Bristol couples covered the bridge with locks, but 3 tonnes stopped the lifting

For years, couples visiting Bristol attached padlocks to Pero’s Bridge to symbolise their relationships, often throwing the keys into the harbour below. The tradition eventually created an unexpected engineering problem. By June 2025, an estimated three tonnes of locks had accumulated on the pedestrian bridge, adding so much weight that it could no longer be lifted. The city planned to remove the locks before that summer’s Harbour Festival.

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