Museum of Science and Industry

Trace the story of gas supply and discover how coal was turned into gas. Built in 1817, Manchester's first gasworks stood on nearby Water Street. Gas street lamps, like those lighting the Gas Gallery entrance area, were brighter than oil lamps and made the streets safer. You can walk through the recreated retort house of a town gasworks.

Find out how gas cookers and heaters have changed over the years. One of the exhibits that might surprise you is a gas hair dryer used in a Blackpool hairdressing salon. Our gas showroom shows you the choice and cost of appliances that were available in the 1920s.

Meet an 'intelligent pig', a remote-controlled device for checking the pipelines that bring North Sea gas to land. The discovery of natural gas under the North Sea in the 1960s gave us the cleaner, cheaper gas that we use today.