The National Portrait Gallery opened in 1856, making it the first gallery dedicated to portraits. There are a variety of genres represented. but the selection is based in the significance of the sitter, not the artist. The portraits are of people who are important to the British people and their history. The artistic merit of some of the paintings is not great, but some of them, for example the Bronte sisters, are all we have. This is one of London's most fascinating galleries, it will reopen in June 2023.

Looked forward to seeing the revamped gallery but left after half an hour. The place was literally heaving with people which made it impossible to see some of the paintings. People were approaching from all angles - there are now two entrances- and no logical way round. The display in the lift didn’t tell you which floor you were on and when the doors opened there were no signs on the wall to tell you either. This led to utter chaos. The corridors to the toilets are far too narrow seeing as they are used to queue for the single- cubicle facilities. A good idea but not thought through. I’d give it some years before I’d visit again.

I went to visit the revamped gallery, there were no queues to get in. My main gripe is the layout. The top floor is devoted to Tudors and Stuart. It is spacious and was not too busy, but do we really want to see portraits of people we've never heard of? The first Earl of Grantham, anyone? The second floor again is spacious. With portraits of people we have heard of: Churchill, Neville Chamberlain etc... The problem arises when you reach the ground floor. Modern portraits which people want to see. It is cramped. Portraits are piled on top of each other. The corridors are narrow. I am sure that there were many more modern portraits before. Also, why should I pay £20 to see black and white portraits of the Beatles? I know what they look like. I would have been miffed if I had had to pay an entrance fee.

The Tudor gallery is superb . Great exhibits which are well curated . Hayter's painting of the House of Commons in the 1830s is stunning . At first glance it almost looks like the real thing. My only complaint is that the Gallery has adopted unisex toilets. I don't know anyone who likes these . They infringe on dignity and privacy. It's very disappointing that the NPG has decided to go with this fad.

gallery was very full of people. galleries were nicely curated, freshened up with useful notes on every portrait. inadequate toilet facilities. hard to understand how to get around the gallery. the ground floor cafe was woefully small. as a user experience: far too few seats, a squashed space for patrons & lunch food ran out quickly. food trays too tiny, with plates & drinks precariously ballanced. avoid unless not full of people.

Visited not long after the reopening. It was very busy in certain areas. The Tudors seemed to be the busiest section. Obviously very clean and bright as you would expect. Plenty of wonderful pictures to view. Little disappointed with the size of the new café. It was extremely busy with queues most of the day. Thought they might have made it slightly bigger as it was always popular and still is.

I’ve been a NPG Member since 2006. Always thought of it as a special place with outstanding art. I knew it would be busy due to the reopening but some of the reorganisation hasn’t worked - the toilets are just as, if not more cramped than before, meaning long snaking queues. The Cafe is still way to small and there are way to many serving staff giving you stupid little trays. Missed opportunities. The art is wonderful but it’s so crowded it’s unbearable. I know things change but one of my favourite places in London is no more.

We went to the Portrait Gallery mainly to see the Paul McCartney exhibit "Eye of the Storm". As long time Beatles fans, it was nice to see photos that we had never had the opportunity to view before.....most of the photos were taken by Sir Paul himself. The color photos from their 1964 visit to Miami were probably our favorites....they were such high quality they look as though they were taken yesterday! It was very busy when we were there (reminded us of our trip to the Louvre), I would recommend getting there as early as possible to avoid the crowds if at all possible.

Very glad the NPG is open again, but perhaps a summer afternoon is not the best time to visit. In spite of the excellent contents, I have always found it quite a stressful building to walk around, with small rooms and narrow corridors. These aspects have not been improved, and it has been absolutely heaving with people on the couple of times I have tried to look round recently. The hall with the ticket desk in is particularly badly thought out - a queue forms at the ticket desk but this area is also the thoroughfare for people to reach every other part of the building so it gets impossibly crowded. The passageway at the rear of this room leads to the back staircase and the lifts, but has also become a display area for modern portraits, so you have to push through a crowd of people to access the stairs. The cafe is now where the old shop used to be - a narrow and cramped space which is ALSO used as a thoroughfare for people trying to get out from the newly opened Weston Wing. The building feels like one big corridor full of people. I miss the darkness of the old Victorian corridor, which always reminded me of a 19th century gentlemen's club but now is a bright white corridor and has no atmosphere. The website also needs to be altered with correct instructions for booking tickets to exhibitions. After booking a timeslot for a paid exhibition, both the website and the email confirmation tell you to collect your ticket from the desk on arrival. Very frustrating after queuing up for ages to be told by the woman on the desk that I could have just shown my booking reference number at the entrance of the exhibition and not queued up at all!! In theory it would be possible to spend all day in here, but in practise I can only take it in small doses.

Always a great gallery and the recent revamp has made it even better. The entrance is more open, the shop is a huge improvement and the layout works much better. The cafes are so much inicer. We saw the Paul McCartney photographs and that is huge - allow a lot of time just to go round that. A history lesson and an art exhibition rolled into one. Well, well worth a bisit.