The NUMBER 9 Route

Hammersmith Bus Station to Aldwych  

Thursday November 15 2018

As we are reversing what we did nine years ago we actually arrived in Hammersmith via the Number 10 and were just fumbling around looking for bus stops /letter identifiers/maps when a Number 9 whisked up so we got on.

Before I go further a reasonable rant about the ‘new’ routemasters - where we sit upstairs the windows are really quite small so our photos, never our best feature, look like letter box format videos ie boxed in. it’s also darker than it could be. Their main redeeming feature I have decided is that they are quite quiet, but little else appeals.

So we bowled out of the double decker bus station and headed straight onto the Hammersmith Road but back towards London so this does not feel like a route that offers you much of Hammersmith itself. Both sides of this thoroughfare have grand buildings of different eras. Nazareth House bills itself as a care home but looks very much like the forbidding establishment it once was - unfortunately a Childrens' Home whose ‘inmates’ had little chance of escape? And unsurprisingly these walls hid some abuse too. 

Another institution is the old Building of St Paul’s Private School, now more jollily made over into a quirky hotel, though someone passing a quick look over my photos thought it looked like the Psycho House. 

Most of the school buildings have gone but the Waterhouse designed Master’s House has been preserved and made over – I am pretty sure that it was looking quite disreputable one of the last times we passed. It was also the venue for a planning meeting for D-Day held between Eisenhower, Churchill and Montgomery.

Meanwhile there have been changes on the opposite side of the Hammersmith Road – however when I tried to find out who was using the massive glass and steel complex (with some quite nice front landscaping) at Nos 68-72 all I got was a multiple offers for offices to rent – in other words IT IS EMPTY! 

Calling itself first Brook Green then Olympia this was clearly no longer Hammersmith. Olympia is a conference /exhibition centre on a BIG scale and today was hosting two events: The European Pizza and Pasta Exhibition closely followed by Professional Diabetic Care, as indeed too much of the former could easily  trigger the latter..

Once past Olympia the route enters Kensington proper – that small rich borough which got itself such a bad name last year.   Both the bus and the High Street were busy – there are outlets of most of the predictable chains – perhaps looking at some higher end ones interspersed with odd shops such as ‘Jereboams’ and two charity shops for the Octavia Trust which seems to be a charity focused on helping the less privileged of West London.

High Street Kensington once rivalled Oxford Street with its department stores including the Derry & Toms/Barkers with its famous roof garden; it also had a brief history as the Biba Store that over-expanded. More successful had been Biba's original dress shop on the other side of the road. 

Once past the graceless Garden House hotel the bus follows the edge of Kensington Gardens with Prince Albert  in all his glory. In our Museum days we had  been privileged to have a really excellent Blue badge guided tour which you can read about here.

A little further along, and set back from the road,  you can also find the Sikorski Institute which counts as a worthy rather than fun visitor experience. The BIG museums – V&A, Natural History and Science – can all be reached very easily from this bus route: just take  the turning  opposite Albert. 

Some of the grander buildings are now used as embassies and we were a bit puzzled at one of the Thirties mansion blocks which clearly had a much later ‘infill’. As we neared Knightsbridge the shops started appearing again with some expensive looking jewellery displays – for some reason topped by a suspended rhino sculpture. The Evening Standard suggests it is the most heavily fortified jewellery shop in London so I wondered whether the rhino descended on those who chose to misbehave. This is certainly a recent addition to the more well established stores around here.

We made excellent progress towards Hyde Park Corner  where traffic often slows and in fact kept going quite smartly till just short of Green Park Station. A Blue Plaque (not an English Heritage one) to Francis Barraud reminded us that he is remembered for  painting  the picture of Nipper the Dog who became the logo of HMV records; this is close to the Cavalry  and RAC Clubs and once we had turned downhill right towards  St James's Palace and Pall Mall we were truly in club land – the sort that don’t admit women and serve stodgy school dinners to those recumbent in club chairs. So it was hardly surprising that we saw men ‘of a certain age’ between RAF Club, the Oxford & Cambridge all along here and the Athenaeum in pride of place.  Variously this is where they would take you and try to recruit you for MI5/6 before these jobs were more conventionally advertised and competed for.

We had plenty of opportunity to admire the Athenaeum and its frieze (reminding us that the founder, one Croker spoke thus:

I'm John Wilson Croker, 
I do as I please; 
Instead of an Ice House
I give you - a frieze!)

and the Crimea monument as we waited through three changes of lights. The reason? Further back in Pall Mall an ambulance, presumably attending one of the clubs, was blocking the traffic which had backed up to the box junction – our side was flowing well but impeded  from carrying on by a van stationary across with insufficient space for the bus to continue.  One can only admire the tenacity and patience of bus drivers though he did permit himself the odd hoot. Once past the blockage, the Institute of Directors  is equally splendid  and launches the way into Trafalgar Square. A white van was parked adjacent to Landseer’s Lions so we wondered whether   he was going to give them a polish  but in retrospect he was probably prepping for the Christmas tree or on a surveillance mission !

Strand, Aldwych and Trafalgar Square have rebranded themselves as the ‘North Bank’ (a phrase in our house more associated with Arsenal FC) and you can only ask why, as the given names are both explanatory and evocative enough. However it has afforded them some quite nice Christmas decorations which sustained us along  to our stopping place by the theatres on the Aldwych.

This was a straightforward route taking in largely affluent and moderately picturesque inner West London, finishing, if you go this way, close to the ‘high point’ of Nelson’s Column.   

The NUMBER 8 Route

Bow Church to Tottenham Court Road (St. Giles)

Thursday November 8 2018

We had arrived in Bow via the rather testing 205 all the way from Paddington in what felt like half a day’s travelling – we had failed to obtain our front seats and the bus had been busy and noisy – you will hear about it in due course. To be fair it had speeded up a bit through the East End. 

There was an Inspector/time keeper who came to greet our 205 driver so we thought we would ask him where to pick up the Number 8. He pointed straight ahead in spite of our protestations that London was behind us and we were not heading out of town. To be sure we saw one lurking and then pull away so the bus apps gave us a waiting time of 12 minutes. Fortunately for the time of year it was mild. Bow Church bus stop is just to the side of St. Mary’s Church. Last time of course we arrived here from Victoria!

I don’t pretend to understand the Bow Roundabout or Interchange, which seems to be a way of joining  the As 11 and 12, with perhaps  a couple of other local routes thrown in for good measure but people seem rather low on its list of users. You can see the Olympic (now West Ham) stadium seemingly not that far away but it would be a brave pedestrian or cyclist who would try to access it.

Happily the bus turns off the dual carriageway quite soon and finds itself trundling through much more human scale roads and housing – there are few towering blocks and this friendly scale of Bow made it feel very welcoming. There is no shortage of housing – low level flats, small houses old and new – and a new educational facility which appears to offer both vocational and academic sixth form courses. This route takes in the delights of Roman Road. I was a bit surprised to spot a somewhat over large and over pink Macaroon but clearly ‘La table de saveurs’ is aiming to bring French patisserie to this bit of London.  Roman Road offers some intimacy and must give a good local service to many people as th

is website illustrates.

But all good things come to an end and soon we were heading straight along the Bethnal Green Road which is of course wider and busier

Since we last passed this way (and this includes our underwhelming visit to the nearby Museum of Childhood )  the memorial has been  erected  to the many people crushed here during  one night’s false alarm during the war. Now called the Stairway to Heaven appropriately for the  overcrowded stairwell led to the multiple  casualties. This link elaborates both the story and the symbolism of the monument.  Though we were bowling along quite fast there was time to spot the range of shops from pawnbrokers to a tiny pub which somehow must have survived the war, and later demolitions, though whether it is still functioning is not clear. Definitely thriving is Brick Lane which is a turning shortly before we reach more recognizable  ground.

For us folks who use the Overground, Shoreditch High Street is a familiar station and the nearby BOX PARK always pulls in a crowd – I sometimes think the names are better than the products? Talking of names Jo spotted a group of ?Chinese tourists being given a  talk outside the  'Bull In A China Shop'. 

The expression has a very particular meaning – some-one blundering in a fragile environment either physically or metaphorically – but possibly the tourists saw this differently?

Broadgate, which I often think of as a fairly new addition to this part of London, seemed to be undergoing some kind of refit with hoardings covering the arched facades. The link The account here is very detailed but it seems the refurbishment has been prompted, how could I not have guessed, by the Elizabeth Line. It also means some disruption to the bus station – there’s a surprise. Still the Number 8 in this direction pushes on straight as the roads narrow through the City – of course the area around Bank is now buses and bikes only which seems very sensible.

More hoardings as we pushed on down Bishopsgate – 22 London seems to have had a chequered history and it’s not quite the same project that was happening when we were last along here.   Other barriers were already in place for the Lord Mayor’s show which will have happened by the time you read this. We hazarded that next year’s mayor might be a Mercer as they had hung a large banner from their first floor. As we learnt on our trip to the Mansion House. The Lord Mayor is self-funded so not sure whether he pays for his ‘Show’ as well?  The hoardings and barriers continue and are joined by diversion signs but on Thursday we were still able to get round St Paul’s.

I was feeling pretty confident the Number 8 would be completing its  journey within the time scheduled but I had of course forgotten about High Holborn – the earlier bit round the Prudential was fine and sunny and with lots people out questing their various lunches but once we had passed  Chancery Lane and Holborn stations progress was  reduced to sitting still behind a row of taxis .

‘Why on earth would you sit in a taxi in this stopped traffic?’ I said to Jo at which point we watched a father and son just get out of their cab and walk.  The Bus Project rules determine that we stay put so we had ample opportunity to admire the heraldry on Holborn Town Hall in detail and we could just about have popped into the pretty The Princess Louise Pub, bought a drink and got back on.

'Many shall pass through and learning Shall be Increased’  Library or Pub? - Looking down on a van that said ‘Mum you can find me on Google Maps’ was a bit confusing  but kept us amused while passing the Lego brick-like flats until we finally arrived at the end point – not strictly Tottenham Court Road but a point outside St Giles., he who saved a Hind from hunters - just what you need in London?  

It was great to be back in parts of the East End with sights old and new and through the City on a well-established route.

The NUMBER 7 Route

 East Acton (Brunel Road) to Oxford Circus  

Thursday November 1 2018

Here we were reversing the direction and therefore the order of buses we took in early 2009 close to the start of the Project. This means we had already travelled from South Kensington to Roehampton where we had a short but extremely wet walk to access the 72 for onward transit to East Acton. Fortunately there was no problem in finding the start of the 72 in Roehampton as we were kindly guided to it by a former resident of the large estate back to visit his mum. He seemed intrigued by our Project so we said we would mention his gallantry under fire (well rain) otherwise he won’t get mentioned for few months yet. So much  for the preamble.

The 72 & 7 share a terminus and stop and we did not have long to wait … That’s a nice clean bus, said Jo (the cleanliness of the windows affects the quality of our photos) so we climbed upstairs only to find it smelled strongly of wee… Some mouth breathing followed by an open window   helped a little but distracted us from the early stages of the route of which we had seen very little given the mistiness aboard  the single decker 72 that doubles up this early stretch.  

Once over the crossroads we passed both Erconwald  (whom we had encountered two weeks ago  in Barking on the 5), and Wulfstan   and here they form part of one of the LCC’s (London County Council) cottage estates. Both were early Bishops of London.  

Then on further to pass the series of buildings that belong to Hammersmith Hospital  – Queen Charlotte’s  has a nearly 200 year history offering maternity services though only here on Du cane Road since 2000. The hospitals come under the auspices of the Imperial NHS Trust.  We have always presumed that Nightingale House on the corner was some kind of nurses’ home, but it seems to have gained a modern Ziggurat style building over its shoulder.

It must be handy for Wormwood Scrubs to have a hospital nearby, we thought,  then on past North Pole Road – did I hear right? said Jo: yes. I suggested the smell of pee was dissipating but Jo thought we were just getting used to it...

Onwards to our next hospital, though no longer a full one – St Charles. There is a good history here, 

but we were both quite relieved that it is now more of a mental health resource on a hopefully smaller and cleaner scale than the ward we had visited in the  late Nineties. If it’s St Charles it must be Notting Hill and sure enough the other Saints come thick and fast: St Michael and St Laurence follow on before we arrived at Ladbroke Grove.  The facilities under Westway  have always been interesting though there seemed to be fewer fruit and veg than we remembered – and the Kensington Park Hotel, though brightly painted, looked shuttered., and has certainly closed since we were last round this way – another local pub bites the dust, and this one had some musical history

Perhaps this is why as you turn the corner the two stories over Nu-line builders have musical heroes in their windows – someone has given them a home after being evicted from elsewhere? Nu-line look to be an excellent local resource for paints, ironmongery etc. though not so new as they have been here since 1965.

I suspect some of their paints may have been used for the row of ‘ice-cream sorbet’ houses that we passed and which are typical of the now very expensive Notting Hill.

Having started at Brunel Road it was only fitting we should pass the famous engineer’s estate – once Westminster’s  it now seems mainly privately owned?  Continuing along Westbourne Grove with its range of small shops, galleries and eating places we passed the Prince Bonaparte so we could remember he was exiled, or expeditiously chose to move here during one of France’s several revolutions.

If we could see Bishops Bridge and Westway before us Paddington  Station could not be far behind. There is still a fair amount of Crossrail/Elizabeth Line building disruption here so it is hard to believe anyone thought it could have been ready last month.  Progress along Praed Street in front of Paddington and then St Mary’s Hospital is always slow and today was no exception. You can see the ‘dusty’ window of Sir Alexander Fleming’s lab from the top deck – a museum visit which is worthwhile.

The traffic was no faster when we joined the Edgware Road and much slower than it had been last week – no matter, we could see other things.  The pub sign for the Old English Gentleman remains though it now adorns a Lebanese restaurant. Also ‘As Nature Intended’ is not quite what you might expect  (something for the English Gentlemen perhaps) but in fact a rather pricy looking health food shop.

Travelling this way the bus does not have to go right round Marble Arch (only the cavalry and royalty can go through) – on the contrary you get a rather good close up of the somewhat misplaced  ornate entrance originally designed for Buckingham Palace. Talking of good views from the top deck, we realised we had been riding alone  upstairs for the entire trip – either  there were very  few passengers or  the smell had percolated downstairs; then it struck us: suppose  other passengers thought it was us – two incontinent old ladies on the top deck. We promise you we are very clean , or as clean as you can be after crossing London twice.  

In spite of the road works we progressed well down this stretch of Oxford Street to stop just short of Oxford Circus in just under an hour, not bad given the 55 minute estimate for a run that really wriggles its way west through some of the most interesting and colourful bits of West London. Have a go but take an unsmelly vehicle!

Random mahonia I forgot to mention