Meet the HSBC Lions

The entrance to the HSBC current global headquarters in Docklands is flanked by two bronze lions, cast in 2002 at the Bronze Age Sculpture Casting Foundry in Limehouse.


These lions are copies of two 1930s bronze lions, who were designed by W. W. Wagstaff to guard the entrance to the offices of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong, and bear a marked resemblance to two designed by Henry Poole to stand outside the Shanghai offices in 1923.

Each lion weighs around one ton, and has lucky coins buried beneath it, because this is apparently traditional. For more information, see http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/about/history/history/frequently-asked-questions