The Number 186 Route

Thursday 9 June 2011

We have before now mentioned that, as the numbers got higher, getting to the start of routes would take a little more effort:  and then Linda and Mary's last bus was round the corner from both of them.  But the 186 was back to normal, for Linda and me, Mary being busy with family.

We arrived at Northwick Park Hospital by tube.  ('It's only three stops', said Linda, unused to the distant reaches of the Metropolitan Line and the long gaps between stations) The bus only runs 3 times an hour, but our luck was in and we were on board the double decker almost immediately and off at the scheduled time of 11.07, bound for Brent Cross.

The bus begins by circling the hospital, with two other stops.  We were reminded of the time in 1987 when Renee, hoping to visit our daughter, arrived here, only to be told that she should be at Mount Vernon, up the line in Northwood.

Past the University of Westminster, Harrow Campus, we turned left and then right, heading towards Harrow.  We were saddened to see the Fat Controller Restaurant still derelict, though it is not as if you would starve in Harrow.  We liked Bonnerz, the Caribbean Takeaway where 'food taste nice u si'.

This is not the first time that we have been into Harrow Bus Station (indeed this trip was to be a three bus station journey, one of the factors ensuring that the trip took  much longer than the advertised 55 minutes.  But this was the first time we had noted the Harvesters Foundation Charity Shop, perhaps not surprisingly, as it is a new Charity.  Perhaps they will correct the misplaced apostrophe on their website soon.

The 'Splendour' shop was displaying plastic goosefoot, as well as other 'no-watering' house plants.  But the most remarkable thing about this part of Harrow was the large number of Piri Piri outlets: once there was only Nandos...

The gallery on the website of the Grasshopper Tattoo shop indicates that they will tattoo anything, almost anywhere on a body.  We wondered briefly if this was where David Beckham goes.

A more sober building was the huge HQ of Wickes, which never used to advertise much but is now on the TV rather a lot.  We assume they have a new marketing strategy.

The Safari Cinema was advertising 'Ready', Salman Khan's latest film, slated by the critics but already a hit in India.

You can tell that traffic was not fast moving, as we had time to look about us.  We were  delighted to see that the new Mosque is nearing completion, and admired its smooth, modern lines and the new 'take' on a traditional minaret shape.

We saw a piece of sculpture outside Harrow Civic Centre, and in attempting - unsuccessfully - to identify it, I came across this really unkind website (though I do agree with some of the nominations)

Next we came to Harrow and Wealdstone Station, with its signs to the 'Kiss and Ride' area of car parking, before passing the Inshops Centre, offering 'shopping at it's best'.  What is it with apostrophes and Harrow?  Linda had previously noted the neighbouring shop offering 'kid's wear' though how you make money clothing only one child is a mystery.  But enough of this pedantry and on with the ride.

We were out into residential areas, with handsome semis and some detached houses.  The front gardens confirmed what we had read in today's Metro: namely that an area of green equivalent to 2.5 Hyde Parks is lost each year in London as front gardens are converted to hard standing.  The London Wildlife Trust is very worried about the impact on Wildlife and the increased risk of flooding.  The sad thing is that all this parking space does not prevent people from parking in the so-called cycle lane.  This is the London Cycle Network's route 88:  they can put up signs to say so, but there is clearly no way that they can make it work.

 As we came to the end of Belmont and approached Cannon's Park Station, major electrical works slowed us right down, and it took a long time to reach the small Church of St Lawrence in Little Stanmore, with its overgrown churchyard:  we assumed they were waiting for the bulbs to die back before mowing.
 We had time to notice the workers repairing a bus shelter, before we turned left to get into our second bus station of the day, the one at Edgware Station, which adds at least ten minutes to any journey.

Next we headed along Edgwarebury Lane,  where Jewish families were heading to synagogue on this, the last day of the festival of Shavuot, and then crossed the A1 to travel along Hendon Way.  Here the houses were huge (a quick look at an Estate Agent's website indicates that £1,350,000 is the asking price for one) and we saw a new bungalow going up, next to a house with a pink stretch limo parked outside (yes, on the hardened front garden!)  It seemed to us that the colour would limit trade to hen nights and girly birthday parties, but there are probably plenty of those around.


 We were slowed down again as we approached Mill Hill Circus, as there was a burst water main, or something of that sort, and then we were slowed down again, as we turned into the third and nastiest of the route's bus stations, the cavernlike depths of Mill Hill Broadway bus station.  Then we came into the fresh air of the Watling Estate, with several of the houses faced with wood, a style we tend to associate with East London, not here.

Grahame Park has a lot of newbuild flats, many by Barnet Council, which we observed as we did a little loop round into the bus layby at Quakers Course. Past the RAF Museum, we came to more and more expensive new housing, at Beaufort Park, where a two bedroom flat will cost you almost half a million pounds.

Finally, we were approaching Brent Cross, and had a surprisingly swift arrival, under and over the approach roads, to finish our journey at 12.30.

The Number 185 Route

Lewisham Bus Station to Victoria Station


Wednesday June 1st 2011

I did wonder about sitting at home and writing up this bus route from the comfort of my home without ever venturing out based solely on memory and familiarity but that would not be in the spirit of the Project and called cheating. I also could not ask Jo, who knows the route far less well, to give it a fresh eye so here goes anyway.

Revived by our lunch in Lewisham, we (Mary & Linda) stepped briskly onto the tail end of a queue already boarding outside the bus garage but managed to get our normal top deck seats and off we went. Very soon we were sitting outside imressive, newish  Lewisham Police Station, which prompted Mary to reminisce about time spent at different stations (purely in a professional capacity) and how well provided for the Police are, when it became clear we were not going anywhere. It seemed unlikely the driver was having difficulties with passengers as we were so overlooked by said police they could more or less arrest from their desks, but eschewing the technology he yelled up the stairs ‘Everybody off and on the bus behind’ so there we were on our second 185 already nearly full to capacity, and very much so by the time we had passed the market and shopping centre stops.

Various landmarks include the rather on-the-cheap Art Deco ex cinema (?) now housing a snooker hall and the fire station and swimming pool, which has had various refits in its 50 year lifespan. Then comes the long straggle, which is University Hospital Lewisham – a collection of different and differently aged buildings from the near original portico to the most recent Ravensbourne block, with everything in between, including a very nondescript Registry office.

Lewisham High Street merges into Rushey Green, actually a pleasant broad street with wide pavements and grassy areas – it might even count as a square somewhere else. Catford continues to thrive as they have a large captive population of local government types working in the Town Hall and opposite who need to do their shopping somewhere, plus not a few locals, usually to be found near the Post office, an experience in itself; I say no more.

From Catford the bus is of course following the famous South Circular route (famous for not being ‘proper’ like its North London counterpart) for some of its way – it is also one of only 2 routes, later 1, that joins Catford with Forest Hill and beyond, and as such is much needed. The bus naturally gets to use the bus lanes, which means it’s really the only fast way into and out of town when all the rest of the traffic is bunched and cross in the other lane. St Dunstan’s College, which dominated the corner the South Circular takes here, has recently had its brickwork cleaned which means it has put the ‘red’ back into  redbrick.

More turns occur on this route on the approach into Forest Hill, now on the Overground , and up the not inconsiderable hill to the Horniman gardens at the top.

[About a year ago, and quite unexpectedly a large hole appeared in the road and the whole section was shut for some weeks, bringing peace and calm to Forest Hill but huge disruption to several bus routes. No trace now remains, but here’s a picture to bring it all back.].

Talking of disruption, the Horniman Gardens (not the Museum which is fine and thriving) are having a major makeover so are currently a muddy field and little more  but fear not, I also have a photo of the borders that I prepared earlier ..

Just over the crest of the hill towards Lordship Lane there is on the right a mysterious and totally decrepit house which has become more derelict over the years – the fence is plastered with ‘Final warning Notices’ from Southwark council but the landlord, if he is still alive, has failed to respond. Unfortunately what was once a property which could be rescued is now well beyond any such attempt. We anticipate some kind of implosion.

The 185 of course passes Dulwich Library in all its glory, the starting point of the very popular Number 12 route, but the two routes do not overlap at all: the 185 pushes on into East Dulwich. Today this very popular, trendy and sought-after district was remarkably quiet (normally you cannot pass on the pavements for major 4 x 4 buggies or on the streets for ditto ditto. There wasn’t even a queue at the organic butchers or the Cheese Block, where customers spill into the street come the weekend.

This route has another major hill to climb (this is why it fares so badly when it snows and might as well turn round in Camberwell) – Dog Kennel Hill. Mary pointed out that all the spacious LCC-built flats here have been refurbished and are now up for sale – this depleting Southwark's Housing stock even further.
We are not alone in thinking this not right.

More turns and then downhill again to take this bus right past King’s College Hospital – one of its ‘raison d’etre’s’ for sure. King’s wreaks magic out of seeming chaos as so aptly captured by the recent ’24 hours in A&E’ programmes. It has local, regional and highly specialist units, as does the Maudsley across the road, and we Ladies Who Bus will not have a word said against it.

It was quite a relief to get to Camberwell and NOT head on either into Peckham or along the interminable Walworth Road to the Elephant instead but to take the Camberwell New Road and the really pretty snappy route up to the Oval. It was very quick, there are lovely old houses on the way and even a pretty shop that designs and makes exclusive dresses.

The Oval, apart from the Northern Line station named for the grounds, is the home base of Surrey County Cricket Club – I always wonder how the gentlemen cricketers from the gracious Home Counties cope with the inner city grit of the Kennington / Vauxhall borders? No sign of any play today but the gasworks are still there in order to determine the gasworks end..

Traffic flow gets quite complex round here way and there are even some little houses with gardens tucked away – one had let its wisteria go so far it was beginning to ensnare a passing traffic light…Talking of tucked away Mary tells me the whole of Cobalt Square houses police officers but has spare capacity for training venues. It is certainly very central and handy for M16 just by the river at Vauxhall Bridge.

The approach from this direction, unlike most of the other routes that troll through Vauxhall, is very direct so were up on the bridge very quickly but just time to grab photos both up and down river – the view being quite different from our more usual Waterloo Bridge crossings.

And then suddenly the of modest origins 185 could indeed become a tourist bus as we pass the beautiful buildings of Bessborough Gardens, all cream and sedate, the Tate gallery a few steps along the Embankment (Millbank as is), all with picturesque Pimlico on the left and weighty Westminster to the right: it was a straight run up to Victoria Station, just nodding at the  CEOP Building as we passed

I had forgotten before we were blessed with more trains, that the 185 used to be our quickest if not most reliable route into town and today’s trip lasting just an hour reminded me of that – it also remains hugely popular and was full to capacity upstairs and down for the whole route with scarcely a seat to be had so it must be doing something right!

The Number 184 Route

Barnet (Chesterfield Road) to Turnpike Lane Station

Tuesday October 6th 2009

This route was in fact the return leg of the Number 34, but offered a very pleasing contrast to whirling along the North Circular. Again we were 4 – two followers from Exeter who were on extended child care duty and had joined us from their temporary base with Green Lanes girl.

Having had a relaxed lunch at the Pacino’s by Barnet Church, where our Route 34 had left us, we walked down the hill to Chesterfield Road and immediately boarded a single-decker 184, which skirted Chase Farm Hospital to get us back to the church and the surrounding old buildings, one housing Barnet Museum
(It has clearly been threatened with closure since we travelled this route), and then Bow House.

Barnet College on the hill offers performing arts and their students joined us briefly on what seemed a popular route – nearby was the Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School for girls founded in 1573 (now run by Barnet Education) – and down the hill towards East Barnet and New Barnet, down Potters Lane which for some reason was built up with bungalows of some vintage for almost its entire length. Perhaps the potters and the railway men (there are quite a lot of stations round here) were thirsty people as we certainly saw more open pubs then we usually do on a back route – these included the Railway Bell, the Alexandra, the Lord Kitchener and the Bell and Buck

All this while we are still outside London postal districts, finally getting to Brunswick Park N14 and the Osidge Arms. Barnet local authority is impressively extensive but we then moved across to Enfield at Arnos Grove, crossing under a most impressive railway viaduct (probably the Piccadilly line). Having been the sole bus until now we rejoined the 34 briefly (along the North Circular I’m afraid) and then past Bounds Green station and along Woodfield way where Jenny had visited the Sunshine Garden Centre with her locally based sister.

Somewhat to our surprise the bus then swung a sharp left and went up Alexandra Park more usually known as Ally Pally, where it became a ‘hail and ride’ service up and over the crest of the hill. After the peace and quiet of the side roads we crossed the New River again (well signposted here) and joined Wood Green at the heart of its shopping centre high street. The bus continued to make really good time and we stopped round the side of Turnpike Station to go our separate ways.

We concluded that though the views are less good from a single decker sometimes the experience is fresher and less congested.

8/6/2011 PS Wrote the journey account at the time of travelling but without access to (or I mislaid them) the appropriate photos, so there are a couple of mystery entries – William Cattley's Barnet plaque for example. He would appear to have been a botanist though his find was more luck than judgement, perhaps?

The Number 183 Route

Monday 28 February 2011

 Normally Linda and I like Golders Green Station, but not today! For starters, the toilets were ‘closed for refurbishment’ and then a 183 pulled away without pausing at its designated headstop, because an 83 was hogging all the space. There was anger at the bus stop but another 183 was having its break and the driver assured another would-be passenger that he would pause for us.  And he did. 

 So we were on the way to Pinner at 13.25, and gradually thawed after our previous chilly  bus and the unnecessary hanging about at Golders Green:  eating our sandwiches helped, and we agreed that it was a pity for us that Mary was doing grandmotherly things and could not be with us. We swung out of the station, past the clock and along the Golders Green road. 

The many Kosher shops and cafés, as well as Hotels called ‘King Solomon’ and ‘King David’ were evidence of the dominant ethnicity of the area.  The Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus   is part of the Jewish Care network. 

Crossing the River Brent (and signs for the Capital Ring ) 

we were into Hendon, passing the offices of the Hendon Times, as well as signs for the Church Farm House Museum and the RAF Museum.

We also saw the Daniel Almshouses.

Next came a series of handsome buildings:  the Hendon Campus of Middlesex University, Hendon Library and Hendon Town Hall,displaying the coats of arms of Barnet’s many twinnings 

There was time to admire all this civic pride, as the traffic was very slow:  eventually it became clear that a tiny piece of road maintenance was closing one lane for about 5 metres:  enough to cause about 500 metres of delay.

Views of Wembley Stadium accompanied us as we crossed the motorway and passed Hendon Station, before going over the River Brent again, to note the ‘Wonderful Chinese Patisserie’ which is a restaurant rather than just a cake shop.  And then we were on our way to Kingsbury and impressed by the little thatched cottages of Roe Green:  until we read the slightly sneering description of British History Online: ‘Although it had lost some of its houses and trees, Roe Green Village, which had been made a conservation area in 1968, retained something of the atmosphere of a village green. In Slough Lane and Buck Lane there are some timbered, thatched houses, built between 1921 and 1930 by Ernest George Trobridge, aptly described as 'artificial old-world creations heavy with thatch and make-up'’.

Hennessey’s Bar had an entertaining Guinness sign and we thought Gooseacre Parade a good example of the period when this area grew most rapidly:  we were out of London and into Harrow.  We noted the ASHA charity shop, but did not know till we got home that it is an American charity aiming to educate children in India.  Past Kenton Station, we swept round the large roundabout that goes over the railway, passing Harrow High School which is celebrating its centenary this year.
We were a bit surprised that our driver ignored signs to Pinner, but of course he needed to swing into and out of Harrow;  we have been able over the past few weeks to notice that the Fat Controller Restaurant has closed and has not yet achieved new management, which seems a shame as it was a good name, though we have no idea about the food…  As usual, we found ourselves pausing at the station, where a police officer seemed to be marshalling the substantial number of people wanting to get onto our bus.  Then we were round St George’s shopping centre (we have been here too often recently!) and on past the handsome Harrow Cemetery.

North Harrow turned into Pinner, with the houses getting bigger though the front gardens were still hard standing.   We admired the Red Sky Shisha Lounge, whose facebook page says that their website is coming soon, if you are interested in smoking in a large heated garden.  The Harrow Carers’ Centre is along here too, as well as the Instep School of Ballet.

We reached Pinner at 14.35, and headed for the Metropolitan line to go home after our four bus outing.

The Number 182 Route

Harrow Weald (Oxhey Lane) to Brent Cross Shopping centre


Tuesday February 1st 2011

A rather grey day when the damp made it seem colder than it was. We had a short walk through what is probably technically Wealdstone, where our last bus had left us, and boarded our waiting Route 182 neatly tucked close to a roundabout, which proved to be something of a signature dish (? Linda you have been watching too many cookery programmes) for this route.

Our starter or appetizer for today’s menu was a broad sweep of classic North London Tudorbethan semi-detached houses, set well back and quite leafy with it. One house rather surprisingly called itself ‘Heaven’ but was well barricaded behind a grille gate, CCTV and a burglar alarm – time to check the Met’s new crime hot spot meter perhaps? There is a small bus garage round which is wrapped the modest Harrow Weald recreation ground which offers a range of tennis courts and pitches. After swathes of housing came the starter courses of the High Street for this bit of Harrow: side by side Noodle and Pizza Huts and a good range of hairdressers – ‘Hairs & Graces’ and ‘Hair 2 Order’ (later we were to get Mopheads) – interspersed with local charity shops. We were impressed with the range the charity shops had on offer, including bridal wear and a small café, all to support the hospice for Brent & Harrow area.

Mary spotted just back from the road the Winsor & ‘Eton’ factory – having been thinking about the not-that-distant Harrow Public (as in private fee-paying) school she had thought the historic artists’ materials provider was based near Windsor, but in fact it is spelt differently. The family firm  has been here for over a 100 years and you can do a factory tour! Remember the joy of a new paint box till the colours get messed?

Talking of messing, we passed two rogue apostrophes – a Kiddie’s outfitter and ‘Shopping at It’s Best’.

The Wealdstone centre proves to be a community library, though for how long who knows, and close to that is the new built Harrow Mosque. The locality also has the Safari cinema showing Asian language films and Asian sweetmeat shops. Also a street front Samaritans – I thought they only took phone rather than personal callers though this chap looks as though he might need their services?

The Mosque looks not quite complete yet. It is very centrally situated almost opposite the handsome Harrow & Wealdstone Station which hosts both the London Midland trains and the Bakerloo line trains. There is a commemorative mural to the 112 casualties who died in 1952 following a 3-way train crash, actually at the station: a sobering total, far exceeding even the worst of recent rail crashes.

By now we were nearly onto the main course of the day, namely Harrow proper – there has obviously been some regeneration going on in Harrow with a big shopping centre complete with massive car parks and a one-way system, and significant speculative building of both homes and offices – several of the latter quite empty in spite of glitzy statuary adorning the entrances. With its double station (and local knowledge tells me the Met line splits here so twice as good) and bus station it offers good transport links and access, but seems sadly lacking in character. There is still building with 2 massive cranes in evidence. Not surprisingly many passengers we’d acquired thus far got off to shop while we took as many back on board. Talking of easy access we spent the next 15 minutes crossing and re-crossing the Railway lines so were not surprised to see a pub, sadly defunct, called the ‘Fat Controller’. However the train crash memorial was a stark reminder that toy trains are a far cry from the real thing.

Leaving rail crossings behind we began to approach that other behemoth of North London – the North Circular, but before that we had a brief foray back into suburbia as the 182 ploughed on through Sudbury – interestingly it seems to be nearly the only route that passes Northwick Park Hospital. Strangely there is a large and glossy golf course just next to the Sixties-build hospital, the former rather showing up the age of the latter.

Sudbury was next: once unknown territory to us but ever since the historic trip on the 18 we know it well, and now the 18s are no longer bendy but back to being double deckers since earlier this year…

If it’s Sudbury can Wembley be far behind – usually something of a hold up, but this time we passed through Wembley comparatively swiftly, noting how the stadium had brought regeneration to the area – lots of starter flats including some multi-coloured ones over the top of TK MAXX . Trying to persuade Mary who hates to shop that there can be good bargains to be had Jo said ‘But you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you get to the real thing’. Patient and persistent shoppers can start here.

As we passed through Wembley it began to rain so our views of the Stadium were compromised. In case you had forgotten what the ‘old Wembley’ used to look like we offer this, another image courtesy of Little Gooner as a reminder – not quite sure why Legoland has failed to catch up with the soaring arch but perhaps it’s a little difficult to recreate in little bricks?

Even more spoilt were the views down over London which can be had from the next part of the route after negotiating a further one-way system round bits of Neasden and under the North Circular (don’t ask). The route map looks not like a spider but some gross anatomical sketch of the intestines so convoluted does it get. The route along the aptly named Crest Road usually offers stunning views but sadly not today (except for the Shard which is clearly ALWAYS going to be visible!). Also more noticeable today was the combination of potholes interspersed with traffic calming humps seemingly designed for a smaller framed bus. The net result of all this was a mile or so ride of truly bone-shaking proportions as the bus bumped its way along, eventually to emerge, after passing the Ox Gate pub and a few more industrial units, onto the great North Circular itself, just close to Staples Corner. In spite of road works we got past quite quickly (not always the case for this notorious traffic jam spot) and a few more wiggles and we arrived at the Brent Cross Bus Station.

We needed a short trip to get to Brent Cross Underground Station since, although it can be accessed on foot, it’s not the most pleasant of walks. A most helpful and jokey ?bus inspector virtually escorted us onto the correct bus, and we left him shoe-horning a few more buses into their resting places so the drivers could have a short break.

The driver of this 182 surely deserved her break – it’s a long, arduous and tortuous route, busy as to traffic, complex in its many twists and turns and very popular with many passengers all along the route.