UPDATE: FOUR City of Melbourne contractors have cut almost 20,000 padlocks from the ‘Bridge of Love’ this morning.

Workers arrived at the Southbank bridge just after 9am with buckets and bolt cutters in hand, to manually cut off thousands of locks.

The contractors have been told to cut the smaller locks off, which cannot be slide off the bridge’s wires.

Married couple Garth Ploog and Emily Thompson were given their love lock back by workers as they started to remove the locks this morning.

“It was just a fluke, we happened to be walking across the bridge this morning and spotted our lock,” Mr Ploog, 29, said.

“At the time we thought it was a romantic thing to do, we were engaged and engraved our wedding date into the lock.”

His wife, Emily Thompson loved seeing the trend grow over time but understood it was damaging the bridge.

“It was a nice novelty while it lasted,” Ms Thompson, 34, said

The bridge will be closed from June 1 to 15 while it undergoes renovations.

This is our earlier report first published on Monday.

It has begun...the love locks are locked no more as workers take to them with bolt cutters #goodbyelovelocks pic.twitter.com/LPTPprLc5O — Rebekah Cavanagh (@rebekahcavanagh) May 19, 2015

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NO-NONSENSE The Project presenter Steve Price has backed Melbourne City Council’s decision to remove more than 20,000 padlocks from the Southgate ‘Bridge of Love’.

But not because of the safety concerns that have plagued the footbridge.

“Ugly, get rid of them,” he said on The Project tonight.

“Stupid, ugly, like graffiti, get rid of it.”

Host Waleed Aly also poured a little scorn on the bridge, where couples have been coming for many years to show their affection for each other with padlocks sporting messages of love.

“I have to show my unique love by doing the same thing as 20,000 other people,” Aly said.

But presenter Gorghi Coghlan wasn’t happy, telling the pair “you guys hate love … I think it’s great”.

Tommy Little had a novel idea for “frugal” lovers.

“If you do love love … here is a hint — take a combo lock,” Little said.

“If it doesn’t work out, you get it back. ‘I will do this again’.”

Love or hate them, though, it seems the love locks are here to stay.

The Herald Sun revealed today that the 20,000 padlocks will be removed from the Southgate footbridge within days by the council due to safety concerns.

Now a bar under the bridge wants them for good.

Consultant for Ponyfish Island Clem Newton-Brown said the love lock phenomenon had grown organically above the bar and offered to rehome them.

“It would be a pity for this spontaneous expression of commitment for couples to have no home,” Mr Newton-Brown said.

“Ponyfish Island will be undertaking a major refurbishment soon and the owners intend to work into the design a space for love locks.”

Citing safety concerns, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said that after three years, it was time the council clamped down on what has become a popular Melbourne tourist attraction.

media_camera Tourists snap last photos begfore contractors remove 20,000 love locks from the Southgate footbridge. Picture: Jason Edwards

“There are other ways to commemorate your love than the $3.50 Lockwood and we would encourage people to do that,” he said yesterday.

“I hope people understand it was never meant to be a permanent fixture. If people are upset, I’m sorry but maybe what they can do is make a suggestion to us about what we do with those residual locks.”

MORE: WHAT DO WE DO WITH 20,000 LOVE LOCKS?

Sydney tourist Samantha Boyd, 25, who on Sunday attached a lock with partner Alan Foxwell, 29, said the ­solution might be to reserve part of the bridge for locks.

“They shouldn’t be coming off — it’s a great tourist attraction. Last time I was here in Melbourne we saw the bridge, and we remembered to bring a lock this time to put on,” she said.

But New Zealand visitor Geordie Wilson backed the council’s move and questioned whether putting on the locks was tourist vandalism.

“It certainly disrespects the intentions of the architects who designed this bridge,” he said. “I would maybe put one on the bridge, but if I was going to put one there, it would be with the understanding that it would be taken down at some point.”

media_camera Love locks on the Southgate footbridge. Picture: Mark Stewart

The trend has caused ­issues for cities around the world. In Paris, there was so much love that part of the Pont des Arts bridge collapsed.

In Melbourne, the number of locks in recent months has boomed.

Cr Doyle said that almost 7000 were counted in June and there were now about 20,000, which were causing the wires to sag.

“These are now affecting the side walls of the bridge and they are a safety feature,” he said. “We think 35,000 to 40,000 keys have been thrown into the Yarra and that presents a bit of an environmental problem as well.”

Local officers will be given the task of removing any locks that reappear on city bridges.

The locks will be slid off the wires and stored before the bridge undergoes renovations, which will close it next month.

MORE: TEEN WARNED AFTER CLIMBING SOUTHGATE FOOTBRIDGE

Other cities have dealt with love locks creatively once the redundant hunks of metal are removed.

media_camera Contractors for Melbourne City Council are removing 20,000 love locks from the Southgate footbridge. Picture: Jason Edwards

In Seoul, South Korea, artificial ‘love trees’ adorn the observatory atop Mount Namsan.

Staff have also installed “love boxes” for couples to dispose of their keys rather than toss them over the edge and potentially hit someone on the head.

The Russians adopt a similar approach.

Dozens of iron “love trees” adorn the banks of the Moscow River to prevent people attaching them to the bridge. When the trees are full, they are moved to another place so people can admire them, reports the Atlas Obscura.

In the Distillery District in Toronto, Canada, an art installation of steel and mesh spelling out the word “LOVE” is an alternative for lovers to latch their locks onto, according to urbanadventures.com

Meanwhile in Paris, city officials have tried to discourage tourists clamping locks on the bridges over the River Seine by instead asking them to post selfies on social media using the hashtag #lovewithoutlocks

One website has invited love lock haters to pay a fee and “watch true love die” by enabling them to cut off Paris love locks in their honour.

“You are a jilted, twisted, emotionally dead person. We are your beacon of hope,” they write.

“For a small sum, we will take a trip to the famous love-lock bridge in Paris, cut off the eternal love of three couples, and toss them into the river.”

Whatever happens, hopefully the removal effort is more creative than in New York where officials removed 34kg of padlocks from the Brooklyn Bridge, sending it straight to landfill.

christopher.gillett@news.com.au

Twitter: @Chris_Gillett