Storehouse East offers intriguing peek behind the V&A's scenes

London’s cultural landscape has a bold new addition — the Victoria and Albert Storehouse East. Calling it a “museum” is a misnomer. This is something different: part working warehouse, part offices, part restoration laboratories, yet open for the public to wander through.

It’s a place that invites you not just to look at objects from the V&A’s vast collection, but to see how a major museum actually works.

Most museums have far more in their collections than they can ever display. The V&A is no exception. To house its overflow, it built this new warehouse — but with an imaginative twist. Rather than hiding everything from view, the V&A chose to let visitors wander through, to glimpse treasures alongside everyday artefacts, and to think about object histories in a new way.

WHERE FUNCTION MEETS WONDER
At first glance, the Storehouse feels like a curious hybrid of a museum and a logistics hub. Placement of objects seems random, until you learn that they're stored by size, weight, material, and fragility — each on its own pallet, secured so that forklifts can retrieve them when needed. In places it resembles a very posh furniture showroom. Italian Renaissance cassoni (wedding chests) share space with Victorian and mid-century pieces. Across the aisle might be old radio sets, or ethnic costumes, or kitchen wares.

One unexpected delight for me was seeing my elementary school furniture in a museum. I knew our nuns were unusually connected to the modern world, but didn't realise that the stuff we loved to play on in our assembly hall was contemporary high design: pastil chairs by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio. The ovoid, fibreglass seats wobbled, rocked, and slid quickly across the room's carpet. Unaware they were anything worthy, we played games of giant croquet with the lucky students getting to ride in the chairs as we slid them at each other. After that treatment, I doubt any of the set from Oak Hill School ended up in good enough condition for a museum. Clearly, no gang of energetic 10-year-olds ever came near the pristine example in the Storehouse.

Far more visitors are likely to be excited about the David Bowie Collection. The boundary-defining artist donated his professional archives to the V&A when he died. You can take an intellectual approach and dig into his creative processes, or just revel in the fun of glam rock. But if you want to see it, book your place. Like the rest of the V&A, admission is free, but capacity is limited and usually fills up in advance, so booking is essential.

RESCUED TREASURES
Some items are genuinely astonishing. The Torrijos Ceiling is one of my favourites: a magnificent carved wooden dome in Moorish style from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. Like so much in the V&A it's architectural salvage: rescued from a palace near Toledo that was demolished in the early 20th century. 

Another example of rescue and renovation is the Agra Colonnade, four arches held up by five columns, all lavishly decorated with inlaid stone flowers and foliage. This, like the Taj Mahal, was built for Shah Jahan and is in much the same style, but had been part of his bath house. That building was destroyed and pillaged for materials over centuries of conflict on the sub-continent, with no recognisable colonnade left by the time the English were in charge. In the late 19th century the British governor of the province suggested the fragments should be collected and sent to England for display on the condition that the V&A restored the pieces to their former glory. It must have been quite a puzzle. If you don't plan to go to India, this may be as close to the magic of the Taj Mahal as you can get. 

What makes Storehouse East truly special is the way it peels back the curtain on museum life. You can see curators at work, repairing historic costumes or cleaning paintings, and look at a display of how curators make bespoke mounts to display fragile objects. 

GETTING THERE & WHAT TO EXPECT

Storehouse East sits on the edge of the old Olympic Park in east London, about a mile’s walk from Stratford station. Buses serve the area but were remarkably slow when we visited. It took us a full hour to get to the Storehouse from Waterloo.

Remember this is a working building to which you have guest access rather than a place designed for a visitor experience. Visitors who have issues with heights should be aware that all the walkways on upper levels are metal mesh and you can see through them; typical for a warehouse but challenging for some. Unlike the main V&A in South Kensington, you won’t find a gift shop, interactive exhibits, copious benches or a variety of restaurants. There’s a café at entrance level, but it’s very basic; you’re better served going across the street to Clarnico Coffee, which has a cozy, greenhouse vibe and a decent variety of food.

You'll probably spend no more than an hour wandering here, a bit more if you get tickets to the Bowie collection or arrange access to view particular items. 

If you're a visitor to London, I'd still prioritise the main V&A in South Kensington. The Storehouse is a footnote, not a main event. If you have limited time and you're concentrating your visit on central London, don't underestimate travel time.  If you know the V&A well already, this is an exciting enhancement of the experience ... though you might only visit once. And if you happen to live in the booming modern developments around the site of the 2012 Olympics, then you're lucky to have a quirky cultural attraction on your doorstep.

After too long a wait, another Maldivian holiday returns us to paradise

Not a week has passed in the 11 years since we returned from our first trip to The Maldives that I haven’t dreamed of going back.

Those memories became my imagination‘s safe space. When I was stressed, or just needed to ease myself to sleep, I would dream myself back to walking down the stairs from our deck into the warm sea, slipping on my fins and mask, and swimming over the riotous colours of a reef packed with life. 

We’d hoped to return for our 10th wedding anniversary in 2021, but Covid killed that plan. It was a possibility for my 60th … 10 years after that first visit … but we decided to mark my husband’s milestone in the next year instead. And so, after 578 weeks of hungry fantasy, my toes were back in Maldivian sand, anticipating the warm embrace of the Indian Ocean. 

Except that rain was lashing, a red hazard flag was flying, and the slamming of waves was setting our over-water villa a-tremble. It was still warm … but we arrived in a monsoon. So the full perfection of paradise had to wait. 

Simply being back in that world of thatched huts, long boardwalks and white beaches had instantly put me in my happy place, however. Fortunately, we were there for 12 nights. So while it took two days to get proper sun and nine for the seas to calm, we got perfect perfection in the end. It is worth noting that the locals say the weather is no longer dependable in any season given changing patterns. A longer visit spreads the risk.

We slid down the star scale this time. Now that I’ve stepped off the corporate ladder, the five-star Constance Mufushi was simply not in the budget. The four-star Mercure Kooddoo was still a stretch, but one made more affordable by Club Accor loyalty programme points. Given that the Mercure was less than half the price of the Constance, what sacrifices would I be making?

Far less than I thought. The biggest tangible difference was food and drink. While both places built their main restaurant around a buffet, the Mercure focused more on Asian/Oriental food while the Constance had leaned more European. On the wine front, the Mercure offered a few options for each colour, served by the glass. The Constance had a thoughtful, expansive wine list and served you the whole bottle. The Mercure’s upscale restaurant offering was Italian; at the Constance it wasn’t any particular cuisine but featured candlelit dining on the beach with servers emerging from the palms with your food. Far more romantic.

Next, location. The Constance is on its own tiny island; nothing there but the resort and so small you can actually swim around it. You get proper desert island vibes here, and have to get there on a sea plane. The Maldives’ “one island, one resort” policy means the Mercure is also on its own, but this is a bigger island with an airstrip and a fish processing plant. They don’t intrude much into your holiday experience, but you do lose that Robinson Crusoe vibe so prevalent at Moofushi.

Finally, there’s the design of the place. Constance goes for a laid-back, barefoot chic with lots of open-sided thatched buildings, dotted with tasteful pieces of modern sculpture. There are still plenty of thatched buildings at Kooddoo but the restaurants have a more modern, industrial look that, without the stunning view beyond the windows, could be in any city in the world.

Otherwise, and on all the really important stuff … rooms, coral reef, service, amenities … there was no significant difference.

We were in an over-water villa. Thanks to my husband’s diamond status, we had been upgraded when we arrived and were upgraded yet again for our second week. All the rooms are similar, with comfortable king-sized beds, desks, mini bars, storage units, and a little seating area, with about a third of the total wall surface being floor-to-ceiling glass that makes the most of the water outside. There’s also a glass panel in the floor of the seating area so you can watch fish swim by. There’s a deck through a sliding glass door with loungers, chairs, and access to the sea. The higher you upgrade, the bigger that deck. In our second week we had our own plunge pool.

Service was impeccable, from the start. Everyone on staff knew our names, quickly learned our preferences, and was quickly present whenever we needed anything. We often felt like staff members were working exclusively for us, which is a pretty good definition of luxury.

Ultimately, with a coral reef this good, beautiful beaches and a bit of snorkelling equipment, you don’t need luxury. But it certainly adds to the overall experience. I started hungering for a return the moment we left Maldivian airspace. Hopefully, I won’t have to wait another 578 weeks.