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All the United Kingdom England London Metropolitan Police Coat Hook

Metropolitan Police Coat Hook

Installed at a chaotic intersection, this gave London traffic cops a place to hang their heavy woolen coats.

London, England

Added By
ahvenas
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CAPTION
The coat hook is said to be one of the questions for the London cab driver test known as “The Knowledge.”   ahvenas (Atlas Obscura User)
The hook replaced an earlier version that was just a construction nail.   ahvenas (Atlas Obscura User)
The hook is next to the door to No. 4 (circled here in red).   Map Data
London policeman directing traffic in 1927, in his very heavy wool coat.   Stockholm Transport Museum
The intersection in question: the convergence of 6 streets near Covent Garden.   Map Data
In use!   tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
Unfortunately, this is how the hook looks like as of October 24th, 2018   GunRalf The Grey / Atlas Obscura User
  McDevin / Atlas Obscura User
  rbenn250 / Atlas Obscura User
The hook  
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  henleybeckett / Atlas Obscura User
  Johan SWE / Atlas Obscura User
I much nicer hook than just an old nail.   Londonist Ltd.
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About

To become a London cabbie requires more than guidebooks and a smartphone. There is a test—some say the world’s toughest test—known as The Knowledge. In order to pass, a driver needs to navigate the city’s 25,000 streets without a map or help from GPS, and identify every possible tourist spot, no matter how obscure. Case in point: Great Newport Street’s Metropolitan Police coat hook.

The wrought iron hook hanging next to No. 4 goes back to the early days of automobile traffic. The building sits just off the corner of a chaotic six-street convergence, and even with the guidance of traffic lights drivers didn’t always trust the signals. So the police were assigned to step in now and then, to keep things moving, and if it happened to be a hot summer day they needed a place to hang their heavy woolen coats. Since No. 4 was under construction there was a handy nail to do the trick, but once construction was completed, the nail disappeared.

The makeshift hook may have been gone, but the traffic wasn’t, so the police asked for the nail to be put back. They got this instead: a sturdy bespoke model, clearly labeled so everyone knew who it was for. There have been subsequent renovations to the little building, but the coat hook is still there, still challenging cab drivers’ “knowledge” to find it.

Related Tags

Architectural Oddities Police History Architecture

Know Before You Go

The hook hangs next to the door to No. 4, which sits on one of the six corners of the Covent Garden intersection of Long Acre, St. Martin's Lane, Upper St. Martin's Lane, and Great Newport, Cranbourne, and Garrick Streets. Bonus: there's an Agatha Christie Memorial on the opposite corner from the coat hook.

Community Contributors

Added By

ahvenas

Edited By

Blindcolour, tylercole, McDevin, Collector of Experiences...

  • Blindcolour
  • tylercole
  • McDevin
  • Collector of Experiences
  • rbenn250
  • GunRalf The Grey
  • Johan SWE
  • Squat Harry
  • henleybeckett
  • XavierLdn

Published

April 18, 2017

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Sources
  • https://lookup.london/policemans-coat-hook/
  • https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/sir-joshua-reynolds-great-newport-street
Metropolitan Police Coat Hook
4 Great Newport Street
London, England
United Kingdom
51.511955, -0.127413
Get Directions

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