BRITAIN’S clocks are crumbling – with nearly one in six town timepieces now totally conked out.
Freedom of Information figures reveal a national timekeeping meltdown, as 15 percent of council-owned public clocks no longer tick.
Another chunk are in such a state that councils admit it is “unknown” if they even work.
Alfie Dennen, from Stopped Clocks, said the nation risks losing more than punctuality – warning stopped clocks make places feel “uncared for” and signal the collapse of “the common good”.
Aston Cross’s famous Grade II-listed tower in Birmingham is among the nation’s most embarrassing casualties with its four faces showing all different times.
In Hemel Hempstead, both Dacorum council’s clocks have ground to a halt, including the 1851 Old Town Hall timepiece that once presided over a proud high street, now frozen solid.
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Even London isn’t immune.
The historic clock at Leadenhall Market, dating back to the 14th century, has given up the tick – as has Norwich’s Guildhall clock, once visited by King George VI.
Up North, Bury’s 1914 neo-medieval Whitehead Clock tower has stopped dead too, another symbol of civic pride left to gather dust.
Council’s are blaming “severe funding pressures”, saying cash-strapped authorities can no longer afford the specialist parts needed to revive the relics – unless they’re “heritage interest”.
Many have flogged off old civic buildings entirely.
In Torbay, it’s a full-blown fiasco with only one in five clocks working and some dead since 2015.
Local Lib Dem Swithin Long blasted the Tory-run council, saying fed up residents are “right to be annoyed”.
Plans to fix two of the clocks are crawling forward, but for now, Britain’s timeless landmarks are stuck in the dark ages.
