly cost-effective day out.

Step inside the Hove Museum & Art Gallery and you're confronted by a couple of staff sitting behind a small desk. To your left is a staircase, which leads to a number of exhibitions and past that, the current exhibit and tearoom. To your right is the continuation of the current exhibit. At the moment, that exhibit is all about Brighton in WWII and what a great start it is. If you've lived in Brighton 3 days or 30 years, this is just phenomenally interesting: seeing images of shot down fighter planes on Brighton beach or Haile Selassie looking pensive on the West Pier is remarkable. Upstairs is the fabulous toy collection, which is great for kids and grown-ups alike, with toys ranging from the 18th Century - present day. There is also a room with hand produced art and fabrics, with videos detailing the painstaking production methods. My favourite part of the museum is the Brighton & Hove film history section, which looks at the key players in the film industry who originated from Brighton and Hove. There is also a mock cinema with salvaged seating and various original pieces from cinematic history such as a simple Zoetrope and more complex projection equipment. There are some fantastic collections and exhibits housed in this rather grand Victorian building in Hove. I cannot express how much you should see this place - local history is not just important, but also genuinely interesting.

Brighton and Hove city council seem to have a knack for keeping places like this going. Hove museum and Art gallery is the sister venture to the Museum in the pavilions. Though remarkably smaller it hasn't lost any of the delight, charm and wonder that you feel on a trip to their city centre sibling. What's more it's free! This place is a must see attraction for anybody with a healthy interest in history and education. It's ideal for families and folks of all ages as the wide, well chosen selection of Brighton based exhibits are bound to please the eyes and imagination of young and old alike. Much like the Brighton Museum in the pavilions this place benefits from a stunning and entirely well suited location. You enter the grounds of the building through a gate more at home in a period drama than suburban Hove. Then up the path to what might best be described as a grand old pile, built in the style of a miniature stately home. The tea rooms here are a spectacular place to be too and have a selection of tea and cakes that I can only liken to Ambrosia. It's an experience not unlike Alice's little adventures in the Lewis Carol stories. There are tall sash windows letting in light at such angles as to throw shadows of gnarled tree branches across cabinets of china tea sets and polished silver ware. The perfect conclusion to any visit to the Museum above.

excellent ] better than brightons museum which is good great for all brill thanks