The Postal Museum vies for national Family Friendly Accessibility Award

The Postal Museum has today been named as one of four museums nationwide vying for the title of Best Accessible Museum at the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Awards.

Photo of three children dressing up in postal uniforms.

Dressing up at The Postal Museum © The Postal Museum

The charity, Kids in Museums, has run the prestigious annual award since 2004, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK. It is the only museum award to be judged by families.

It’s not the first time The Postal Museum has been recognised for its accessible offer. The museum took home the prize in 2021.

From February to late April, families across the UK voted for their favourite heritage attraction on the Kids in Museums website. A panel of museum experts, children and young people then whittled hundreds of nominations to a shortlist of 20 heritage attractions.

Bethany Smith, Family Programmes Producer at The Postal Museum, said:

“To be nominated by families and young people for the Best Accessible Museum is a huge compliment. Since opening in 2017, we’ve endeavoured to make our spaces and programmes as accessible and inclusive as can be and worked with accessibility partners and local community groups to shape our overall visitor experience. We look forward to welcoming the undercover judges this summer.”

Young visitors to The Postal Museum can ride through the historic Mail Rail tunnels, dress up in postal uniforms, and send secret messages through the museum’s pneumatic tubes, and this year, visitors can also enjoy an interactive, temporary exhibition celebrating 40 years of The Jolly Postman, Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s much-loved children’s book.

On select dates during the summer holidays, visitors can join facilitated The Jolly Postman storytelling sessions and take part in arts and crafts activities inspired by the fairy-tale characters – like Cinderella and a wicked witch – that the Jolly Postman meets on his rounds. The Postal Museum’s summer activities are made possible by the generous support of Faber-Castell.

Over the summer holidays, the museum will be visited by undercover family judges who will assess the shortlisted museums against the Kids in Museums Manifesto, a set of guidelines on what makes a great museum visit for all ages. Their experiences will decide a winner for each award category and an overall winner of the Family Friendly Museum Award 2026. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

Follow the Family Friendly Museum Award on social media by following @kidsinmuseums and #FamilyFriendlyMuseum, and follow The Postal Museum at @ThePostalMuseum.

The Family Friendly Museum Award has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.

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The full list of museums shortlisted for the Family Friendly Museum Award 2026 is:

Best Accessible Museum