Couples heartbroken as ‘love locks’ to be removed on bridge with ‘slavery links’ because they are a ‘symbol of oppression’

Activists have launched a campaign to remove lovelocks from a Bristol bridge after claiming the arch has links to slavery.

Couples covered Pero’s Bridge, which was named after an eighteenth-century slave, with romantic padlocks since its construction in 1999.

Lovelocks have never technically been permitted but Bristol City Council never enforced the ban.

Padlocks have instead been removed every couple of years.

However, Bristol resident Helen Tierney claimed Pero was never granted his freedom and argued the “hideous” lovelocks dishonour his memory.

She wrote: “To Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol. In the heart of Bristol is a pedestrian bridge crossing the harbour.

“The City Council agreed the name Pero’s Bridge to honour a young enslaved African, Pero Jones, who in the 18th century was sold into slavery aged 12 & brought by his ‘owner’ to live in Bristol.

“Pero was never granted his freedom & died enslaved. A tiny plaque by the bridge tells this story.

“Pero’s Bridge is now defaced with thousands of padlocks, so called ‘lovelocks’ locked on to its structure.

“The keys most likely dropped into the water below. Only a few steps from the bridge is the place where, in 2020, the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was thrown into the harbour.

“I call upon the Mayor & City Councillors of Bristol to remove these hideous padlocks, not symbols of love at all but of oppression down the centuries, of enslaved people chained & padlocked with the keys thrown away, those people disrespected still today in the very place where they should be honoured.”

Pero Jones was an enslaved African purchased by plantation owner John Pinney in 1765 at the age of 12.

He joined to Pinney family in Bristol in 1784 when the sugar merchant relocated from Nevis to the West Country.

In its description of Pero’s Bridge, Visit Bristol said: “Pero’s Bridge is a popular meeting point and an integral part of the Harbourside, linking the bars, restaurants and attractions that surround Millennium Square, including the Bristol Aquarium and We The Curious, to the cobbles and leafy sanctuary of the Old City, home to the comtemporary arts centre Arnolfini and the tranquil Queen Square.”