Someone built a hill in London that you have to pay to climb.

[brooklynite]

Londoners Were Promised a Hill With a View. They Got a Pile of Scaffolding.

LONDON — Advance publicity for the Marble Arch Mound — London’s newest visitor attraction — suggested that an Arcadian landscape would be created in the middle of the city, with spectacular views over Hyde Park.

A huge artificial hill, over 80 feet high, would rise at one end of Oxford Street, London’s busiest shopping district. Costing around 2 million pounds, or about $2.7 million, design renderings suggested that it would be covered in lush trees and that visitors would be able to climb to the top — and “feel a light breeze” against their skin.

The hill was part of a £150 million plan by Westminster Council to lure visitors back into the center of the city after the pandemic. In May, Time Out, London’s main listings magazine, described it as “visually arresting/bonkers.”

The reality has turned out to be somewhat different. Since opening on Monday, the mound has been widely mocked online as more of a folly than a dream — a pile of blocky scaffolding covered in patches of vegetation that look in danger of slipping off, and that it isn’t even high enough to look over the trees into Hyde Park.

“It’s a monstrosity,” said Carol Orr, 55, a tourist from Glasgow visiting the mound on Wednesday, who decided not to even attempt a climb.

“You can’t see anything up there,” said Robby Walsh, who had climbed to the top, only to get a view of a Hard Rock Cafe and nearby buildings.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/world/europe/london-mound-design-coronavirus.html

[MiHale]

1. Think we're running out of ideas...

for earthly recreation. Maybe space trips aren’t such a crazy idea.


If really needed.

[Wingus Dingus]

2. Lush vegetation takes a while.

Make it a mini-park with benches at the top, maybe a waterfall, I don't know. Kind of a weird idea.

[onethatcares]

4. a few stuffed lions

and bears, a bunch of birds in cages and you got, "The Ark" attraction in Kentucky.

Acres of blacktop parking to heat the climate and a bunch of grifters to fleece the tourists.

Why build a hill no one's going to climb?

[marble falls]

3. "And she's buying a ..."

[EX500rider]

5. Yeah but when she gets there she knows...

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Better a bit out of your pocket than what used to happen nearby

Tyburn Hill (Also near Marble Arch Station) was the infamous site for executions and I can’t help but wonder how close this mound was to the old gallows.

[frogmarch]

7. If you want a good climb

go to St. Helena island in the South Atlantic and climb Jacob's Ladder! (I would, but it might be tricky with a walker. )

Napoleon was exiled on St. Helena and died there.

My last St. Helena ancestors left the island in 1775.

[Princess Turandot]

8. The Marble Arch is a historical landmark, designed by John Nash, one of England's most famous...

... architects, almost 200 years ago. It was originally part of the approach to the Buckingham Palace grounds, but was moved near to Hyde Park when the palace was expanded later in the 19th Century. I'm surprised that they decided to plop such an overbearing eyesore next to it.

I wonder what will happen if (more likely, when) someone decides to climb onto the grass. Is it going to have twenty-four hour security?

[Brother Mythos]

9. I'm sure building that hill seemed like a really good idea at the time.

But, it sounds like a few design tweaks are now in order.