This, finally, is the last of Tower Hamlets' thirteen B Roads. It's also the closest to where I live and, because I've walked it hundreds of times, not exactly a voyage of discovery. Bear with me as I walk the fine line between parochial and familiarity.
The B142 starts at the end of the B118, indeed if they were trying to save numbers they could merge the two. It runs south (away from Victoria Park) towards the A11, with an extra spur halfway down linking to the A12. It also has that rarest of things for a London B Road, a sign confirming that the B142 exists, because this minor road was once the exit from a motorway.
Originally the B142 followed Lefevre Road until they redeveloped that into greenspace and flats, so now it follows parallel Parnell Road instead. Forgive the squinty photo below but that's spring sunshine for you. You're not missing much, this is an underwhelming start with one lonely street tree, two bus stops and some lampposts that look older than they are. For those who like to know which bus routes we're following it's the 8, 276 and 488 (and later we'll get a dash of 339).
It's not far to the end of the B119, which is Roman Road, which means I've already written about that too. A large black gateway gives the road some municipal oomph. It hasn't taken long for the former Percy Ingle bakery on the corner to become a dessert parlour. The Hand and Flower pub has been a Turkish restaurant for rather longer. The fire station that Boris closed in 2014 has been replaced by a shiny five-storey University Technical College. Even the row of sheltered housing bungalows opposite has recently been knocked down and replaced by flats, because history does not hang heavy on Parnell Road.
It's now time for the B142 to skip across a railway that's no longer there. The North London Railway ran between Bow and Old Ford until 1984 (as previously described) and ducked beneath Tredegar Road at a minor bridge. Today the tracks to either side are covered by housing but the hump remains and that's the only way through so that's the way we're going. A special mention to Pelican Cottage by the mini-roundabout, which is the first house we've passed that's more than 50 years old and is in fact more than 200 years old (and you can read more about it here).
Each of the three roads at the mini-roundabout is the B142, which is unusual, and has been the case since the A102(M) ploughed through in 1973. An extra bit of Tredegar Road was classified to link up with the Old Ford exit, not that it's a very interesting bit and often consists of little more than a traffic jam. The flats on the left are almost 20 years old and the flats on the right more like 10, and pig ugly, like someone stuck scarlet cladding on a warehouse. I did walk all the way across the A12 and then all the way back again, just for completeness sake.
Which just leaves Fairfield Road, and that's (eventually) more interesting. We've first got to get past the hideous orange balconies on Bellasina Court and then the former Caledonian Arms pub, but voila these are the turretsandchimneys of Bow Quarter. This is the former Bryant & May match factory, Bow's most famous employer by half, and venue for the groundbreaking Matchgirls strike of 1888. These days it's a very large gated community, indeed one of the first, so don't expect to get past the security staff in the gatehouse unless you're delivering a takeaway.
The road drops to pass beneath two low bridges, one for trains to Liverpool Street, the other for the DLR. This is bad positioning because BowBusGarage is located on the other side and so all the double deckers which emerge can only turn left. This was formerly a trolley bus depot and before that the site was Grove Hall asylum, and before that the field where London's May Fair was held, hence 'Fairfield Road', and forgive me for rushing through this local stuff but you'll have heard it all before.
In good news for estate agents we finally have some lovely old houses, including an early Victorian terrace and two proper villas, plus infill where the Germans left some gaps. The biggest detached house used to be the rectory of St Mary's church, and that's likely a hearse parked nextdoor because the former Nat West on the corner has been taken over by a proper East End funeral director, indeed you might even spot a feathered horse. The chunky Modernist trapezoid opposite is Poplar Town Hall, or was for three decades before it became superfluous, and hey presto that's the B142 done.
It's only a couple of minutes to walk home for a cup of tea... and that might be a good place to leave it.
