In 1861 this curious piece of street furniture was installed on Piccadilly. It stood there for over a hundred and fifty years. In the past few months Westminster City Council have removed this Grade II listed structure without any explanation. A petition has been launched to reinstate it.
The Porter’s Rest on Piccadilly
Porters rests were once a common sight in London. The one on Piccadilly was I believe, the last survivor. Many people are annoyed that this little bit of London’s history has been removed and many more are cross that Westminster City Council are refusing to explain their decision.
The rest was used by porters to place their burdens upon, thereby saving the effort of placing a heavy load on the floor and then having to reach down to relift it up onto a shoulder. You can see a little film of the Piccadilly rest in use here at British Pathe.
A brass plaque on the rest explained why it was was erected:
At the suggestion of R A Slaney Esq who for 20 years represented Shrewsbury in Parliament. This Porters rest was erected in 1861 by the Vestry of St George Hanover Square for the benefit of porters and others carrying burdens. As a relic of a past period in London’s history, it is hoped that the people will aid its preservation.
So why have Westminster City Council removed it? We don’t know. They won’t answer or return my calls. Dozens of people have tweeted them over the past few days and there has been no official response.
Westminster’s own planning pages offer few clues. It appears that a “complaint” was “generated internally”. The Porter’s Rest was deemed to be a “General Nuisance (loss of amenity)”.
The decision, the date of the decision and the reason for the decision to remove it are marked “Not Available”. The Case Officer is also “not available” for comment. The decision status is marked as “Pending Consideration” and yet the Porter’s Rest has already been removed. There are no supporting documents of any type.
Is this an appropriate way for Westminster City Council to treat a Grade II listed and protected Historic structure?
The petition to have the Porter’s Rest reinstated launches today. If you value London’s magnificent heritage please take a moment to sign it and please encourage others to do so.
Please sign the petition here.
UPDATE; 17.00 26th March 2015
Thank you all so much for all your signatures and messages of support today.
Thanks to your signatures, within hours of launching the petition, Londonist and BBC London News had both picked up on it.
Their journalists started asking awkward questions and achieved more in a few hours than I had in a week.
By lunchtime WCC had officially responded by saying that the Porter’s Rest went “missing” about a year ago. They think it “may have been stolen but can’t be certain.” They say they are now working to find it or to “put in a replacement”.
WCC still have a lot of questions to answer: If it was stolen, then WCC still have to account for why they didn’t alert the public earlier. Did they report the “crime”? Why didn’t they do more to find the offenders? Why did they progress their own “internally generated” complaint of 2013 to have the rest removed. If it was indeed a theft then the thieves seem to have completed the already planned removal at no cost to WCC, so were WCC tacitly complicit?
But the main thing is that WCC are at last answering queries and now stating a positive intention to try and rectify matters. A replacement won’t be the same but it is better than nothing. Please continue your support for this petition until a concrete plan for reinstatement is in place.
BBC London News will be screening a piece on the Porter’s Rest tonight at 6.30pm. I just got home from filming with them.
