Jack the Ripper Museum in London & The Notorious Ten Bells Pub

As someone interested in crime history and serial killers, I found the Jack the Ripper Museum in Whitechapel, London, an excellent place to visit. The museum was rather engaging and covered the topic well.

The Jack the Ripper murders took place in Whitechapel in 1888, when at least five women were killed in a series of brutal attacks that shocked Victorian London. The killer was never identified, and the mystery surrounding the crimes has made the case one of the most infamous in British history.

While in the area, we visited some related Ripper sites, including The Ten Bells pub and Spitalfields Market, where the notorious murders occurred.

Where is the Jack the Ripper Museum

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The museum is at 12 Cable Street, London, E1 8JG, which is within walking distance of several Underground and rail stations. We chose Aldgate East for our visit, but Tower Hill could have been easier if coming from elsewhere.

The museum’s website covers things like opening hours and online booking. On our visit, we just turned up and found it to be quiet, so we purchased at the entrance alongside some themed t-shirts.

For those interested, there are also guided tours of related sites available.

What To Expect

The museum is set in a Victorian house with exhibits on each floor covering various aspects of the notorious murders and life in East London during that time. Throughout the museum are the stories of the victims and their lives beforehand, which was interesting.

One section was a mock-up of the Whitechapel police station where the investigation took place. This included tidbits of information about police investigations and maps of the area. Artefacts include the original whistle, notebook, handcuffs and truncheon used by P.C. Watkins on the night he discovered Catherine Eddowes’ body.

Here you can also find out about the suspects with some exhibits about them. This includes Freemason regalia mentioned in the topic and Walter Stickert, who has been suggested as a suspect.

Victims of Jack the Ripper were said to patronise the Ten Bells pub during the Autumn of 1888. Inside the museum, they have a mock-up of the pub as it would have looked in the Victorian era. Here they had the stories of the streetwalkers that used to frequent the pub before their murders. The pub is still open these days, and here we decided to take a walk to have a beer at The Ten Bells.

Other rooms inside covered the living conditions of the locals during the era and a mock-up of how Jack’s living room may have looked. These had stories of the victims and how they would have lived, as well as newspaper cuttings from during the murders.

Other Sites (Ten Bells Pub & Spitalfields Market)

About 15-20 minutes away from the museum is the Ten Bells Pub on Commercial Street. We visited after perusing the museum for a quick beer and to see what the area was all about and where some victims used to hang out. The pub was nice, with a central bar and lots of seating options. It was traditionally decorated with some cool ceramic features on the walls.

The neighbouring church and Spitalfield market were also covered in the museum, so we popped in for a look around. The market was a hive of activity at Christmas and has a great food court with lots of options.

To visit other sites related to the murders, you can book a guided tour, including after-dark options for the atmosphere.