Jobs you can only hold in London

[Enko]

At dinner tonight we got to discuss if there are any jobs you can ONLY hold in London

So say manager of the Shard doesnt count as you can be a building manager elsewhere

You can be mayor of another city so again doesn't count

We are looking specifically for a job that cannot exist in a slightly different form in another place.

So far we have

Yeomen Warders (beefeaters)

Speaker of the house

Are there others?

Beefeater at the tower of London

The person who sets and fixes the Greenwich Time Ball and the Shepherd Gate Clock at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

It's like being in control of a big giant train set 😂

@BoredZelda this always makes me laugh.
(screenshot incoming....)

Clerk to The Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames?

Would he enjoy being a Camden Lock Punk?

Whilst you can be a punk elsewhere, it’s only in Camden that you can make a living from it by charging people to take your photo. He’ll gain a large social media following too.

It looks a very easy job… look a bit menacing, sport a colourful Mohican and sit - quite literally - on Camden Lock.

edited due to appalling spelling and grammar!

Tower Bridge opener was mine, too, @jay55!

Larry the Cat’s job, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office? I know there are mousers elsewhere, but I think only the London-based British government seems to have political appointees!

(Have you considered a Yeoman Warder, btw?!)

Edited to add - thanks for this question, I love it! Has made me think of the unique (or so I thought until tonight, haha) parts of my city.

My son considered this!
Listed it as one of a few future career options with a straight face aged around 6-7

I’m going to call for a judges ruling on Yeoman Wardens. Ex Military personnel who work at a tourist attraction which is also an active military base. Edinburgh Castle is also an active military base, and ex Scots guardsmen also work there as tour guides. My daughter reckons it’s not the same because they don’t live there. She might be right, but if I were your DS I’d take it as a win. 😆

What is also really tickling us is, I had to go to Wikipedia to check if the Tower was classed as active military and we found the bloke in the picture is actually our mate who is a Yeoman Warder. 😆

Not so much a job as a hobby, but mudlarking seems to be quite specifically tied to London

Chief mouser at Downing Street - Larry the cat.

😆😆 That’s the fella. They are very proud of it.

There's a reasonable public affairs sector in Edinburgh focused on Holyrood, and those types of jobs are available in any city where a government is located though.

Larrys Job is only in London thats for sure.

@BoredZelda we love the research (and your friend) ds is unsure do the Edinburgh ones also wear the clothing?

Larry The Cat.

Plus the blokes that clean the clock face. There's a stomach churning video of Peter Duncan (Blue Peter) cleaning it with them.

The same bunch enlisted John Noakes (Blue Peter) to clean the pigeon shit off Nelson's Column as well. He was dangling on a swing, no harness, just faith 😂

Don't tell your mate that he's just a tour guide! The Yeoman warders have a ceremonial role as well - they took part in the King's Coronation and they're in the Lord Mayor's show every year. I'm sure there's lots more they do as well as running tours.

The man in the clock outside Paddington Station.

Some Downing Street cats do retire to the countryside. Whether they catch mice there I don't know.
Larry is allegedly not the greatest of mouse catchers (even in his youthful days) so you could say he isn't actually doing his unique job.
If he was human he'd probably been fired.

There's a man in a clock?

There most certainly is https://secretldn.com/clock-man-paddington-station/

Livery company members

They can't fire him. What about his meow-man rights?

The name isn’t the same but you can be a Royal Guard in a tall bearskin hat in Copenhagen too.

Found another one! The King’s Flag Sergeant - main purpose of the job is to raise and lower the flags at Buckingham Palace

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Flag_Sergeant