For 2025 I thought I'd ride 25 stops on route 25 and see where I ended up.
Award yourself 25 bonus points if you can tell where all this is heading.
I'm starting at the western end of the route, or at least where route 25 now starts following several sequential truncations. In 1950 the western end was at Victoria station, the 25 being the route that plied through Mayfair, then in 1992 this end was gifted to route 8 and the 25 began at Oxford Circus instead. The most recent change came in 2018 when the route was made less frequent and cut back to Holborn Circus, with westbound buses now displaying City Thameslink on the front.
Stop 0: Holborn Circus (K)
So this is weird. The first stop on route 25 is definitely at Holborn Circus because there's a 25 tile on the bus stop and empty buses lay over on a stand immediately behind. Wait here and drivers departing eastbound will happily pull over and pick you up. But if you check the electronic display inside the shelter route 25 never appears, however long you watch, because all the apps and official online listings show the 25 starting two stops down the road at King Edward Street. I caught my bus at Holborn Circus anyway, mid-span on Holborn Viaduct.
City Thameslink's bus stop also has a 25 tile but that's not on the system either, the official start being opposite Paternoster Square at the aforementioned King Edward Street. My hunch is that TfL's tech team have somehow bodged the 25's digital sequence because checking things is hard. Thankfully they have noticed that Angel Street is closed (due to the retrofitting of BT's former HQ) so the bus has been diverted to stop at Little Britain instead. Look, that's where the Museum of London no longer is either. The diversion also means stopping at St Paul's Station and then another St Paul's Station, the latter on Cheapside where the Bow Bells ring out, and we'll be seeing more of those later.
Stop 5: Bank Station/Poultry (K)
This is the other stop on Cheapside, ideal for hopping off if you're heading to the Guildhall or the basement remains of the Roman amphitheatre. The nearest entrance to Bank station is underneath 1 Poultry, the stripy postmodern office block that was once the youngest listed building, although you're not seeing it's best angle from here. Both menswear shops beside the bus stop have January sales on, where bargains include beige chinos for £75, 4 City shirts for £140 or a black business rollneck for just £100. Across the road is one of London's oldest Tesco Expresses, established 1996, whereas Santander's only City branch is currently closed so they can transform it into a Work Cafe (for co-working, mortgages and a convenient cup of coffee).
Continuing onwards, the traffic lights at Bank junction feel slower since they expelled the rest of the traffic in favour of buses and active transport. Wedged opposite the Bank of England is the Royal Exchange, whose classical columns are currently wrapped in red ribbons to resemble candy canes. Both Bank Station/Cornhill and Bishopsgate are served by buses on route 26 as well as 25, so I could be back here next year if I choose to repeat this 'stops on a bus route' idea. St Mary Axe sounds like it ought to be closest to the Gherkin but is actually immediately outside the front of the Cheesegrater and by 2030 should also serve the City's new tallest building, 1 Undershaft. I hope the pile of red binbags outside St Katharine Cree has been cleared away by then.
Stop 10: Aldgate Station (D)
This is the last stop in the City of London and can be found outside City Bouldering, an indoor climbing space which is an excellent example of what to do with prime commercial estate in a post-pandemic economic landscape. Many of the buildings opposite are as yet undemolished, including a Nisa Express (which quite frankly could be) and the Hoop and Grapes pub (which had better not be because its timber framed building predates the Fire of London).
Obviously Aldgate East Station is next, the 25 now joined by buses on route 205 in true celebration of this year's digits. Altab Ali Park marks the site of medieval St Mary Matfelon, the original "white chapel" after which the local area is named. Harder to miss is The East London Mosque whose golden dome and triple minarets have dominated this stretch of Whitechapel Road since 1985. One of the most important stops on the route is Whitechapel Station/Royal London Hospital, which manages to serve not just a Crossrail hub and a megahospital but also Tower Hamlets Town Hall, a crowded street market and the Blind Beggar pub. If you caught a purple train here and rode one stop to Stratford you could skip the next 15 stops on the bus.
Stop 15: Booth Memorial (G)
The memorial is to William Booth who started preaching here on Mile End Waste in 1865, long before brass bands became an intrinsic part of his charitable offering. His wife Catherine earned a matching statue as recently as 2015, and hers has steps. Behind are the Trinity Almshouses, 28 redbrick cottages built in 1695 for the benefit of "28 decay'd Masters and Commanders of Ships, or ye widows of such", whose modern occupants probably have Freedom Passes they can use on the bus. The monolithic blocks of flats opposite are more quintessentially Tower Hamlets, and there are a lot more of these to come.
Stepney Green is the best stop for Spiegelhalter's former gappy department store and the Genesis Cinema, should you fancy a burst of Mufasa The Lion King or Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Stepney Green Station is the eighth bus stop so far to be named after a station and there are still three more to go. Bancroft Road/Ocean Estate has a really good view of the Gherkin straight down the Mile End Road. At least three consecutive stops could be called Queen Mary/University of London but only the middle one actually is, this the closest to all things engineering, biosciences and geography.
Stop 20: Regents Canal (E)
According to onboard announcements this stop is actually called Regents Canal For Your Safety Please Cross The Cycle Lane With Caution, but that's segregated Cycle Superhighways for you. Passengers get to wait on a bridge potentially precisely above narrowboats squeezing through the old brick arch below. To one side is a massive block of student accommodation and close by are an ever increasing number of takeaways and cafes catering to student munchies. I remember once being amazed a coffee shop had opened under the Green Bridge (which is of course yellow) but there are now three. We're nearly there.
Mile End Station is next, which is terribly convenient for the recently-opened Sainsbury's Local, whereas Coborn Road is more a Tesco Express kind of stop. We're just about to enter Bow Road, hence a stop for Bow Road Station, where nearby memorials commemorate George and Minnie Lansbury but Dr Barnardo only merits a plaque. The pub by Bow Church Station is called the Bow Bells, despite the fact you could never hear the genuine clangers this far from Cheapside. It's the closest stop to Bow Garage so this is where drivers on route 25 often change shifts, hence passengers can end up sitting here for five minutes while much faffing occurs, which is particularly annoying when there's only one stop to go...
Stop 25: Bow Church (M)
Because yes, it's turns out the official 25th bus stop on route 25 is the legendary Bus Stop M. Who'd have guessed? This iconic location on Bow Road came to prominence 10 years ago during a lengthy period of administrative incompetence related to the construction of Cycle Superhighway 2, thus I assume I don't need to say any more because you've heard everything already.
And in case you think this is a fluke, guess what happens if you start at the other end of route 25 in Ilford and ride to the 25th stop travelling west. You end up here.
Stop 25: Bow Church (J)
This is bus stop J on the other side of St Mary's Church, which it turns out is also the 25th stop on route 25. This year all buses lead to Bow Church, which is just as it should be.
