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Crowds filled the High Street in Orpington yesterday as London Mayor Boris Johnson was invited to reopen the High Street after the recent investment.

The Mayor was joined by his brother, the newly elected MP for Orpington, Jo Johnson, the Mayor of Bromley, Councillor George Taylor and the leader of Bromley Council, Councillor Stephen Carr.  The ceremony included the planting of a commemorative tree at the junction of Homefield Rise, outside the branch of Barclays Bank.

The ceremony took place six months after work started on the High Street and a year after Bromley Council displayed its plans   The work has seen the pavements widened and made more attractive.

Boris Johnson addressed the crowd and made a tongue in cheek reference to a previous speech in which he mentioned Darwin’s theory of evolution and the people of Bromley.

Boris Johnson on Darwin and Bromley  (you will need to be logged in to MyGuide2 to view).

The Mayor said,

“When I look around this great crowd, you behold their natural physical and intellectual greatness.

“It is no wonder that the idea of natural selection floated into Charles Darwin’s mind.

“It is nothing less than a Darwinian struggle for survival.

“Orpington has come up with a response to the great predatory sabre tooth tiger that is the Bluewater shopping centre.”