please empty your brain below
I feel cheated as I live in Newham! The City ensured that the bridge fund keeps it maintained at no cost to London so they must coin it in for the tourists.

Wasnt it originally closed because it was full of whores plying their trade up top? Or is that another urban legend?

Andrew Jarman | 29.06.19 - 7:25 a.m. | #

Are you perhaps thinking of the Thames Tunnel, now used for the East London Line?

martin | 29.06.19 - 7:43 a.m. | #

I still remember my first visit there. They were doing a survey of the Nationality of visitors. I was the first British visitor of the day, which prompted the comment "it's ok you are allowed". Well worth a visit but as you say it is surprising how few live close by and never visit.

Jon Combe | Homepage | 29.06.19 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Thanks DG, I knew us Tower Hamletters get £1 entry into the Tower of London but Tower Bridge is a revelation!

TH | 29.06.19 - 8:10 a.m. | #

Rather than 'coining it in for the tourists', the City Bridge Trust uses its surplus income for charitable purposes benefiting the inhabitants of Greater London. "This currently amounts to around £20m per year."

diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.06.19 - 8:22 a.m. | #

So they make a surplus of £20m a year, that's coining it in by my book. It may be part interest part entrance fees but that's a lot of cash.

Andrew Jarman | 29.06.19 - 10:15 a.m. | #

Guess it'll be £1.50 in 2044...i'll wait till then, as (hopefully) also have the benefit of a (non-means-tested) "Freedom Pass".

Grumpy Anon | 29.06.19 - 10:27 a.m. | #

It's still a modern structure in that it pretends to be something it isn't, they could do the same with the Houses of Parliament, just knock it down and replace it with a steel framed structure with stone cladding and twiddly bits - it'll look the same as the old building in tourist photos, but not cost £4bn (and counting).

Still Anon | 29.06.19 - 10:39 a.m. | #

Don't knock the City Bridge Trust, I have been involved in establishing a project or two they helped fund, and we need that sort of thing. It would be nice if we didn't. As the entrance fees are comparable to other top-grade visitor sights/sites, then all well and good.

NickW | 29.06.19 - 10:48 a.m. | #

Thanks DG, I did not know about the walkways, now in my list of things to doing the city next time I'm there.

Victoria | 29.06.19 - 11:17 a.m. | #

I thought the walkways were closed shortly after opening because too many people were jumping off. It was usually quicker to wait for the bridge to be lowered again anyway.

timbo | 29.06.19 - 1:18 p.m. | #

I did the walkways about 10 years ago, presumably before the lifts were made much safer! :o

Cornish Cockney | 29.06.19 - 6:14 p.m. | #

I grew up in Stepney, near the Tower, in the 50s/60s; at primary school I had a pal who lived in the Tower (son of a garrison soldier} and I went to secondary school just on the south side of the bridge (St Olave's Grammar School) where I had another pal who was son of the Bridgemaster. Both castle and bridge were part of my life.

I learned quickly at the big school that 'catching a bridger' was not a valid excuse for being late because the headmaster knew that the bridge was not raised in rush hour.

For those interested, there's a charming film called The Boy and the Bridge (1959). I saw it earlier this year on BBC iPlayer, and I gather it's recently been made available by the British Film Institute. A good entry on IMDb, inasmuch as a fair few have submitted reviews (including me (alan-worrow))

Gripper | 29.06.19 - 10:52 p.m. | #

I'm slightly surprised to see on the Tower Bridge website that "Bridge lifts are available at no charge, 24 hours a day", on both counts.

Andrew | 30.06.19 - 9:24 a.m. | #

It's always been that way.

Tower Bridge is a 'request bridge'.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 30.06.19 - 9:25 a.m. | #











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