Dave Hill's London blog

Boris Johnson: Zone One Olympics?

The Daily Telegraph likes the plans of its star columnist - ker-ching! - to make London in 2012, "the fabbo fun fulcram of Olympian eternity" (I may have misquoted him there). It says:

He has clearly learned lessons from the centres of interest at the Vancouver Olympic Games, where three closed-off downtown streets became a key gathering point for Olympic visitors and locals just wanting to wander and enjoy the buzz of the Olympics. The London pedestrian strip will stretch from Nelson's column to Covent Garden and Leicester Square, festooned with Olympic flags and banners...Johnson and the other Olympic bosses know that engaging the locals and encouraging a spirit of national support for the athletes goes directly to the heart of whether the Games are judged a success or not.

But the BBC's Adrian Warner is less impressed. He wrote yesterday:

The London Mayor will tell a meeting of the Olympic board how he plans to set up four "live sites" with big TV screens to show the action in the capital and put on pop concerts. These are free sites for people who don't have tickets for the Games. They are an attempt by the Mayor to copy the party atmosphere of last month's Winter Games in Vancouver...Interestingly, the Mayor targeted the national media for his announcement, even though most people outside of London wouldn't have a clue where most of the sites are. Okay, if I live in Bolton, I probably know where Hyde Park is but Victoria Park, Potters Field and Jubilee Gardens?

Not Regents Park, then? Why not? Could it be due to Fear of Brian? But forgive me, I've interrupted the man from the Beeb:

One of the important elements of the Winter Games was a site in Richmond, a town just outside of Vancouver which hosted the speed skating events. It set up a live site which was visited by 300,000 people during the Games. This is exactly what is missing from the Mayor's plans - sites away from the action where people on the outskirts of London can feel they are part of the Olympics. Boris talks about not being a "Zone One" Mayor...but his Olympic plans are not really targeting people outside of the city centre.

This appears to be a good point. He develops it here.