Excellent Idea!  I have tried to get Derbyshire County Council interested in using this method of replacement before with a similar product to this, but they seem "hellbent" on replacement with brand new units.

Shame also to see that they are available in 4000K and 5000K option instead of just 3000K to force councils to use only Warm White (Which we all know is best all-round!)

As LEDs have developed, the use of small lenses to focus the beam, rather than the use of a reflector behind the light source (as with SON) lanterns, has now become universal practice.

This modern bollard light spotted in the roof garden of the new Canary Wharf CrossRail station shows how LEDs integrated with lenses can be used to tightly control the beam to light a pathway.

Rise of LEDs in USA has created a graveyard of discharge lanterns (Retweeted by @UKASTLE)

That's actually London Borough of Wandsworth!

Sorry I did see Wandsworth but assumed it was a USA equivalent... without my glasses on they looked like discarded cobras!! doh!

Not the best example of an LED retrofit... (Retweeted by @UKASTLE)

Varoptic by Pudsey Diamond

A system in which what appear to be gas mantles are actually LEDs. This gives heritage lighting a much more authentic appearance.

Funny fact, back in the early 2000s I saw some gas lighting in London and I thought it was LED. White LED back then had a greenish hue to it, before cold white LEDs were developed. I was wrong of course, and what I thought were LEDs were actually gas mantles. However, it did get me thinking that LEDs could be packaged into a gas mantle design. And it seems somebody else now agrees with me!

Re: Pudsey's Varoptic LED modules.

An interesting future beckons for all those repro gas lanterns fitted with SON (and LED) lamps.

It is obvious that most examples of  "traditional" lanterns are a clear compromise between aesthetics and performance. For the most part, it is hard to say which side is winning!

Sometimes you do wonder; why bother!

A good quality lighting installation even with a contemporary design, can work well even in sensitive street scenes.

In terms of the Pudsey mantle idea though, it is a good one. If I was being really critical, it would have been appropriate to include some pseudo gas pipework (and perhaps even a Newbridge time controller) inside, just like the real thing.

Of course, the main area will be the colour of the LEDs themselves. A lit gas mantle is distinctive compared to other light sources (as those who own a Tilley lamp will know).

Perhaps a phone call to Mr. Chris Sugg...

Interestingly, when I had my "candle lit" Alder & Mackay in use last year, I contemplated the idea of inserting LEDs into a real mantle (a proper Thorium one naturally), with the battery / PSU being fitted inside an empty Newbridge controller case. Sadly I never got round to it finishing it, as I took the lantern down for something else.

Perhaps the Urbis Albany could be a candidate for a little upgrading!

_________________
"As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps and they burned until morning, my father said, and so people did not need to carry lanterns."
Mary Antin - US author & activist. 1881-1949.