Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration
In 1613 Clerkenwell’s New River Head became the designated end point of a man-made artificial waterway that brought fresh water from the countryside to the residents of London. It had a windmill and steam engines that once pumped clean aqua, but they were decommissioned ages ago. As of 05 June 2026 the historical buildings will spring back to life, bringing something new and nourishing to London’s citizens and visitors: creativity.
Founded in 2002 the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is the UK’s first, and so far only, charity for illustration. Thanks to a generous donation in 2019 they purchased the derelict New River Head waterworks and appointed award-winning practice Tim Ronalds Architects to preserve the industrial character of the buildings while creating accessible exhibition galleries, a learning studio, a project space, a café-event space and a shop, all surrounded by some beautifully manicured gardens. The result is an incredibly warm and inviting facility in which you could easily spend an entire afternoon enjoying and learning about illustration.
Regular museum-goers will immediately realise the venue has flipped the usual visitor procession. Here you enter through the gift shop, only to then be tempted by the fully licensed cafe with a gorgeous South-facing outdoor terrace that’s sure to become a hidden gem for the area locals. Go on… get some tea & cake and splurge on another cute tote bag that you don’t really need. I’ll allow it and encourage it. The centre is a charity, after all.
The facilities include a learning studio for classes and events, an artist residency inside the old windmill, and two outdoor play spaces that make me wish I was a kid again. But it’s the three exhibition galleries - one large, two small - that the the venue hopes will lure regular, repeat visitors.
Quentin Blake has said that “Illustration doesn’t get so much notice because it isn’t fine art, but it’s a language that everyone understands”. That’s because one of the core purposes of illustration is to be a visual shorthand that provides added context and brings to life whatever it accompanies, whether that’s a children’s story or an article in The Economist. The challenge for the QB Centre, then, is to ensure none of the work they display loses any of its impact when shown extracted from the source.
It’s a bit like being given a statistical bar graph without any numbers or reference key. You can probably make sense of it and admire the aesthetics, but the true meaning remains elusive. Thankfully the works on display in the three opening exhibitions are thoroughly documented with clear and concise descriptions. Even better, they collectively serve as a inspiring primer to the wide range of applications that aspiring illustrators can explore. Across the three separate galleries you’ll discover stories of fantasy, identity and resistance, as told by queer comic-makers; experience multi-disciplinary MURUGIAH’s kaleidoscopic, sometimes macabre world; and see over 100 works that bring to life Quentin Blake's love of theatre.
I was pleased to see the end dates for the three debut shows have been staggered. That will probably give visitors a reason to return more frequently, although the one-size-fits-all ticket policy might mean people delay a return trip until at least two of the shows are new so they can maximise their ticket price. Then again, with three separate galleries for exhibitions and a 10% discount in the cafe (which you will definitely want to spend time in!) it’s a no-brainer for art lovers and Clerkenwell locals to purchase a £45 annual membership. That’s also a great way to help fund the centre’s community projects and get priority booking to attend their talks, courses and workshops.
The best part? Even if you don’t or can’t spend a penny, access to the cafe, gardens, library, public displays and toilets is always free. So yes, you can spend a penny, but hopefully it’s the illustrations that prove to be the most enlightening part of your visit.
Plan your visit
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is located at 1 Myddelton Passage, London EC1R 1AG
~7 min walk from Angel Tube Station // ~20 min walk from Farringdon
Tickets from £15 adult / student & children & discounts available / children under 4 free
Visit qbcentre.org.uk and follow @qbcentre on Instagram for more info about the venue.
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