Can you believe that The Old Operating Theatre Museum, which is located on the busy thoroughfare of St Thomas Street, houses the oldest surviving surgical theatre in the whole of Europe!

The Old Operating Theatre is hidden away within the attic of the early 18th century church of the old St Thomas’ Hospital. To enter you must climb up the 52-step spiral staircase where you can then enter into the original Herb Garret, which was once used to dry and store herbs for patients’ medicines. Within here you can discover a whole host of unusual ingredients, which were believed to cure different ailments, plus an array of very disturbing surgical tools!

The theatre itself looks pretty much the same as it did when it was in use, with the original aisles for dressers and pupils watching the operation. Just keep in mind that these procedures were happening before anaesthetics or antiseptics were in use, so the patient would have been completely awake throughout the whole operation. Unfortunately, only around one in three patients would survive and many would eventually die of infection.

The Old Operating Theatre is an atmospheric museum to wander around and I would highly recommend a visit if you are looking for something unique to do around the London Bridge area.