Open now the crystal fountain

ACCORDING to Keep Britain Tidy, single-use plastic drink bottles make up 75% by volume of all litter dropped in our streets and parks. Athena notes with pleasure, therefore, the ongoing campaign by the Heritage of London Trust (HOLT) to restore the capital’s disused drinking fountains. A substantial) and many of them are listed. Until recently, however, attempts at ‘restoration’ have generally favoured cosmetic rather than functional results. Taps have been removed, bowls have been turned into planters or, worse still, filled with concrete to prevent their use as litter bins. Although usually inspired by a civic-minded desire for tidiness, such efforts have unhappily confirmed the transformation of drinking fountains from functioning infrastructure to mere objects in the street.