Is This London's Least Loved Roundel?

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 62 months ago

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Last Updated 27 September 2019

Is This London's Least Loved Roundel?

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There it stands at the opening of the Joe Strummer subway off Edgware Road, like a sodden beer mat skewered on a stick: this has to be London's least-loved roundel.

Amazingly, the roundel stands within just a few feet of three other pieces of signage that need to pull their collective socks up. The sign for Joe Strummer subway itself — designed and installed by Robert Gordon McHarg III — could do with a lick of paint, missing as it is, over half its lettering.

Conversely, the sign that lies a few feet beneath it, in the piss-fragrant subway itself, has been painted (and scratched) over by some bored-to-bits chump. Harrowing stuff.

Taking the absolute biscuit though, is this hamfisted squiggle of directions slapped onto the side of Paddington Green Police Station. Was it recently Bring Your Child to Work Day, officers?

Where's the most slipshod signage you've encountered in London? Tell us in the comments.