Big Ben bongs for the final time in 4 years
CROWDS gather in Parliament Square yesterday to hear Big Ben ring out for the last time before renovation work is done.
Hundreds of people clapped and cheered as the Great Bell chimed noon.
It is to be silenced for four years, the longest period in its 157-year history, while the Elizabeth Tower is renovated.
MP Stephen Pound said the bongs represent “stability and continuity”. The closedown was, he added, a desperately sad moment which “shows a poverty of imagination”.
Onlooker, Annette Nicholson, from south-east London, said: “It’s a momentous occasion but I thought the crowd would be even bigger.”
Mark Tan, on holiday from Singapore, said he expected Big Ben to continue now “for another 100 years”.
Parliamentary officials claim workers’ hearing would be put at “serious risk” by the 13.7 ton bell’s 118-decibel bongs.
Theresa May has backed MPs concerned at the shutdown and the time-scale may yet be reviewed.