News / pero's bridge
Calls to remove hundreds of ‘lovelocks’ on Pero’s Bridge
A petition has launched calling on Bristol City Council to remove thousands of ‘lovelocks’ on Pero’s Bridge.
The bridge has become a popular spot for couples to attach padlocks to as a symbol of their love, a symbol traditionally associated with bridges in Paris.
A section of the Pont des Arts Bridge in the city – or the “Love Lock Bridge” as it was known – actually collapsed in 2015 under the weight of thousands of locks.
is needed now More than ever
In Bristol, residents are concerned Pero’s Bridge, which crosses Bristol’s Floating Harbour, might succumb to the same fate. The bridge forms park of a working harbour and is often crossed by pedestrians and bikes.
Alongside the risk to the bridge’s structural integrity, the petition argues that the locks “dishonour” the memory of Pero Jones, an enslaved African man whom the bridge is named after.
Pero’s Bridge is named after an enslaved West Indian who lived in Bristol in the late 18th century, as a memorial to those affected by the slave trade
Pero was brought to live in the city by his then “owner” after he was purchased at the age of twelve, and the bridge, built in 1999, is intended to honour him.
Now a local resident argues that Pero was never granted his freedom and the thousands of “hideous” lovelocks dishonour his memory.
Helen Tierney, who started the petition said the padlockos were “not symbols of love at all but of oppression down the centuries, of enslaved people chained & padlocked with the keys thrown away, those people disrespected still today in the very place where they should be honoured.”
“To have it weighed down by the very symbols of oppression disrespects his memory” she added.
Bristol City Council has never enforced a ban on the practice, instead removing the locks every few years.
This is not the first time the bridge has been labelled an inappropriate place to display symbols of affection.
In 2021, campaigners called for the padlocks to be cut off the bridge. They wanted to raise awareness of the city’s past through putting up an information board that tells the story of Pero Jones.
A small plaque on the bridge now tells Pero’s story, and campaigners say adding locks to this bridge is inapproriate.
All photos: Martin Booth
Read next:
- ‘The lovelocks on Pero’s Bridge are an insult to Pero’s memory’
- The untold history of Pero’s Bridge
- Love or lose the locks on Pero’s Bridge?
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
