Why does London still have stinkpipes?

Have you ever seen a mysterious green pipe in London, and wondered what it’s for? You’re not the only one. These odd fixtures of the city aren’t just thicc lampposts, they actually tell quite an icky story. 

Known as ‘stinkpipes’, these vertical iron tunnels were put up around the city in the Victorian era. They were essentially built to make London less stinky, and would funnel noxious gases out of the sewers and above the Victorians’ heads. Grim stuff. 

The pooey pipes date back to an era known as... wait for it. The Great Stink. This was back when the Big Smoke (or should we say the Big Stink) had no centralised sewage system, meaning the River Thames was full of human excrement. More than it is now, at least. 

The stench from the combination of faeces, animal carcasses and industrial waste was so bad that the government had to temporarily relocate to Oxfordshire, where it came up with the idea to make stink pipes to get rid of the awful smell. This was part of the 1858 act that deemed we needed a centralised human waste management system. Soon, the metal pipes started funnelling methane, hydrogen sulphide and ammonia out of the sewers and into the air. 

But why do we still have them today? The simple answer is that they are just a remnant of grosser days past. Stinkpipes are no longer in use, but there hasn’t been a need to actually get rid of them. Today we can think of them as kooky landmarks, and as reminder to always be grateful for centralised sewage systems, and flushing toilets.  

More crap! London’s new £5 billion ‘super sewer’ is now fully connected. 

London is officially one of the world’s wealthiest cities.