A small roadside park alongside St Pancras Station has something hidden in the bushes – pieces of the London 2012 Olympic rings.
In May 2011, the Olympic rings were hung in St Pancras International station, and remained there until after the London 2012 Olympics, being taken down in August 2012.
They were then chopped up into a series of curved coloured benches that were dotted around the station.
One set though was moved in 2016 to a small park outside the station. The park was a rough patch of sandy wasteland leftover from the construction of the St Pancras International viaduct, used for portaloos portable toilet in 2012, and finally, in 2014, the area was fenced off to be turned into a proper pocket park.
Opposite the more famous Camley Street Natural Park, a winding path that mirrors the curves of the Olympic rings weaves its way through a strip of land, and set into the paving is a series of concrete footprints.
When first laid out with young plants, the brightly coloured benches were easy to see, but you would still have had to know their heritage as there are no signs to indicate where the benches came from. Now though, the plants have matured and created a deep valley to walk through.
And the Olympic ring benches are still down here, hidden from view.
More recently, the pavement along Camley Street has been revamped with a long row of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs), which are designed to capture water locally and slow its flow into drains, improving the local environment and reducing heavy rain pressure on drains.
But maybe in 2022 when planning an “it’s been a decade since 2012” walk, pop along to this small park behind St Pancras and sit on benches made from Olympic Rings.
Updated 24th Sept 2021 as Portaloo® is a trademarked term and Portakabin Ltd objected to my use of the word.
Another part of the rings were at the HS1 platforms at St Pancras but they seem to have been Covid-ed.
I think the ones at Stratford International are still there.