So a little bit of sad news on the street lighting front, one of the last London Borough to remain predominantly non-LED is Greenwich, or at least it was
https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200258/parking_transport_and_streets/2299/street_light_upgrade.
What makes this sad for me is that out of the final 4 London boroughs to remain predominantly non LED, I believe that Greenwich has a far larger variety of lanterns as well as columns/brackets going as far back as the 1950s.
On the downside, Greenwich did not have any SOX lanterns. It was definetely one of the first London boroughs to be SOX free as SOX become rare by 1998. I clearly remember that one of the last road of SOX lanterns were removed way back in 2003, although one still remains to this day thanks to TFL (although this is jointly shared with Lewisham, and thats another story for another time)
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.455068,0.0175903,3a,28.3y,123.53h,98.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQLZJmgkW_fgt4YvIiczUKA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192.
Greenwhich also has one very unusual mercury survivor
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4651064,0.0093945,3a,26.4y,151.61h,105.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1kssFfqf-Yw8sNpVBAXEJg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192, and I will be gutted to see it go.
Generally speaking, Greenwich is a fascinating borough that has a rich history and strong maritime, military and regal connections. On the street lighting front, Greenwich has the largest variety of older generation SON lanterns that are not Urbis lanterns. Although WRTL Arcs, Philips SGS203s and WRTL 2600 are the commonly found staple lanterns in the borough, there are still a good number of the following to be found in this borough, in the descending order:
> Thorn Beta 79
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4864815,0.0323059,3a,30y,258.51h,92.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6aGD7AexTDeGmXyu8dfJag!2e0!7i16384!8i8192> WRTL SRL8
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4448834,0.0304691,3a,15y,191.1h,93.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sewxmzfjdCjLHXD363pCpdQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192> Phosco P567
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4790046,0.0436786,3a,28.4y,270.97h,95.98t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stzOXucgV6EZNd0XmefSBhg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192> Davis GR70
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4850349,0.0469605,3a,28.8y,154.19h,94.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJ3rO7TbWTHhx6Fa8Fw38YA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192> Philips MA30
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4964048,0.0019881,3a,29.8y,204.5h,98.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swhw1PdwtjUGq7HawCu7eUA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192> Thorn Alpha 3
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4743623,0.0372862,3a,75y,34.31h,88.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdpGJsGl1KhnFNcazBJLXaw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192There are also plenty of old columns and brackets that date back to the 1950s and 1960s:
Concrete
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4418932,0.0522343,3a,75y,264.48h,88.08t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2733f8RszzpuzybS81Au7A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.489179,0.007745,3a,27.8y,268.16h,93.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLHRla8nLKeTeXr-6lvZyBQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656and even these 50s/60s once popular concrete columns and brackets specifically for large fluorescent lighting
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Footscray+Rd,+London/@51.4392344,0.0705764,3a,37.5y,334.77h,95.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYtVJ22mzqSl6fNc8cMR5Jg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8a95d57ba2add:0xbb9d614c42830635!8m2!3d51.4406554!4d0.0694337I'm not sure what these are, but i have always liked them and they must be concrete equivalent of amenity lighting
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4741145,-0.0090791,3a,86.4y,37.99h,102.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sk4JcaR_bZs68UVOtFeo3Vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192I just like this, and i haven't seen this as a double bracket before
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4855803,0.0919749,3a,75y,110.89h,93.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7zOgMErf5Mxn0cbxiLOOyw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=enIron
I don't know how this column has survived. According to images, these where originally post war columns for mercury lights, then were modernised in the 1970s for SOX, retrofitted in the late 1990s for SON, and then had the bracket chopped down in 2014 to trial Greenwichs earliest LEDs
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.478089,0.0205228,3a,78.7y,24.38h,95.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sX-K85ZcHPT2pV3FIiXbGWg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192Like in my previous link, this is much older than it looks. I would say this column is as old as the late 1940s/1950s, because it is the same as the previous link but in better condition and without the LED upgrade.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.473949,0.0217291,3a,25.2y,350.54h,103.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slDkNkGIx4kZXTeY7c1K6vg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192Im sure these used to house Flourescent lanterns
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4767918,0.0601706,3a,28.3y,149.96h,97.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKUoTMs9cPoiZiXCuuy_jVw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192Greenwich used to have more older SON lanterns like the WRTL MRL6, Davis GR304 and the Thorn Alpha 8, (although one very clean example of the Thorn Alpha 8 has miraculously survived
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4799708,0.0969411,3a,75y,275.03h,121.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sjPsztZREJaWUOKhlDJPHFg!2e0!5s20210801T000000!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en).
Interestingly, when SON took over nearly all London Boroughs in the 1990s, the vast majority of these boroughs opted for the ever dominant Urbis Lanterns, and the remaining borough that choose an alternative would almost always choose Philips. The exceptions to this were Kingston and Enfield that relied on Thorn (namely the Alpha 8) until the very end, when they choose the Philips Iridium or Philips SGS203 respectively. Croydon always did things differently, and did use the Philips SGS203 in/around 1989 as their first foray into SON (but that quickly reverted to the Urbis ZX2), however unlike any other London borough, Croydon refused to use Philips SOX lanterns, and would use literally anything else e.g. thorn betas, simplex aries/gemini, WRTL Iris etc.
Greenwich will be missed due to the variety and age of their pleasant lighting stock. Also, I personally like how Greenwich almost never used generic amentity lighting, and only used heritage lighting, once, for the roads surrounding the historic Cutty Sark. It be a shame to see lanterns disappear, especially Greenwichs unique range of concrete/iron columns, which have all been earmarked for removal
Whats more, love it or hate it, Greenwichs' unique brown columns are also slowly becoming a thing of the past. Remember when each London borough had their street lights painted a colour (or combination of colours) that made their lighting stock unique to that borough.
Greenwich will be using Schreder Axia 3s, like Bromley did, post top on new columns, or is likely to have the existing bracket chopped back. Personally, I do like the Axia range, and I think that the Axia 3 is a decent, simple design. However, why are all London Borough looking all the same e.g. a black columns, no brackets, and a post top Lantern, most likely also to be in black. At least some London boroughs have remained unique in their own ways, like Southwark, Redbridge plus Hammersmith and Fulham, as these are the last London boroughs to still use brackets on all replacements. As well as Havering, Kingston, Sutton, Bromley, Barnet and Bexley that have retained their unique colour schemes.
The remaining London Boroughs that are still not predominantly LED, in descending order, are:
1. Croydon - This is a relatively new joint PFI scheme with Lewisham that did not include LED, and instead used the original Philips Iridium range. I guess it will be too costly to replace this anytime soon, however this could happen as Philips have discontinued the Iridium 1,2 and 3. The reason that i believe that Croydon has the least LED is because the only roads with LED are TFL red routes, but even these are still predominantly Croydons old stock of SONs (and even a handful of surviving SOX).
2. Lewisham - Same as Croydons, however the reason that this is second, is because nearly all of Lewishams TFL red routes have been LED'd with CU Phosco P850, and only a tiny amount of Lewishams pre-PFI SON lanterns remain. These are almost entirely Urbis and a few random Philips Traffic Visions in Catfords dreaded gyratory system of the South Circular.
3. Waltham Forest - Entirely Urbis lanterns with an ever decreasing stock of concrete columns on side roads.
4. Harrow - Another Urbis/Schreder loyalist, with an ever decreasing stock of SON.
Greenwich has the largest stock of concrete columns in London, but once Greenwich goes, the London borough with the largest stock of concrete columns will surely be Sutton. The upshot with Sutton is that, not only does it have the newest stock on concrete columns in London, but this borough also has the largest remaining stock of SOX lanterns. Nearly all of Sutton SOX lanterns are side streets only, but it's better than nothing.