please empty your brain below

You forgot to mention the best features!

You'll be able to get on and off via an open platform - no pesky health and safety laws getting in your way - and the upper deck will be kept temperate by a unique cooling system from market leader ROASTMASTER SYSTEMS.
Bojo's mate, Joanna Chumley was telling us that blowing millions on this farce was a 'gift' to Londoners, yet again 'normal' people are told 'we're all in this together' as budgets are cut - or another fares increase is implemented to pay for improvments, yet there is seemingly no limit to the amount of taxpayers money that can be spent on projects favoured by the elites.
Hear! Hear!

It'll be a scandalous waste of money if this unnecessary thing ever gets built. But never underestimate the power of vested interest.
I agree, I have been opposed to the "garden bridge" since it was first announced. Other parts of the River Thames need bridges and are left waiting.
The area around temple station is fine and I have used that cafe there.
Like the cable car and the "Boris bus", the garden bridge is another of Boris Johnston's vanity projects. Now what happened to Boris Island...?!
Heatherwick studios who have designed the bridge, previous works like their "Boris bus" and the Olympic flame to me were awful designs.
The view from Waterloo bridge would also be spoilt by the garden bridge.

I hope the bridge Nine Elms-Pimlico goes ahead. Also some new bridges in the East End of London.
Closure of Temple station will create a hole in Tube station coverage similar in size to those in Clerkenwell or Kensington Gore. A hole which will include such out of the way places as Fleet Street and the eastern end of the Strand.
:)

I wrote to Chris Grayling about this ill conceived scheme two months ago as he considered extending the government's £15m financial guarantee to the project.

I see that the guarantee was extended but reduced by £6m.

We'll have to wait and see what the Mayor does. I believe if he does the right thing and cancels the project it'll be the most courageous decision by a London Mayor since Mr Livingstone introduced the Congestion Charge.
Very well said, DG. Thanks
A complete waste of money, we are desperate for additional bridges to be constructed east of Tower Bridge and yet they are seriously considering this overpriced vanity project to take priority.
I understood that Northbank was vibrant enough as a must-visit destinaton without wasting money on this folly. And what about the impact on the Dangleway if the huge crowds decide to head west rather than east for a unique cross-river experience?
Great post. That bridge makes my blood boil. Interesting about the cabmen's shelter - thanks for that link
And it's about time someone took a really close look at Heatherwick's relationship with Boris. His deeply mediocre studio got the job of designing the Boris Buses, and he was on tour in the US with the Blond Charlatan promoting the Garden Bridge before he'd actually been selected as the designer. There's a whiff of Poulson about all this, for people who are old enough.
On the very same subject, people may be interested in this article from the CityMetric site
I think Sadiq's been a bit wishy-washy in having an inquiry. Just cut it. I know his style is of the "can't we all just get along" populist variety (and I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing all of the time), but the man should make some clear-cut, solid decisions once in a while.
No, no, please no!

If they must build a green bridge, line it with allotments and make the sheds look like the old London Bridge. A cheapo Ponte Vecchio for Brexitland!

Or just spend the money on hanging baskets and dangle them off the Millennium and Tower Bridge.
I do love your "skit" style of writing when you want to mock something. Today's piece is a classic. And yes we should never build this damn bridge - not needed, not wanted, public funds should be spent on something worthwhile. Let's hope enough evidence of dodginess is found for the Mayor to have solid, unchallengeable grounds to cancel the scheme - permanently. I note from TV news that this is the third attempt in about 30 years to build a new fancy bridge across the Thames and the second that daaarling Ms Lumley has been involved with.

Now .... time to find the cabbie's hut for a bacon sarnie.
I imagine it will resemble the public space at the centre of Robin Hood Gardens within a very short few years. I suppose London does need some more public lavatories but they needn't all be in one place. Perhaps it could be interspersed with bicycle racks and condom dispensers.
One of your best posts, Mr Geezer. Loved it.
Every time I see the artists's impression of what the bridge will look like, I can see why people have been suckered into it. They all show romantic couples standing in some tranquil wilderness, enjoying a tree.

It all looks so peaceful; so beautiful. Why would you not want it?

And every time I see those photos I think of the Millennium Bridge.

I never saw the artists impressions for the Millennium Bridge, but I would put good money on them showing romantic couples casually wandering along with loads of space around them, all looking happy and peaceful.

Yeah, we all know the Millennium Bridge isn't like that.

And we all know the Garden Bridge won't be like that. It will be rammed. It will not be a calm oasis. It will be full of people with selfie sticks trying to fight their way through narrow paths, cursing the fact that there's so many bridge.

Wrong location, wrong bridge. It's a farce. A classic Boris farce.
Closure of Temple will not leave the biggest hole in Underground coverage, but big enough, as the nearest alternatives are all about 800 metres away. The holes centred on Mount Pleasant and the Albert Memorial are both about 1km in radius.
The usual computer-generated image of the bridge is enough to start up doubts. You're meant to be standing on the south end of Waterloo Bridge, in awe of the prospect before you.

In fact, the 'viewpoint' is not from the bridge pavement - it's 30-50 metres in the air. That's how they disguise the fact that the thing will be in the bl**dy way of the view of St Paul's!
Opponents of the bridge would also be missing the opportunity for a bit of corporate ribbing, as one of the garden areas has had its naming rights sold to Sky. Which I'm sure ITV will be pleased with.
I see the Garden Bridge haters are out today.

But frankly what else can one say about the most riduculously useless and bloated pseudo-public pseudo-transport project since the Dangleway.
if Temple station is to be closed, I hope it won't be during the early part of the year when 2 Temple Place is open to the public with one of its idiosyncratic exhibitions.
Could re-locate that cable-car thingy there instead?
I'm loathe to defend the Garden Bridge... BUT I think that it will make the South Bank Centre more accessible and so increase visitors to this important resource.

At the moment you have to access it either from Waterloo Station (lots of steps, busy road crossings, ramps etc), or from Temple or Embankment by crossing Waterloo Bridge (also busy road crossings and steps). Access to some sort of bridge from Temple would make it smoother. I know those of us who want to get there would find a way, but making the trip more pedestrian friendly will help.

The question is how much would a more conventional pedestrian bridge cost compared to this Garden thing?
Hmmm.. regarding my above point, actually there's Hungerford Bridge as well, that's more accessible I suppose.(I'm not a Londoner...)
Level access to the South Bank from the main entrance (2 or 3) at Waterloo by way of Concert Hall Approach (the clue is in the name) Crossing one main road at a Toucan crossing.

Or from Hungerford Bridge. There are entrances at both levels)

As for access from Temple - well just get off at Embankment instead.
I agree with nearly all the above. I think if this gets built it will be a fitting testament to the privatisation of so much of London. It may even tip us over the edge, and be a turning point back towards public ownership. Some hope...
Yes, Timbo, you're right. My point, I suppose, is that I don't live in London, but have attempted to reach the South Bank Centre a few times from Waterloo, and have never taken your route - I always get lost in the exits and backstreets. I find it eventually, of course. Looks like Embankment then Hungerford Bridge is a bit clearer.

Maybe all they need is some more signposts for both existing approaches. But I can see they might think a clear, obvious crossing directly from outside Temple would increase South Bank visitor numbers, if that is what they want.
South Bank's busy enough if you ask me! It's not exactly a hidden destination.
Here's a much better idea, and as it using an existing structure (albeit disused) much closer to New York's "High Line" project.

The local MP, Zac Goldsmith, is behind it. Imthink this idea trumps (no pun intended) Boris's.
Outbreak of common sense at City Hall

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/28/garden-bridge-across-thames-scrapped-by-sadiq-khan-london










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