Ever wondered who owns Tower Bridge? Or how much it costs taxpayers to keep it looking magnificent? The answer might surprise you!

To uncover the mystery, let's take a journey back to another famous Thames crossing: London Bridge. Around 900 years ago, the City of London Corporation created an organization called Bridge House Estates to maintain London Bridge and collect tolls from those crossing it.

Fast forward nine centuries, and the pennies from those tolls have grown into a whopping billion-pound fund! Now known as the City Bridge Foundation, this organization owns not only London Bridge but also four other iconic bridges: Blackfriars, Southwark, Millennium, and Tower Bridge. Their unique logo, the Bridge Mark, has been used to signify their ownership for centuries.

Most Londoners may not know this, but the City Bridge Foundation is the city's biggest independent charity funder, donating £30 million a year to support various causes. Plus, thanks to the pennies collected long ago, maintaining these famous bridges doesn't cost today's taxpayers a single penny!

#london #towerbridge #history

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