City Hall making a splash as election looms

A burst water pipe near to London's City Hall forced the building - and several businesses located near it - to close earlier today. The water main began to gush into Tooley Street on Sunday morning. The BBC reported that up to 4,000 homes in south-west and south-east London found that their water was been supplied at a low pressure or they had lost it altogether. All the properties had their supply fully restored by the end of Sunday afternoon. The iconic London City Hall building is home to the Mayor of London, the London Assembly and the Greater London Authority as listeners to either The Ride and Stride or City and Southbank Circular Walk Talk Tour mp3 guided tour will learn.

The Mayor of London should not be confused with the Lord Mayor of London. The first Lord Mayor of London was appointed in 1189. The Lord Mayor is entrusted with the task of promoting the Square Mile internationally.

Registered voters in the capital have the chance to elect their Mayor on Thursday, 1st May. Only time will tell which of the three main candidates - Ken Livingstone the current Mayor and Labour candidate, Boris Johnson the eccentric Conservative or Brian Paddick the Liberal Democrats candidate - will emerge victorious and which of the candidates will be left high and dry.



Visitors undertaking a Walk Talk Tour iPod travel guide will hear about the powers that the Mayor of London enjoys. Additionally, tourists or interested Londoners will discover some of the design features that the architect, Sir Norman Foster, included to make the building eco-friendly.

Foster probably never envisaged that City Hall would flood. He has been responsible several iconic structures in London, including the Millennium Bridge - which visitors undertaking either The Ride and Stride city guide or The Southbank Circular travel guide will cross - and the Gherkin (former Swiss Re building) that is covered in The City and The Tower podcast guided tour. For more information on The City and The Tower downloadable travel guide please click here.

The five Walk Talk Tours of London are available in French, German and Spanish.

To find out more about The Ride and Stride mp3 guided tour please click here. To listen to an audio sample from The Southbank Circular iPod travel guide please click here.