Niche National Museums in Sheffield

In Brief.

Sheffield hosts two national museums, which are 10 minutes walk apart, just to the north and east of the City Centre. The National Emergency Services Museum is located in a police and fire station dating from 1900, and includes a wide range of displays and artefacts on the history of these and other emergency services. The National Videogame Museum contains a single large space occupied by arcade games, gaming consoles and computers, providing an opportunity to try out computer games from the last 50 years.

Not all the characters at the Videogame museum are digital.

What's Here?

The National Emergency Services Museum has a low-key exterior, in the form of a historic redbrick building adjacent to the recently redeveloped Riverside district. However, the building is deceptively spacious, and the museum uses features of the building as to support its narrative. So, for example, the area on the police focuses on the history of policing, and uses the original cells to review the experience of someone arrested and brought to the building in the early 20th century.  

A cell in the police station.

This approach of focusing on time periods continues throughout, for example with a focus firefighting in wartime, which is supported by displays of vehicles and protective equipment.  Over the three floors of the museum, there are further exhibits on the coastguard (there is even a lifeboat alongside several ambulances and fire engines in an exterior space), on emergency vehicles, on the air ambulance and on the accommodation occupied by firemen on site.  Overall, a wide-ranging museum with plenty exhibits and stories to tell.

A 1932 Leyland fire engine.

The National Videogame Museum, while it has some features of a typical museum, such as display cases and focused areas, is predominantly about the opportunity to try out games from different decades, with perhaps 100 games to try. Thus there are arcade games including Space Invaders and Pac-Man, games consoles from different generations featuring the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario, through assorted Lego games, to highlights from the Sheffield gaming studios and recent works from computer game students. This was quite quiet on my weekday visit, which certainly provides an opportunity for gaming enthusiasts to have a long and varied session.

Assorted gaming consoles.

Practicalities.

Distance from Manchester Town Hall: 38 miles

Drive Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Price: National Emergency Services Museum: $; National Videogame Museum: $$

Parking: There are many carparks in central Sheffield; I parked at Q Riverside - satisfactory as multi-storey carparks go, but super expensive.

Food and Drink: The Emergency Services Museum has a cafe where I had a satisfactory tea and cake. There is not a cafe at the Videogame museum.  I had lunch at the nearby Victoria Quays, where there were numerous canal boats and several eateries.

Child Friendly: The Emergency Services Museum has some child-centred activities such as things to dress up in and crawl inside. The Videogame museum is for children of all ages.

Toilets: In both places.

Do it justice in: National Emergency Services Museum: 90 minutes; National Videogame Museum: depends how many of the games you want to play, and how hooked you get.

Inside-Outside: National Emergency Services Museum: 90:10; National Videogame Museum: 100:0