Editing Tower Bridge (section)

== Reaction ==
[[File:Tower_Bridge_London_2022-10-10.jpg|thumb|right|Side view of Tower Bridge, from King's Stairs Gardens]]

Although Tower Bridge is an undoubted landmark, with the City of London calling it "London's defining landmark",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Explore Inside Tower Bridge |url=https://fis.cityoflondon.gov.uk/whats-on/visit-tower-bridge |access-date=14 May 2024 |website=FYi Directory |language=en |archive-date=14 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514141845/https://www.fis.cityoflondon.gov.uk/whats-on/visit-tower-bridge |url-status=live }}</ref> some professional commentators in the early 20th century were critical of its aesthetics. "It represents the vice of tawdriness and pretentiousness, and of falsification of the actual facts of the structure", wrote [[Henry Heathcote Statham]],{{sfn|Smith|1953|page=153}} while [[Frank Brangwyn]] stated that "A more absurd structure than the Tower Bridge was never thrown across a strategic river".{{sfn|Wade|2016|page=[{{GBurl|DXGrDAAAQBAJ|page=129}} 129]}}

Benjamin Crisler, the ''New York Times'' film critic, wrote in 1938: "Three unique and valuable institutions the British have that we in America have not: [[Magna Carta]], the Tower Bridge and [[Alfred Hitchcock]]."<ref>{{cite news |last=Crisler |first=B. R. |title=Hitchcock: Master Melodramatist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/12/archives/hitchcock-master-melodramatist.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 June 1938 |access-date=11 June 2018 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612224617/https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/12/archives/hitchcock-master-melodramatist.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Architectural historian [[Dan Cruickshank]] selected Tower Bridge as one of his four choices for the 2002 BBC television documentary series ''[[Britain's Best Buildings]]''.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/programme_archive/best_buildings_06.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513091752/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/programme_archive/best_buildings_06.shtml |title=Choosing Britain's Best Buildings |access-date=3 June 2008 |last=Cruickshank |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Cruickshank |website=BBC History |date=1 November 2002 |archive-date=13 May 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Britain's Best Buildings|2002}} The bridge and its surrounding landscape was depicted in an official [[BBC]] [[trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for the [[2021 Rugby League World Cup]] (in reference to [[2021 Rugby League World Cup#Stadium locations|London being one of the host cities]]).<ref name=BBCtrailer>{{cite web |title=Rugby League World Cup 2022 🏉 Trailer 🏟 BBC Trailers |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvcdvhSTELw |website=[[YouTube]].com |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=27 October 2022 |date=9 October 2022 |archive-date=27 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027221618/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvcdvhSTELw |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Greater London South Scout County.jpg|thumb|right|Tower Bridge shown on the badge of Greater London South Scouts]]

Tower Bridge has been mistaken for the next bridge upstream, [[London Bridge]].{{sfn|Frommer|Cochran|2007|p=184}} A popular [[urban legend]] is that in 1968, [[Robert P. McCulloch]], the purchaser of the old [[London Bridge (Lake Havasu City)|London Bridge]] that was later shipped to [[Lake Havasu City, Arizona|Lake Havasu City]] in [[Arizona]], believed that he was buying Tower Bridge. This was denied by McCulloch himself and has been debunked by Ivan Luckin, the vendor of the bridge.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/169982.how-london-bridge-was-sold-to-the-states/ |title=How London Bridge was sold to the States |work=[[Watford Observer]] |date=27 March 2002 |access-date=13 June 2012 |archive-date=4 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104231327/https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/169982.how-london-bridge-was-sold-to-the-states/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

A partial replica of Tower Bridge has been built in the city of [[Suzhou, Jiangsu|Suzhou]] in [[China]]. The replica differs from the original in having no lifting mechanism and four separate towers.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jun/03/from-tower-bridge-to-sydney-harbour-welcome-to-chinas-city-of-clones |title=From Tower Bridge to Sydney Harbour, welcome to China's city of clones |work=The Guardian |date=3 June 2014 |first1=Michael |last1=Silk |first2=Andrew |last2=Manley |access-date=14 July 2015 |archive-date=14 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714211032/http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jun/03/from-tower-bridge-to-sydney-harbour-welcome-to-chinas-city-of-clones |url-status=live }}</ref> The Suzhou replica was renovated in 2019, giving it a new look that differs from the original London design.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://chinaplus.cri.cn/news/china/9/20190130/243076.html |title=Renovations of Tower Bridge in Suzhou nears completion |work=China Plus |date=30 January 2019 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=9 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109020543/http://chinaplus.cri.cn/news/china/9/20190130/243076.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tower Bridge is the emblem of the [[Scouting in Greater London|Greater London Scout Region]] of [[The Scout Association]] and features on the badges of the six London [[Scout county (The Scout Association)|Scout counties]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://southlondonscouts.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/4_members_area/programme/county_badges/home_adventures/challenge_awards/ccs_challenge/South%20London%20Scouts%20-%20London%20Scout%20Region%20activity.pdf |title=South London Scouts – London Scout Region |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=southlondonscouts.org.uk |publisher=South London Scouts |access-date=8 June 2023 |archive-date=8 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608165313/https://southlondonscouts.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/4_members_area/programme/county_badges/home_adventures/challenge_awards/ccs_challenge/South%20London%20Scouts%20-%20London%20Scout%20Region%20activity.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>