{"id":33,"date":"2023-12-21T20:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T20:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freshminster.com\/?p=33"},"modified":"2024-01-16T10:21:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T10:21:21","slug":"pimlico-ltn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshminster.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/21\/pimlico-ltn\/","title":{"rendered":"Pimlico LTN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We have had a wonderful day in Pimlico in Westminster, and would love to tell you about it. Pimlico is famed for the council\u2019s clever and pioneering work reducing through- traffic in local neighbourhoods in the late 60\u2019s and early 70\u2019s, and we\u2019ve been exploring today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pimlico is in the heart of London- it\u2019s just a few minutes walk to the Thames, and 20 minutes walk into Soho. It was nice to see so much bike parking at the station- not one rack was unused- and it\u2019s much more used we imagine than this phone box!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We saw bikes everywhere- almost every railing had a bike attached- it\u2019s clearly a popular way to get around Pimlico! But the real reason we were here was to see the Pimlico Grid- an interesting block of streets we were keen to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was the famous architect Thomas Cubitt who built the Pimlico Grid in the 1920\u2019s, and it\u2019s now protected as Pimlico\u2019s Conservation area. There\u2019s even a statue of him in the area (and a pub), but it was what happened in the late 60\u2019s and early 70\u2019s that we were really interest in today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To halt the problem of through-traffic, the Westminster authorities designed the grid into a series of one- way streets. One resident told us, \u201cthis is a very mixed area- people live in Pimlico from all different backgrounds. But what has made the area very liveable, is what the authorities did to traffic management in the 1970\u2019s\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They told us that taxis often call the area the Bermuda Triangle, as it is so easy to get lost. We saw two people in Christmas jumpers putting their rubbish out, and both said it was a \u201csuper quiet place to live\u201d. One contact sent us this fascinating video from 1970. In it, author and journalist, Ian Nairn says he lives in a \u201cvillage in the biggest city in Europe\u201d. Somewhat ahead of his time, he says the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the \u201cproblems that you come up against when cities expand violently\u201d is \u201ctraffic comes roaring down streets that were never intended to take it, and there\u2019s quite a lot of that in London I\u2019m afraid\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n