A zebra crossing should connect Orange Pekoe and White Hart Pub at the junction of The Terrace and Broadway, Barnes.
This is the view looking up the Terrace from Broadway, with Orange Pekoe behind the lamppost on the right and the White Hart on the left. The new zebra would run across the road from drop kerb to drop kerb just beyond the white dotted line in the photo and across the middle island.
This idea has been suggested by several organisations and groups including BCA Ponder Travel.
This proposal is part of a wider Manifesto for a better Barnes and Mortlake: a collection of ideas grounded in local insight, climate responsibility and a people-first approach. You’ll find the full list of proposals, along with the thinking behind them, throughout this section.
Case for change
Current design misleading
Those drop kerbs work too well, sometimes. The invite confusion. The kerbs dip just enough to suggest a safe passage across. Pedestrians—headed to the river or simply seeking a pint—take the hint. Drivers, accelerating from the roundabout or heading towards it, sometimes don’t.
There is another zebra which connects with Rick Stein’s restaurant. But it is about on one hundred metres south and can only be accessed if you cross White Hart Lane. Which also lacks a zebra crossing. Any pedestrian would choose the Orange Pekoe crossing point.
Road planners need to remove the ambiguity there.
Traffic calming
The Terrace should be a pedestrian favourite, a delight even, whether walking the river path or roadside. A renewed Terrace would part of a thread that connects the best of communal Barnes.
But currently this road is often overwhelmed by the volume, speed and/or type of traffic.
Another zebra crossing at this junction would contribute to slowing the traffic still further. It would complement the existings crossings by Barnes Bridge and the High Street.
Together these three might might result in a reduction in volume of traffic as travel aids register this is no longer working as a ‘rat run’ and offer alternative routes.
Pedestrian-first Barnes
What’s at stake is more than a single junction.
It’s the promise of a pedestrian-first Barnes. I have described how that might feel on a walk Thames to Thames. That glorious prize is missing only a few links - this crossing point is one of them.
Such changes are incremental, but cumulative. One more safe crossing nudges people out of private cars and into sustainable travel, the goal of the UK government, the Mayor of London and Richmond council.
It chips away at Richmond’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
It breathes more life into a local shopping parade, White Hart Lane. It now boasts a new wine bar, a revived pub and even a podcast studio. This is one of four parades in Barnes that provide a vital communal function: they help define the area. We need to encourage locals and visitors alike to fulfil more of their shopping with such local retailers to maintain this retail mix.
Practical considerations
This new crossing could be a pelican crossing, puffin crossing, zebra crossing or a side-road zebra. Given the financial constraints and the cost/benefit mix, a modest side-road zebra would be sufficient.
This proposal is a work in progress.
It will be reviewed and improved on a regular basis.
This story was last updated on 19 August 2025.