The Curtis Museum, situated at the top of the High Street houses one of the finest local history collections in Hampshire, exploring 100 million years of history. Displays include prehistoric tools, Roman pottery reconstruction, Saxon burials, the Battle of Alton in 1643 and Alton’s hop picking and brewing heritage. It is also home to the internationally renowned Alton Buckle and Selborne Cup.

The local studies area contains a wealth of information about the local area, its buildings and people. The gift shop sells many local books and publications alongside gifts and postcards.

The nearby Allen Gallery is an intimate setting for one of the South’s most outstanding ceramics collections, with English, continental and oriental pottery, porcelain and tiles from 1250 to the present day. There are regular special exhibitions of art, crafts, photography, local and natural history, local artists and the delightful watercolours and oil paintings of W H Allen. It also has a comfortable café serving locally made cakes and a charming walled garden providing a peaceful retreat in the middle of Alton.

The Allen Gallery also has a delightful gift shop which stocks a range of greetings cards and gifts produced by local artists and craftspeople.