please empty your brain below
There's a standard, nationwide measure of when it gets dark - lighting-up time (half an hour after sunset). I wonder why the relevant authorities don't use that as the basis for these closing times.

Re relevant authorities, the West Ham one is the City's Parks Department, not the the borough's, as the email address at the top implies.

Betterbee | 29.08.21 - 6:55 a.m. | #

It's a shame that society is such that someone has to be employed in locking-up (and then, of course, unlocking) parks.

Tim W. | 29.08.21 - 7:36 a.m. | #

I remember, years ago, that a park near me used to have a sign on the gate that said "This park will close at dusk". I have never been sure when exactly dusk is.

Barry | 29.08.21 - 8:33 a.m. | #

Parks usually have multiple entrances, so closing time is a moveable feast anyway

Brian | 29.08.21 - 8:48 a.m. | #

Most parks in Hong Kong officially close at 11pm but practically many are open 24/7 because they have no gates. That said, I think in areas where people are more sensitive to security shutting the park at night is understandable.

Patrickov | 29.08.21 - 9:26 a.m. | #

The lovely gardens in Edinburgh's George Square are full of students in summer. Despite closure timings on the gates and bell ringing, some manage to get shut in.

The doctors from the campus health centre would report the number who had impaled themselves on the railings to the University's Student Welfare Committee each year. I suspect they may have run a book on it too.

RosemaryT | 29.08.21 - 9:34 a.m. | #

Is this just a London/big city thing?

I've lived in several country towns in which the parks have been open 24/7

Dominic H | 29.08.21 - 10:21 a.m. | #

That 24 hour times are used interests me. I had to know 24 hour time for work but many older people here in Australia would not. Maybe not so much young people either. My English sister in law missed a flight from Paris to London because she confused 13.00 with 3pm.

Nevertheless my bedroom clock, our oven and microwave show 24 hour time and cannot be changed to a 12 hour clock. I know, because I've tried.

Andrew | Homepage | 29.08.21 - 11:03 a.m. | #

All very depressing - both that it's getting dark earlier (especially as I don't feel we've had a proper summer yet!) and also that parks need locking up.

Cornish Cockney | 29.08.21 - 11:18 a.m. | #

My mother told me of a conversation she had with a senior police officer when they were at the same lodgings in Edinburgh: she didn't understand why the parks were locked overnight, but the officer explained that "all sorts would happen" if the public were allowed access. That was in 1949.

Ian | 29.08.21 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Why, in the height of summer, do these parks not open before 7am or 7.30am?

popartist | 29.08.21 - 11:33 a.m. | #

More finger wagging as the Royal Albert Dock walkway is inconsistent in its use of 12-hour and 24-hour clock. Alignment is also out towards the bottom. The words ear and pigs spring to mind.

Stuart R | 29.08.21 - 2:34 p.m. | #

Does Thames Barrier Park have any actual gates...

dg interrupts: Yes.

...or is it <snip>

Andrew Jarman | 29.08.21 - 5:19 p.m. | #

In Westminster, “St James’s Park is open from 5am to midnight all year round.” And from midnight to 5am too, I should think, unless the lack of gates is countered by an abundance of enforcers.

Rich G | Homepage | 29.08.21 - 11:50 p.m. | #

On the topic of "British Standard Time" - interestingly, in Ireland, IST stands for "Irish Standard Time", and according to the law the clocks are set back an hour (to GMT) for the winter period, as opposed to (almost?) everywhere else with a clock change where the standard time is winter time and the clocks go forward for summer. Possibly whoever wrote the sign was Irish or was thinking about that system.

edd | 30.08.21 - 1:12 p.m. | #











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