This bronze sculpture beside the Regent’s Canal at City Road Basin commemorates the working life of London’s 19th-century canal network. Opening the Lock Gate, created by sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley and unveiled in 2020, depicts two canal workers forcing open a heavy lock gate — a daily and physically demanding task during the canal’s industrial peak.
City Road Lock once served one of the busiest basins on the canal, handling barges carrying coal, timber and goods into the capital. Rather than honouring famous individuals, the sculpture celebrates the ordinary men and women whose hard labour kept London supplied and connected. Today, it stands as a reminder of the canal’s transformation from industrial artery to historic and recreational waterway.