This open area at the back of the Royal Festival Hall is often used for Farmers’ Markets, festive performances and the like. The occasional passer-by at these events might wonder why such a desirable piece of real estate has been left unchanged and undeveloped - it’s not because the authorities are uninterested in the revenue they might derive from another Belugo’s.

It’s because this is one of the last Civilian Milling Areas designated by Orderly Continuance during the worst of post-war, anything-could-happen paranoia. Sociologists and Planners from the Office of Emergence & Emergencies had noticed an increased tendency for groups to ‘mill’ during periods of heightened national tension. They would clump together, looks at maps, wonder where to go and what to do, standing in roughly the same place for long periods of time. It was believed that, in the event of an emergency, this ‘milling’ behaviour could seriously undermine the efficient evacuation of major cities and so milling areas were designated near most transportation choke-points - particularly mainline stations. This, the Civilian Milling Area for Waterloo, is still used informally but hasn’t seen official action since the Minor Awakening of 1987.