Inanimate London Objects To Follow On Twitter

Laura Reynolds
By Laura Reynolds Last edited 84 months ago

Last Updated 04 December 2017

Inanimate London Objects To Follow On Twitter
Trafalgar Square Christmas tree tweets its journey from Oslo to London. Photo: Jey-r Dalangin

The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has its big lights switch on every November,  tweeting its journey to London for weeks in advance. Yes, that's right, the tree tweets — and so do these other inanimate London objects, all giving a behind-the-scenes insight into their own little corner of London (We're pretty handy to follow for getting the lowdown on London too).

@trafalgartree

Much like Big Ben, the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is so well known, it has multiple Twitter accounts attributed to it. @trafalgartree claims to be the official one, and has been live tweeting its arrival in Trafalgar Square this week. @TrafalgarsTree is a mere imposter, as clarified by Westminster Council, who waded in on #TreeWars in 2015 Glad we got that one sorted out.

And the rest of the year? No tweets from the start of January until mid-November. A fair weather Twitter account, this one.

@HornimanWalrus

If you've ever been to the Horniman Museum, you'll be familiar with the Horniman Walrus, but are you familiar with its technological counterpart? The museum's Digital Manager, Adrian, provided @HornimanWalrus "with a flipper-adapted smartphone and he has been tweeting happily since then".

@GlassJarOfMoles

One of Grant Museum of Zoology's best-known exhibits is the glass jar of moles, eighteen of the critters preserved in a single jar.  On our recent behind-the-scenes visit to the museum, however, the museum team was at pains to point out that the @GlassJarOfMoles Twitter account is managed by a member of public, not anyone connected to the museum (it frequently gets a bit political).

@big_ben_clock

If you've ever followed this account, we're guessing you unfollowed less than 24 hours later, as the joke gets pretty old, pretty quick. @big_ben_clock bongs every hour, on the hour. By which, we mean the account tweets the relevant number of "bongs". And that's it. And happily, it's carried on, even since the real bongs were silenced earlier this year.

Whoever's been doing this since October 2009 is obviously pretty savvy — there's a whole merchandise shop linked to the Twitter account. Controversially @thebigbenclock has been doing the same thing since September 2010 (minus the merch). Come on guys, there's only so many bongs Twitter needs every hour.

@SingingLift

We got so excited when we heard about Southbank Centre's singing lift that we went down and took a ride (and filmed it). Imagine our excitement then, when we found out about @SingingLift, on which the vocal elevator gives its thoughts and observations about goings on in Southbank Centre.

@BI_Badger

Previously a roomie of @HornimanWalrus, this stuffed badger relocated to Bishopsgate Institute (we had a chat with her on her arrival). Her tweets are few and far between, but go and give her a follow if you're feeling generous. She even has her own badger badges with her @BI_Badger Twitter handle on.

@binksthecat

@binksthecat is the resident stuffed cat at Bates Hats on Jermyn Street. As stuffed cats go (and London has its fair share), he's quite discerning, donning a top hat and all. He mainly tweets about hats and goings on in his little emporium, although he's gone a bit quiet over the past few months.

@thelondonstone

This historic object, currently residing at Museum of London, claims to mark the Roman centre of London. Despite its age, @thelondonstone has jumped on the technological bandwagon with Twitter.

Know of any other inanimate London objects that have their own Twitter account? Let us know in the comments below.