Gas lamps are part of London’s DNA, argues Luke Honey, and must be preserved. Here he tells the story of his campaign to save them and why they mean so much to so many
It all started on the top deck of a London bus. In 2021, returning home from a Christmas shopping spree in Covent Garden with my wife, I pointed out a working gas lamp – much to her surprise. On Googling it to prove my point, I discovered that Westminster City Council planned to convert its surviving gas lamps to reproduction lanterns powered by LEDs with immediate effect. I had a sleepless night.
Gas lamps are in London’s DNA. They are part of its charm: immortalised in literature and film – think Sherlock Holmes, Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady. They are a remarkable survival of working Victorian technology from the city that first brought gas lighting to the world. Many of our surviving gas lamps date back to the late 19th century. Further Googling led me to Tim Bryars, the distinguished antiquarian book dealer, based in gaslit Cecil Court, who, that summer, had been leading the charge to save the lamps, alongside the architectural historian Dan Cruickshank. So we joined forces to form The London Gasketeers. Almost immediately, our fledgling campaign took off on social media, with our new Instagram account gaining 4,000 followers in a month. People cared about it as much as we did. And not just Londoners, but supporters from all walks of life, across Britain and the world, who were interested in London’s history and felt strongly that the remaining gas lamps deserved to stay.
There are approximately 1,300 gas lamps left in London, centred in clusters around the City and Borough of Westminster, The Temple (under the jurisdiction of the City of London) and the Royal Parks. In Westminster itself, there are just 275 gas lamps left (possibly fewer): in the atmospheric alleyways and courtyards surrounding the Covent Garden piazza, a tourist hotspot, in the stately avenues of St James’s and the quiet, domestic streets off Georgian Smith Square.
In January 1807, Frederick Winsor demonstrated the first use of public street lighting lit by gas in Pall Mall – a sensation captured by cartoonists of the day. Gas produced a brighter and more efficient light than oil. It also revolutionised London’s nightlife, reduced crime, aided the Industrial Revolution and increased literacy and book sales.
By 1823, numerous towns thr
