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‘Love locks’ on city centre bridge could be sold for scrap metal
Padlocks left by couples as a romantic gesture on Pero’s Bridge could be removed and sold for scrap metal.
Bristol City Council is gradually removing the ‘love locks’ from the city centre bridge and is planning to turn them into a sculpture, but has not set aside any money to do so.
Hundreds of locks are still attached to the bridge, but council staff are slowly removing them as there are fears that they weigh too much and are damaging the structural integrity of the busy footbridge.
The ‘love locks’ were first removed from Pero’s Bridge in August – photo: Martin Booth
One problem is that couples are continuing to attach new locks.
Instead of turning the locks into a sculpture, one option considered by councillors was selling them for scrap metal then using the money to pay for a sculpture.
The plans were discussed by the harbour committee on September 23.
No final decision has been taken yet.
Green councillor Patrick McAllister said: “I feel very cynical bringing this up and I’m raising this because a resident raised it with me, so I thought I would air it. But I want to clarify I’m not advocating for this.
“The scrap value of those padlocks is presumably quite high.
“If people are replacing [the locks] that means it’s an infinite supply of scrap metal for us to sell off. Just to be clear: this wasn’t my idea, it’s just one that I promised I would raise.”
Some councillors warn that the locks are too sentimental to be destroyed – photo: Martin Booth
Patsy Mellor, director of management of place, added: “What we’re worried about is the locks are going back on all of the time. The original idea was to melt them down and create a sculpture out of that, to memorialise the locks that were there in the first instance.
“But there’s no budget set aside. So I think melting them down and saving the cash from that, and using that to pay for the sculpture might be the way forward. We have got loads of ideas but there’s no funding allocated to pay for the structure itself.”
However the plans could be controversial.
As well as a romantic way for couples to symbolise their love, some padlocks are attached to the bridge in memory of loved ones who have passed away. So removing these locks and selling the scrap metal might not be popular with everybody.
Green councillor Ani Stafford-Townsend said: “There’s a lot of emotion tied to those padlocks. Just melting them down is going to cause a lot of upset. There’s enough upset we have to deal with about them being removed in the first place.”
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Alex Seabrook
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