There are an infinite number of reasons why people like to visit London. While some arrive to see the iconic buildings and monuments, others prefer to explore the city’s parks and green spaces, pubs and restaurants.
Regent’s Park is one of London’s favourite open spaces with its gardens, statues and monuments. One such monument with an interesting history is the Ready Money Drinking Fountain.
Located in the middle of the Broad Walk, the drinking fountain was gifted to the city in 1869 by Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, a wealthy Indian Parsi industrialist and philanthropist from Bombay, as a thank-you for British protection against Parsi persecution in the 1800s. The fountain’s name derives from Sir Cowasjee’s nickname of ‘Ready Money’.
The drinking fountain stands just over 16ft high and 9ft wide, and was constructed using 10 tonnes of Sicilian marble and four tonnes of red Aberdeen granite.
After a few hours enjoying the park away from the crowds, you will find numerous excellent cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars near Regent’s Park, where you can grab a table, kick off your shoes and watch the world go by.
By Peter Smyly, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14183429
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