-optimized.jpg){kind=avatar}
The V&A East Storehouse is a triumph in many ways – the design museum has achieved that rarity in museums or any line of business, a fresh way of presenting the familiar; and that includes protective security (and safety).
The V&A has done it all with elegance. Overall, once inside it looks like a Costco or B&Q – a warehouse, with goods stacked to the ceiling. The idea; get more of the V&A’s holdings visible to visitors, and do away (as far as possible, while keeping risk in mind – not only of vandalism and theft, but of children with sticky fingers) with putting objects at a distance, which reduces risk of them coming to harm, but prevents visitors enjoying a closer connection with the clothes, furniture, artworks, photographs, posters, you name it.
Uniform
Take the V&Aโs front of house uniform, itself on display on the top floor of the Storehouse. โLots of pockets,โ someone knowledgeable-sounding said while I stood in front of the material. The pockets on the fishermanโs jacket โ or to be plainer, waistcoat โ come with invisible zips; although a waist pocket is deep enough to hold a radio, used for communication (if you want a network, staff recommend you use the wifi). The waistcoat is deep brown and has the V&A logo on the front, screen printed on โfor a more contemporary approachโ, according to the museum. Otherwise, staff can dress as they like โ in blue jeans, even. That neatly lets staff dress in what theyโre comfortable with; and saves any contractor the cost and trouble of a fuller uniform, with potential for sleeves too short or too long; it’s still easy enough for even the first-time visitor to notice who’s a member of staff. If they wear a Security Industry Authority (SIA) badge, itโs on a clip hanging from their chest.
Meet the ancestor
You would hope if anyone can achieve elegance, it would be the V&A, as itโs collected about 4.5m objects โ you name it, furniture, clothing, paintings, even a cut-out of a 1970s V&A โwarderโ (pictured; the eraโs name for a museum or government building security officer). That’s quite the contrast with the present – formal black trousers, blazer, blue shirt with dark tie, and peaked cap (with ER and a crown), altogether like a prison warder in the BBC TV comedy Porridge. The contrast extends beyond the obvious look; instead of a folded-arms attitude (although the rakish angle of the cap suggests some impish personality within), the front of house staff now are approachable (with tablets to look up things online if you ask), and gone are the days of ‘warders’ being stereotypically men getting on in years; the Storehouse has, on the evidence of an hour’s visit, a healthy mix of staff.
East London
If the rising price of fuel has put you off travelling abroad on holiday, or going far at all, if east London is at all local to you, the V&A East Storehouse (and an even newer sister site, V&A East, about ten minutes’ walk away which only opened on April 18) is well worth a (free) look, as is the wider Olympic Park, where it stands (nearest train stations are either Hackney Wick, or Stratford). Professional Security Magazine readers may need little convincing, as the Park’s London Stadium was featured in the March 2026 edition, when we described a West Ham home match. Four stops from Stratford on the Jubilee Line is Canary Wharf, featured in our April edition.ย Museum security management was featured in our January edition.
How to visit
The two V&A East sites are open daily from 10am. Visit https://www.vam.ac.uk/visit.
More in the May 2026 edition of Professional Security Magazine.
