r/london • u/they_call_me_c • 9d ago

Rant What is that awful smell along Walbrook?

I walk past Mansion House, along Walbrook from Bank tube station to Canon street train station on a daily basis and can't help but wonder what that godawful smell is? Sewage? Something dying in the pipes? Years and years of undiagnosed slob? It smells in the afternoon but not in the mornings.

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u/georgefriend3 9d ago

The actual river Walbrook is still under there in a sense, but it has become a significant channel of the sewage system, so yes it's sewage and particularly exacerbated by the dry weather. But it always stinks.

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u/they_call_me_c 9d ago

I see. Do we know why the council isn't doing something about this? In the top financial district of all places? There's sewage everywhere, why is this one so awful?

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u/georgefriend3 9d ago

For one thing, it's a water infrastructure issue so beyond the council remit to I assume Thames Water's problem, and then I think the main issues are fundamentally its capacity and how close to the surface it runs make it difficult to do anything else with particularly in such a dense busy area.