The BBC are paying some attention to one of our own bugbears - the fact that Borough High Street just doesn't work:
It is the gateway to the City of London, shrouded in history and referred to in respected literature. So why then, when you walk along Borough High Street are you more likely to spend your time dodging bins, street signs, other pedestrians and cars? The Southwark branch of the charity Living Streets said the thoroughfare has lost its way and is in need of a different kind of road to turn it into a destination in its own right - not just a cut through on a pedestrian's route somewhere else.
The story says that Borough Market is "very popular" - a little like saying Ebola is a "tad unpleasant" - walking anywhere near there on a Saturday is as enjoyable as sloughing off the skin from your tongue. If Borough Market was a monkey it would be hanging from Centre Point throwing faeces at bi-planes and masturbating furiously in the general direction of Oxford St.
It's a monster.
Both Shakespeare and Chaucer are said to have enjoyed a drink at the inns on the street and the literary giants are joined by Dickens in referring to the area in their work.
Yeah, everyone mentions William, Geoffrey and Charles. What about Londonist? We practically live in the George and our own literary (cough) masterpiece mentions the nearby PIRATE prison and yet it's still the old boy network that gets all the press coverage. Bastards.
So the area needs to be carpet bombed with new pedestrian walkways, the dilapidated shops need sorting out and we need to plant some trees. Also a few tunnels either end to shunt any cars approaching Borough High Street onto the Northern Line wouldn't go amiss. Let them play chicken with oncoming tube trains for a change.
