The NUMBER 13 Route

Victoria Station to North Finchley Bus Station  

Thursday  December 5  2018

To say this route has been ‘through the wars’ recently is a slight exaggeration  but only a year ago it was fighting for its life, and even I felt a little traumatized by the time we finished, but to return to the start.

A rather slow 390 had left us at Victoria and we picked our way gingerly out of the half completed bus station to the rather dingy head stop in Wilton Road. We certainly had time to count all the other routes trundling on their way and as the whole TFL Bus alert system was offline (thanks O2) so we had no idea when one would materialise – but it did and it proved to be a rather fetching shade of green upholstery and paintwork – clean green too. You might ask what it was doing in Victoria anyway but there you go – it has a  long history

Following our experience a couple of weeks back we made a comparatively swift exit from Victoria and were soon past Hyde Park Corner and Apsley House, a spot of brightness on a gloomy day. Many of the trees in Hyde Park were bare so you could just glimpse the Winter Wonderland ,  which will run till 6th January. 

This led me to wonder why one of our children – offspring of two cautious parents who never venture into a fairground let alone onto any kind of twiddly ride – would try any roller coaster or thrill going? Throwback genes, Jo ventures?

Having already ridden the length of Oxford Street earlier today,  this time we turned left just short of the road works which were upsetting several bus routes  and down the length of very handsome Gloucester Place, which sports several Blue Plaques, some more legible than others. And some nice window boxes.  From here on the bus became increasingly popular until the driver was running his ‘There are seats upstairs’ recording, though we thought the demographic boarding might be reluctant to climb.

We had a change of driver near Marylebone and pressed on. The trouble with having ridden this route so often as a child and school student is that certain landmarks get imprinted and it jars when they are no longer there. As we crossed the Marylebone Road what had previously been Moon’s garage was now a Spar convenience store but this is arguably a small price to pay for the refurbishment of this classic Art Deco block, though small is not the price you would pay to live here.

There is  classic  Georgian  housing  and as you near the park (Regent's) you see the back of the Nash Terraces. Also just visible is the London central Mosque – a fine building, and its presence, plus some private hospitals towards St John’s Wood, accounts for the comfortable Middle Eastern flavour of this part of the journey. I was interested to see a newish apartment block had installed a very Islamic style courtyard garden – to make the residents feel at home no doubt. St John’s Wood – its pretty parish church now on a busy roundabout opposite Lord’s cricket ground – is named for the neighbourhood once farmland belonging to the rich Priory of the Knights of St John (whose HQ we had visited in Clerkenwell) .

The Finchley Road continues with both sides built up mainly with blocks of flats – there are in fact very few shops once you leave Oxford Street until you hit Swiss Cottage.

Swiss Cottage has both a large cinema and a theatre adjacent to the Basil Spence Library complex, not so visible, and of course its very own Swiss Cottage . By now I was feeling pretty much on ‘home territory’  as having had seven years’ schooling just up the hill this stretch was familiar from the 6^th form when we were allowed out in the lunch break.  'John Barnes'  used to be a poor relation of John Lewis and did not endear itself by being the school uniform provider so it seems better now it is a very large and popular Waitrose, handily opposite Finchley Road Underground station, where there seemed to be some building works. 

The bus was even fuller from this point,  the advice to use upstairs even more frequently deployed.  We had waited for this one  and the only other route now on offer  is the 113 so this was hardly surprising. On down the 4-mile-long Finchley Road we continued.

The next major landmark was the turning off to the Hendon Way and all points North West and this was heralded by the Blue Star garage – now sadly an overgrown empty eyesore.  From this point the road narrows so progress was more careful, as parked cars were also in evidence. This stretch was a further tale of losses – no more bowling alley (now flats) and no Castle pub, with its nearby toll sign. To be honest it was looking pretty run down in the past few years so not all old landmarks are necessarily better retained. Then we entered Golders Green or rather we cut across  past the Clock Tower and carried straight on along the enduring Finchley Road and past the now shut up side access to the Underground Station. The outer forecourt (where the Hampstead Garden Suburb buses go from) was sporting a bright blue Menorah in honour of its being Chanukah time.  

Talking of Hampstead Garden Suburb, the Finchley Road here is something of a divider between the planned and what were to be mixed housing to the east with the housing developments to the west following  the underground railway lines.

The arcaded shops with flats over are listed and particularly attractive though some remain empty.

Opposite there was a development  going up called 'The Constable' - i cannot find any evidence for this but suspect it may be on the site of one of many now lost local police stations. We watched someone drive frontwards into a precious parking place as the other person tried to back - an interesting dynamic which would not have taken place were it still the Met.   

By the end of Temple Fortune (the temple another reference to those same St. John’s knights as earlier in our trip) we were ready to cross the North Circular Road (‘now that’s what I call a ring road,’ said Jo who is very disparaging of our South Circular) and we noted another Menorah though it seemed slightly ironic that whereas in the original tale the oil had lasted an unexpected eight days one of the electric lights had blown!

We had finally reached  Finchley Central in all its variety, having spotted within a short distance a Halal Butcher, Olympus Fish, a Persian patisserie and many others indicating  that Finchley caters to a diverse range of residents, many of whom got off the bus to do their shopping (or catch a train)

The 13 meanwhile trundles on to the bitter end which is ‘North Finchley Bus Station’ – how TFL can even give this grubby underlit, draughty venue the title of bus station – it hosts about 4 routes and I am not sure there was even anywhere to sit . Barnet’s dust lorry rolled up but did not seem to remove anything?

For someone whose memory of the 13's resting place was Golders Green  – a graceful outdoors curve with easy access to a station (is there a North Finchley station said Jo? NO)  this ending was sad indeed after what had otherwise been a nostalgic and interesting trip lasting 1½ hours…