London follows in the footsteps of Vancouver, Paris and Sydeny with the UK’s first ever rainbow crossing (Picture: TWITTER)

A rainbow road crossing made up of colours of the Gay Pride flag has been unveiled in London.

The crossing outside Brockwell Park in Herne Hill has been installed by Lambeth council to ‘show solidarity with the LGBT+ community’.

It is the first permanent pride crossing in the UK and follows in the footsteps of other major cities including Vancouver, Sydney and Paris.

People are being encouraged to share images on social media with the hashtags #WeAreLambeth and #HerneHillRainbow.


Homophobic and transphobic hate crime has more than doubled in England and Wales over five years.

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The rate of crimes against LGBTQ people have risen by 144 per cent from 2013/14 to 2017/18, according to analysis by the Guardian.



At the end of May, two women were attacked on a London bus for refusing to kiss in front of a group of men.

The mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Ibrahim Dogus, said the crossing was a way to stand in solidarity with those facing discrimination.

it comes a month after London’s Pride festival, when temporary rainbow crossings were installed (Picture: Rex Features)

The crossing was installed by the local authority to celebrate the borough’s LGBTQ community (Picture: Twittee)

Councillor Sonia Winifred, Cabinet member for equalities and culture, said: ‘We have a tradition of championing equality and LGBT+ rights — this crossing celebrates that and is an example of our bold and progressive thinking. We’ve come a long way and Lambeth is proud to be leading the way.’

A temporary rainbow crossing was set up in Totnes, Devon, in 2017 by social enterprise Proud2Be.

But plans to make it permanent were blocked by local councillors in November over concerns the markings could be seen as ‘ambiguous’.

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