Lamppost Row Riles Hanwell Residents

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 191 months ago
Lamppost Row Riles Hanwell Residents
Lamppost at night

To West Ealing, where news of residents getting into a lather over lampposts has Londonist asking that age-old, perennially unanswered question: don't folk have anything better to do with their time?

Dubbed by one wag as the "Battle of the Bulbs", the row erupted after resident groups gathered to protest Ealing council's decision to remove a number of antique lampposts and rehome them in the Heritage Quarter being developed at West Ealing. Battle lines were drawn in the hitherto sleepy burg of Campbell Road, where a group of locals squared off against workers as they tried to install replacement lampposts.

Police were brought in to ensure no funny business went down, and eventually the contractors were able to fit the new posts in place. This is hardly the end of the affair though: toys will no doubt be thrown out of the pram again when workers return at a later date to remove the old lights.

Said a defiant local resident:

"We are making the point we do not want these 100-year-old lampposts replaced with imitations. They have tried to push these changes through without any consultation, and we are being treated like second class citizens.

As admirable as such a stand is, we can't help but imagine that, if this is the most pressing issue facing the unhappy homemakers of Hanwell, then truly it must be a kind of paradise on earth.

Image of lamppost from Twyford's Flickrstream

Last Updated 15 April 2008