Bus Route Of The Day 138: Bromley North to Coney Hall Location: Outer London south Length of journey: 5 miles, 30 minutes
Because it's 13th August I've been out riding the 138, because that's the Bus Route Of The Day.
The 138 is one of several buses that serve the Bromley hinterland, funnelling suburbanfolk towards the shops and meatier transport options. It exists chiefly to serve an interwar estate to the south of Hayes, performing a loop around the back-avenues before returning to Bromley, and has been doing this mostly-uninterrupted since 1940. And because Coney Hall is an unseen mystery for the vast majority of Londoners I thought I'd spend half today's post on the bus and half exploring the near-rural hideaway at the far end.
An operational note: The 138 is operated by a fleet of single-door single-deckers and has recently been logistically shafted. It used to run every 20 minutes, or rather every 21-22 minutes because timetabling is a messy business, but in March was suddenly reduced to a half-hourly service. TfL argued this allowed them to run a more reliable service with the same number of vehicles, this because traffic conditions in Bromley are often somewhat congested. Local councillors argued the frequency reduction meant residents were concerned and angry yadda yadda ULEZ yadda yadda imposed without warning yadda yadda fundamental sense of unfairness yadda yadda but their petition had no effect so people now wait longer. I waited patiently.
Bromley North station is a ridiculously busy interchange served by as many as 15 different bus routes spread across two adjacent stops. These include 6th January, 26th January, 12th June, 14th June, 24th June, 22nd July, 11th September and 26th September, plus several others that don't translate including the frustratingly marginal 31st April. There's only space for three vehicles between the two stops so sometimes the one you want has to hold back and flap its doors, thus can be gone before you've realised, which is damned annoying if it only runs infrequently. The driver of 13th August was so focused on not running over a pedestrian that he nearly missed me waiting and only some fairly animated waving earned me a seat on board.
The weaving run through central Bromley always seems to take an age, this the inevitable consequence of high street pedestrianisation. All this manouvring did however provide optimum conditions for admiring the flower beds down the centre of Kentish Way, the blast of geraniums sponsored by local business Coutts (the electrical contractors not the bank). Our first true passengers board in the High Street, the early vanguard of shoppers returning home with bulging carriers, a bouquet of flowers and in one case a single bicycle tyre inside a bag for life. One lady grabs a Metro, not for the journey but for proper perusal when she gets home. And once we have a dozen on board we set off via Westmoreland Road, a gentle climb into instant suburbia. Superloop route SL5 also runs this way, now finally operated by double deckers, and it's noticeable that the first six passengers to alight our bus do so only at stops the express service skips.
We're the only bus to follow all of Pickhurst Lane, mostly downwards, past smart homes and a steakhouse with a cocktail special offer. Across the aisle a red-faced gent removes his panama hat with a performative gesture and comments on how hot it is, getting the response he wanted when a fellow overheating passenger joins in the conversation. Ahead is Station Approach, the elegant retail crescent that accentuated the westward drift of Hayes village when the railway arrived. Its parades are long enough to support a fish and chip shop at each end, also two micropubs specialising in real ale and craft beer respectively. Only three other passengers remain aboard by the time we pass the station because it's still a bit early to be heading home. Tiepigs Lane is one of London's best-named bus stops (as previously blogged), also the roundabout ahead is doubly special because the Greenwich meridian crosses it (as previously blogged) and it's the start of the A2022 (ditto). And so we reach Coney Hall.
It started out in the 17th century as Coney Hall Farm, whose tenant had sole rights to catch rabbits (coneys) on a neighbouring patch of West Wickham Common. The estate was finally sold for housing in 1928 after the last owner died and was purchased by Morrell Brothers, housebuilders whose portfolio also included most of Petts Wood. They built avenues of white-fronted houses, also a single flat-roofed Art Deco house that's now part of the local health centre. Construction quality wasn't always great and in 1937 a Coney Hall resident called Elsy Borders led a mortgage strike citing 'slapdash workmanship', her default ultimately leading to an appeal heard in the House of Lords. If you have an hour spare, this Radio 4 drama tells the full story. London Transport initially refused to send buses onto the estate so a private 'luxury' coach service was provided to the nearest station at Hayes, but an ill-judged flotation on the stock market saw Morrells enter bankruptcy and the 138 arrived soon after.
The 138 bears off on its solo loop at Coney Hall Parade, another fine Thirties retail arc. Residents can enjoy a traditional family butchers, a particularly large Wickes and a proper chip-based cafe called Coney's. They used to be able to enjoy a pint at The Coney, the estate pub, but that became a Turkish restaurant called Smoque after the pandemic so the place for beer is now a micro-pub with the apposite name of The Rabbit Hole Tavern. The loudest voice in Coney Hall belongs to the busybody who's slapped a huge banner opposite the Co-Op bemoaning a potential phone mast on the Green. Where is the integrity here, it screams, before urging everyone to fire off complaints to three separate email addresses because "4G is already adequate in our area". Perhaps if everyone had shouted louder, the public toilets the banner's attached to wouldn't have been closed forever.
The one-way circuit first follows Kingsway then Queensway, nudging away from the recreation ground at the top of the hill. You may remember this if you've ever walked London Loop section 4, in particular the lumpenGreenwich Meridianmarker by the changing rooms, although you won't remember the new bijou multi-use games area because the mayor of Bromley opened that just last month. The Loop also passes through the churchyard of St John The Baptist, by far the oldest church in West Wickham, now unhelpfully located on the brow of a steep paddock a mile out of town. The last bus stop before the Hail and Ride section is at Chestnut Avenue, this the 'hesitation point' where the driver always stops to flip the blind back to Bromley North even if nobody's waiting. And nobody was.
The tour of the estate takes about five minutes. Houses are mostly large white gabled semis of a size most inner city dwellers can only dream of. The architects clearly had a thing for triangles because there are isosceles gables everywhere, even occasionally chalet-style pairs that taper to a point, and also a fair smattering of circular portholes illuminating the stairs. The far edge of the estate is marked by Layhams Road, the original country lane round here [Warning: Road May Be Slippery For Horses]. Its residents would have a glorious view over rolling farmland if a line of trees didn't block almost all of it out, and you don't see much from the 138 either. The farthest woods actually conceal the flanks of New Addington, an overspill estate whose residents are crammed into considerably smaller homes with far less generous gardens.
Coney Hall's final houses butt up against Well Wood, a sizeable woodland left over from the original farmscape and opened up to the public in 1948. The paucity of public footpaths hereabouts mean it gets used to walk every dog in the district, and the provision of a small car park off Layhams Road makes getting here all too easy. The woods are lovely, just large enough to weave through and thick with oak, larch and holly, plus a slew of bluebells if you'd been here three months ago. Hunt carefully and you might find the plantation of Douglas fir planted for timber production in the war. And if you continue down the lane it suddenly gets really rural, a sheet of fields around the tiny hamlet of Nash which somehow is part of Greater London but where TfL have never sent a bus. The route that gets closest is the 138, but best alight the Bus of the Day in Coney Hall as intended.
