Gas Lamps Tour – 28th October 2026
As Ralph McTell once sang “Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London”, a group of us from the Worshipful Company of Plumbers had a delightful evening hosted by a team of lamplighters from British Gas.
Since 1813, when the Gas Light and Coke Company first installed gas lanterns on Westminster Bridge, British Gas engineers have been lighting up London. To distribute the gas their networks needed airtight piping. Plumbers quickly adapted their water-piping skills to run iron, copper and lead lines under streets and into buildings. By the 1830s, the trade of “gas fitter” emerged as a specialized offshoot of plumbing, dedicated to installing the intricate brackets and pipes required for indoor gas lamps.
Today, the British Gas team maintain a network of over 1,100 gas lamps across the capital, helping to preserve the heritage of London’s most famous landmarks, including Parliament Square, The Mall and Westminster Abbey. They also maintain a further 250 gas lamps outside of London in Nottingham’s Park estate, Oldham and Norwich. Their role involves winding the mechanisms which regulate the gas supply and adjusting the timings in tandem with the changing hours of darkness. They also carry out any necessary repairs and servicing, either on site or in their workshop in Battersea.
We learnt all about this and SO much more on the amazing walk from Westminster to Covent Garden with our three British Gas hosts who put a whole new meaning to the words “a fountain of knowledge”! Story after story about so many different events in London – for example did you know:
The first traffic light was on Westminster Bridge and one side was green and the other red and a policeman would be on duty and pull a chain to change the lamp from Stop to Go. Unfortunately, in 1868 the first and only fatality from a gas lamp happened – the policeman on duty pulled the chain, the lamp exploded and he was killed – possibly the only person in history to be killed by a traffic light.
Pictured: 3 atmospheric gaslamp settings and a Banksy sculpture.
Below are just some of the more memorable items of history that we learnt – contributed by our own Plumbers who came for the walk:
Four gas lamps surrounding Clive of India statue are not being used as no one can decide which local authority is responsible. It was mildly amusing that someone had decided to keep Clive of India in the dark by not restoring the lamps!
Cromwell’s head spent three centuries detached from his body before forensic scientists declared it to be indeed the head of the Lord Protector and it was finally laid to rest for a second time.
The Lamplighters were on The Repair Shop this year – 16th September to be exact – repairing an historic lamplighter’s bicycle.
The first female gas lighters were appointed in 1916.
The total number of Gas lamps in the Westminster Estate emit only one fifth of the carbon emissions of a chip shop.
The expression ‘costing an arm and a leg’ comes from the wealthy being able to have a full body portrait of themselves, whilst the less well to do had to be satisfied with just their face being painted.
Goodwin’s Court, aka Diagon Alley – what a surprise that was as we are great Harry Potter fans! And our guides – they were superb and all the anecdotes and stories they told were a wonderful enhancement to the experience.
There are three different styles of lamp covers and particularly impressive is the fact that one burns with an open flame – the one outside the National Gallery.
The monogrammed Westminster lamp posts have the W for the Duke and the double C symbol for Coco Chanel as he was apparently besotted with her.
The highlight of the tour was seeing the beautiful row of gas lamps lighting up the street to St James’s and Horse Guards Parade and trying to picture what it must have been like to have a well lit section of the street at a time when street lights did not exist in general.
And finally – did you know that Berlin has 30,000 gas lamps?
PS did you notice the photo of the rather strange sculpture of the man carrying a flag? That’s been added by Banksy in the last few months and stands outside the Athenaeum Club.
The group then repaired to the Wellington for a nice pie and pint meal together and discussed their favourite and most memorable parts of the walk.
As told by Patty Grant and contributors.