County Hall

Cycling along the narrow bike paths on Westminster Bridge is a lot of work, especially going south. Tourists often stand on the bike path, smiling and posing in front of Westminster Palace, only to jump aside with a scream or curse in their own language when they are almost run over. What they don't take a picture of is the other impressive building behind their posing: the County Hall.

County Hall, designed by Ralph Knott at the beginning of the last century, served as the headquarters of London City Council for 64 years. In the 1980s, the then powerful, and left-wing, Greater London Council under the leadership of Ken Livingstone came into dispute with the Conservative government. Red Ken used the building facade to display political slogans and the number of unemployed in the capital. So, Margaret Thatcher decided in 1986 to simply abolish the local government

Red Ken was suddenly unemployed too. When New Labour restored the mayorship of London at the turn of the century, Livingstone took back his post against the will of Prime Minister Tony Blair. This time he opted for a new town hall, also on the south bank of the Thames: City Hall. The socialist Livingstone called the building 'A Glass Testicle', while his successor Boris Johnson made the same comparison with another word: 'The Glass Sex Gland'

Livingstone's old workplace had fallen into disrepair.. There were unrealised plans to move the LSE to 'the county hall'. Later, The Saatchi Gallery also expressed interest but were shown the door after a contract dispute with Shirayama Shokusan, a Japanese investor and owner. Today, County Hall, located next to the London Eye, is an amusement park with attractions such as the Sea Life London Aquarium, the London Dungeon and Shrek's Adventure! Occasionally, Agatha Christie's play Witness for the Prosecution also plays here

When I see County Hall, I think of the David Bowie's video clip,Absolute Beginners. The building, and the nearby South Bank Lion feature in the film set. However, my favourite memory of the building dates back to the early spring of 2008 when Boris Johnson, accompanied by dozens of young activists in colourful “Boris for PM” shirts, launched his campaign for the... mayorship of London. It started out as a joke, but turned out to be a serious joke.