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Ghost town: eerie images of London in lockdown

Our picture editor Katherine Hardy used her exercise allowance to capture the UK capital's empty streets

Katherine Hardy
31 March 2020
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I never thought I would see empty steps around Eros in broad daylight. The only people not passing quickly through Trafalgar Square were the homeless who have claimed it as theirs and are sharing it with the pigeons.

The air was so clean in Green Park that I could smell the daffodils which is saying something because daffodils don't smell of much.

I cycled round the deserted White Cube courtyard, someone was listening to Frank Sinatra with the windows open and for a minute I wished it would stay this way. While the sun shone it seemed so wholesome but every so often a siren could be heard wailing in the distance and it was impossible to forget the reality of our situation.

The Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, also known as "Eros", in Piccadilly Circus © Photo: Katherine Hardy

Photo: © Katherine Hardy

Piccadilly Circus underground station Photo: © Katherine Hardy

Trafalgar Square Photo: © Katherine Hardy

China Town in Soho Photo: © Katherine Hardy

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