The Number 75 Route

Friday 3 January 2020

This, our third bus of the day, was waiting for us when we arrived, and set off from the Fairfield Halls promptly at 11.35. We went in a loop through what we take to be the 'Croydon Growth Area' and passed a number of new and pending buildings as well as some demolition works, to get back to the Fairfield Halls in the opposite direction.

We enjoyed some charming singing from the lower deck: two small girls inventing many new stanzas for 'the wheels on the bus' until they got to 'stop that noise, stop that noise, all day long' and became quiet.

                                    The route heads over the underpass, so we could see the attractive planting, and goes past the entrance to the Centrale and Whitgift Shopping Centre, which seemed very quiet on what might be expected to be a shopping day.

And soon we were back at the West Croydon Bus Station, which we had visited earlier in the day.  It's one of those stations where they play classical music, by the way, and our previous pause there had been soothed by Mozart's Clarinet Concerto.

Now we made our way through mostly residential streets, with new building everywhere, to pass the very trendy looking Quaker Meeting House, offering 'The Quaker Experience'.

Our way was enlivened by a few interesting sights: a bus shelter which had caught a large number of windfall apples; the Crystal Palace Football Club banners which line the road; Selhurst and South Norwood Stations, and a very nice public clock.

Our fellow passenger in the seat behind distracted us a bit as he was talking on his phone about how he was proposing to go to bed for four or five hours when he got home. Had he just come off shift, we wondered;  or from a party?

Much more helpful was a lady sitting in the other front seat who suggested that we look out for a small local landmark.  Suspecting that we might consider her as much of a geek as us, she explained that she was married to an archivist! And the landmark? Well, when the Goat pub was demolished, two of the ornamental goats' heads were preserved, and used to form the base of a bench outside the properties which replaced the inn.  You certainly need to have been warned in order to spot them, but we shall look out for them again whenever we pass this way.  

We also came past a cafe called the 'Daily Petit Dejeuner'

and came into Anerley, noting that the Mitre Pub was due for the same fate as the Goat.  We were interested to see a closed William Hill betting shop:  we thought bookies only ever multiplied in number.  Penge comes next, and then Sydenham; by now the intermittent rain had started again, so we needed brightness in our day: provided by the very pink Cake Store just past the Sydenham Centre, and a very purple 176 bus advertising the Lego Harry Potter Movie.

Now we turned left towards Catford, again through residential streets of varying periods and sizes.  Some of the trees had been heavily pollarded, so I was glad to know why thanks to the book that Linda was recommending on the 74 route post.  We were the only bus along here.

We passed the huge red brick police station (or possibly former police station) to join slow traffic crawling towards the centre of Catford.

A Chip shop called 'Oh My Cod' caught our attention, as did the bright colours and 'walk this way' signage of the railway Bridge, and we came over the Ravensbourne and into Catford.

We had a bit of a wait just next to the Cat of Catford, while our drivers changed.  The one we had started with had been a perfect gentleman, taking care about roadside puddles and splashing, waiting for slow arrivals.  The ride continued smoothly with the new hands on the wheel.

Lewisham has the 19th century Thackeray Almshouses on its High Street, as well as a Muslim centre, busy with people for Friday Prayers;  then we came past the large brick buildings of Lewisham Hospital.  The former public library has been absorbed into the hospital.

The traffic was again slow as we passed various landmarks:  Place Ladywell, the accommodation for street dwellers; the Watch House Pub.  The pub is named for Watch House Green, once a public green space in the middle of the village, where the lock-up was situated:  now built over, of course.

Saddest of all, perhaps was the old (Edwardian) Pool Hall, uninhabited for more that a decade but still not dealt with.  10 years ago a local church announced its intention of buying the building, but clearly renovation and repair would be very costly, not least because it is Listed. I think there is a conversation to be had about whether a beautiful building lying unoccupied and in need of anti-Vandal protection is actually that much better than what might replace it.

And that was it for today's outing:  passing the gigantic police hub, and grappling with the approach to the station known to us as 'where the roundabout and bus station were',  we got off our bus at 12.45, having had a pleasant tour of south east London.