The 93rd Post....sorry Bollard.

We approach the 100th post (bollard) with a few crackers that I've found in the last few weeks dotted mainly around central London.

This rather odd even painful looking bollard can be found off Marloes Road in a private estate (rather nice too). It's actually designed to stop lorries mounting the pavement at corners of kerbs and damaging the footpath/paving stones.

What is odd is the fact it juts out into the road and just looks nothing like the standard bollard we find all over the capital.

Bollards of London...

The 92nd Post...

On the borders of the City of London you'll come across an area called Whitechapel infamous for the Victorian murderer called "Jack the Ripper".

The area also has a very rich diverse cultural mix with  many coucil estates, new developments and old Victorian/Edwardian houses. Along with this mix we come across the many different designs of bollards and here we can see a very old looking black and white zebra stripped "cannon" shaped bollard with a rather large protrusion at the base near the kerbside.

On closer inspection we have a label/badge attached just above the protrusion or can I call it a hump? What is funny though with this picture is the cluster of three modern bollards in the background seemingly looking on in awe of the much grander/older piece of history/street furniture.

Bollards of London...

Barbican Bollards of Bridgewater Street...

The City of London must be the bollard capital of London/UK and maybe the world.

Just off Beech Street and the Barbican Estate you'll find Bridgewater Street and at the junction with Viscount Street you find this rather odd collection of 1960's concrete bollards.

The Barbican Estate is a rather swanky 1960/70's concrete estate for the wealthy what is completely logical is the bollards match the design of this large residential/arts centre. Take a close look at the picture and you'll notice that we have in fact three different types of concrete bollards on display. One tall thin rather smooth domed bollard, then two rather stumpy more coarse bollards with a rather large channel near the base. The last bollard in the background is rather almost shell like and actually looks like a hybrid of the other types on display here.

On a rather odd but funny note we are pleased to announce that this blog is fast approaching it's 100th post (sorry bollard) yes this is no.91. Can we assure you all we have plenty more to come, in fact hundreds.

Bollards of London...

Message on a Bollard...

If you are ever around Knightsbridge/Brompton Road have a little wander down Montpelier Street and just take a walk around the residential quarter of this rather twee almost country like village that sits in the heart of London.

Well I happened to be dropping somebody off in the "sherbet" (sherbet-dab slang for cab) and I came across a rather simple looking bollard with a message/communication attached. It seems the local council have finally found another use for bollards. Now this bollard is cylindrical in shape, ribbed and tapers on the third quarter to a near ball shaped top. The shape of the top is important for it stops passers by placing cups or rubbish upon but it doesn't stop the local council attaching a note that only a child or a dwarf could read.

Whilst writing this short piece I couldn't help but think of the that song by the Police "message in a bottle" so hence the rather corny title of "message on a bollard" and then I realised that the place I'm sitting at was where a heist took place at the safe deposit boxes back in the late 80's or early 90's, call the Police.

Bollards of London...

A Bollard Worker...

A very rare moment in the history of bollards of London for although these objects are littered all over the capital it's not that often you actually find a member of the "bollard workforce" planting/fixing one. We can see from the picture this worker appearing to be fixing the base of a bendy traffic bollard. Yes here in London we have bendy-buses (not for long thank you Boris one of the good things you have done) and bendy bollards.

Bollards of London...

Westminster Ashtray ???

Just at the end of King Street in Covent Garden I came a across a bog standard Westminster bollard which we have looked at on a couple of occasions before.

What struck my eye though was the fact that the area where a crest is normally glued had fallen off and it appears smokers, yes smokers have begun to use the bollard as an ashtray and place the cigarette butts in the hollow left by the missing crest. People do litter but in an odd way this demonstrates that the smokers didn't want to throw the butts on the pavement but actually place them in a bin of some sort.

Who would have thought a humble bollard could tell a tale about human behaviour but then again ask yourself why the bollard is there in the first place.

Bollards...

Putney blue...

Just off the Lower Richmond Road and very close to the embankment of the river Thames we find a rather modern Putney blue bollard upon the pavement.

A very simple cylindrical shape with two groves near the domed top end. However if you take a closer look into the back drop you'll notice that these particular Putney blue bollards double up has posts and then have railings attached which allows the local council to then make a fence.

Nice to see a good mature tree planted in the ground doing the same job of the bollard but on a much grander scale.

Bollards of London...

The Usual Suspects...

Happy New Year to you all and welcome once again to bollards of London.

With the weather, riots and work all playing havoc with my busy schedule before Christmas and then the flu bollards took a rest from the web but we are back and we have some cracking if not costly/pointless pieces of street furniture lined up for you to admire or just ponder and wonder what was the point?

Here though we found five Camden black and white zebra stripped bog standard council bollards doing a rather odd impression of the line up in the excellent movie/film the usual suspects.

Happy New Year from Bollards of London...