interesting place with lots of local history. staff helpful and informative. my favourite bit was this ww2 air raid shelter for 1 person! the whole place is free to enter.

Went to visit today with my partner, the museum was interesting and the staff were very lovely but unfortunately the planetarium show was extremely disappointing, hence the poor review. I can only assume the positive reviews on here are due to the show years ago having a different host whose charisma made up for the lackluster show - there was no music or bgm at all, and the first half of the show was composed entirely of a series of still, square images on one wall of the planetarium, which hurt the neck to look at over the show's hour long duration due to the stiff seats and small room. Even once the entire screen was used, we were essentially shown a still projection of the night sky while a member of staff who unfortunately had extremely flat and monotonous delivery, as well as a habit of repeating facts several times before moving on, simply pointed out the constellations. I don't have an issue with the content of the show, but the delivery and presentation somehow turned what should have been interesting subject matter into a show which genuinely nearly put me to sleep. Extremely disappointed and would like to see them improve this, as the place and staff seem lovely otherwise.

A really interesting local museum with a lot to see for its size. The exhibits cover natural history, local archaeology, and the history of Southend, with plenty of informative displays. The planetarium is a highlight and well worth attending if you can catch a show. Friendly staff and a relaxed atmosphere make it an enjoyable place to spend an hour or two.

Negative experience : expensive not big as looks in pictures charged £4 per adult just to see ship wreck planetarium room is closed and it’s called planetarium but child also charge £2 so total &12+ family of 3, no concessions or discounts like London museums for UC or child benefits free for children in horniman museum London science museum. waste of money if you can’t afford avoid at all cost. Not recommended

The exhibits were Informative and interesting,especially the Prittlewell Prince. A great pocket sized museum. Our first visit and will definitely come back. Would have been lovely if there were places for the more infirm of our group to have perched for a moment.