Smash hit

Named after Nelson’s decisive naval victory of 1805, Trafalgar Square has been a significant gathering point — be it for Chartist demonstrations, VE Day celebrations or poll tax riots — for almost two centuries. Such was the potency of Nelson’s Column as a symbol of British power that Hitler hoped to steal it for Berlin in the event of a Nazi victory. However, with increased traffic volumes, the square had become a glorified traffic island by the end of the last century. The pedestrianisation of its north side, adjacent to the National Gallery, was one of Ken Livingstone’s main urban projects as mayor. Dr Penny is more familiar than most with how the changes have affected the area. He worked at the gallery for ten years before leaving in 2000 to take up a job in Washington for five years, returning to the gallery as director in 2007.

The remodelled square “was supposed to be some sort of cousin of the Tuileries Gardens [next to the Louvre in Paris], stretching down to the Thames. I came back to this country and found, to my shock and horror, instead of an air of civilised reflection and pedestrianisation that it has become an opportunity to turn the whole square into a stadium.” Cab drivers, who never tire of grumbling about how clogged up The Strand has become because of Mr Livingstone’s alterations, would agree with Dr Penny that the traffic should again be able to flow around all four sides of the square. Thousands of others, who have celebrated the 2005 Ashes win in the square, watched a film there on a big screen or simply sipped a coffee without being choked by exhaust fumes, would not.

Dr Penny’s neighbour, Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said he was delighted with the square in its current form. “I think it’s a tremendously good thing. It has transformed the square. It has transformed the National Gallery.”

The extra noise was a worthwhile trade-off. “I quite understand Nick’s concerns, but one hopes that [the noise] is not all of the time, and that it brings an appropriately spirited life to the space. There is a certain amount of live-and-let-live aspect to it.

Times Archive 1840 Trafalgar Square: The Nelson Testimonial

It was concluded that the proposed Nelson Column would have an injurous effect upon the National Gallery

• Trafalgar Square, 1844

• Trafalgar Square unveiled to public, 1844

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“It’s nice not to be run over by a bus on the way in. [Entering the galleries from the square] is a transition that people understand — certainly people entering the Portrait Gallery understand.”

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