This pub is not only a grade II listed building, it is also a One Star pub on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) National Inventory with an interior of special national historic interest, and the description is as follows: "Some late Victorian fittings survive here, such as the bar counter and the ornate bar-back with one of the original mirrors.

As the name suggests, this pub is right opposite the entrance to the British Museum. It claims a long history stretching back into the 18th century and was originally known as the Dog and Duck but changed its name with the arrival of the museum. The building we see today is a rebuilding of 1855 by the architect, William Finch Hill. Big changes took place in 1889 with a refitting by Wylson and Long for the then landlord, George Blizzard. The ornate bar-back and tapering counter survive as does one original mirror in the bar-back advertising Watney’s Imperial Stout (the other mirrors are from later). The four outside doors show how the interior was divided up in former days. You can still see the names ‘public bar’, ‘private bar’, ‘saloon’ ‘luncheon' and 'buffet’ in the door and window glass. In fact there were five bars in all: they became three in 1935 and these, sadly, became one in the 1960s. The square panelling of the ceiling adds much to the character of the pub. There are two panels of stained glass at the rear of the pub.

The fireplace at the far end still retains its magnificent furnishing on the chimney breast, the design matching the bar-back and containing bevelled mirrors and ornate wooden pillars and pilasters, but the fireplace itself has either been removed or hidden behind cabinets. The tiling surrounds are relatively modern."

The listing description is as follows: "Public house. c1855-64. By William Finch Hill and EL Paraire. Stucco with wooden public house ground floor. Modified French Renaissance style. 4 storeys. 1 window with 1-window splayed corner and symmetrical 5-window return to Museum Street. Public house front with Corinthian pilasters and colonnettes carrying entablature with dentil cornice. Round-arched, recessed openings with panelled dados. Entrance on splayed corner with fanlight and double part-glazed doors. Main entrance on Museum Street with pediment, rectangular fanlight and double part-glazed doors. 1st to 3rd floors with rusticated corner and pilaster strips at angles capped by small segmental pediments. 2-pane sash windows. 1st floor round-arched, architraved, recessed sashes, above which architraved oculi with decorative grills and enriched with swags. 2nd floor segmental-arched architraved sashes. Console bracketed cornice beneath 3rd floor recessed sashes. Coved cornice and blocking course. INTERIOR: retains some original fittings including Classically styled wood back fitting to bar (glass later)."

The WhatPub link is here: WhatPub/Museum Tavern

The Pub Heritage Group link is here: PHG/Museum Tavern

The Museum Tavern featured on the Evening Crawl of Bloomsbury and Holborn on 4 August 2003, and the Evening Crawl of Bloomsbury and Holborn on 16 April 2008.