Trafalgar Square Fountain Mountain

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 188 months ago
Trafalgar Square Fountain Mountain
Fountain in Trafalgar Square

Those Traf Square fountains, eh! Cor, aren't they fab. Tourists can't get enough of 'em, and they're a convenient birdbath for the square's remaining pigeons plus a natural magnet for mischief-making teens with bottles of soap powder.

Still, they could perhaps be spruced up a little, which is something Richard Jones, a GLA councillor with jurisdiction over the square, is tackling head-on. He plans to introduce coloured lights to illuminate the fountains for special events - think green for St. Patty's, red for St. Georges - and a special multicoloured light show for the 2012 Games. Who knows, maybe we could see national flag colours for the various national festivals that take place there.

It's all thanks to the new LED lights, which will not only give technicolour joy to the masses but will also cut the fountain's carbon footprint by 90 percent. There are also plans to raise the fountain's height, which currently jets to a pathetic 10ft plume, to a majesic 80ft high torrent, which was part of the scheme when the fountain opened in the 1840s.

Jones claims that the fountains in the Square are the world's most photographed, though candidly admits that in aesthetic terms Rome's Trevi has the bragging rights. Trevi was used for the famous scene in Fellini's La Dolce Vita where Anita Ekberg swanned through the waters in a black dress. Perhaps Trafalgar Square 2.0 could stage a reenactment, although we doubt Jade Goody splashing about in a Primark frock would be quite as impressive.

Image from Roxy London's Flickrstream via the Londonist pool

Last Updated 28 July 2008