Toy museum under threat

The last dedicated toy museum in London could be forced to close because of a financial crisis.

Pollock's Toy Museum needs £500,000 to buy the freehold on its West End premises when the lease runs out at the end of next month.

But the private museum has not yet found a benefactor.

Until now, it has been able to make ends meet by charging £3 a ticket (£1.50 for children) and paying an " unrealistically" low rent.

Gabrielle Warden, manager of the museum shop, said: "The lease is up on 31 March and we don't have the money to buy the freehold or pay much more rent, which is what we will probably have to do if someone else buys it. The trustees are liaising with the landlords to try to resolve it."

Almost 30,000 people a year visit the museum in Scala Street. More than a century of toy-making is on display, including teddy bears, Russian folk dolls, Muffin the Mule, rocking horses and regiments of tin soldiers.

An appeal has so far raised only £25,000 and the museum's owners, who have refused grants from the public purse because they wanted to remain independent, may now put their collection in storage.