London Bridge Sold To Americans

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31657, 18 April 1968, Page 9

London Bridge Sold To Americans

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, April 17.

London Bridge has been sold to America, *• mancial Times” reports, adding that the name of the buyer and the price will be announced simultaneously in London and New York tomorrow by representatives of the City of London and the buyer.

“The 10,000 tons of granite in London's historic landmark are to be broken down into 10,000 pieces and numbered and indexed,” the paper says. "Then the bridge will rise again across the Atlantic.” When the famous Thames i landmark for 136 years was 'offered for sale by tender

some months ago it attracted more than 100 inquiries from all over the world. Bidding closed last month, when it was revealed that the four most promising contenders for the bridge were all Americans.

London Bridge, which cost £506.000 when it was opened in 1831, replaced an ancient structure commemorated in nursery rhyme, “London Bridge is Falling Down.” The present bridge was put up for sale because it really is falling down—engineering experts say it could last another three or four decades but is sinking into the muddy Thames bed at the rate Of one eighth of an inch a year. The 65ft-wide bridge, already being dismantled, is to be replaced by a concrete structure nearly double that width and costing £4im. A spokesman for the City of London Corporation has denied suggestions that the price to be paid for the bridge was based on a reported valuation of its granite at £2m. He thought a fairer estimate was about £lm, but, he added,

that did not mean that this was the agreed price for the bridge.