THE UNLOST RIVERS OF LONDON Coppermill Stream Tottenham Hale → Stamford Hill (1¼ miles)
[Lea → Coppermill Stream → Lea → Thames]
The braided rivers of the Lea Valley are complex and hard to pin down historically because matters of navigation, water supply and flood prevention forced their inexorable evolution. The first Act of Parliament aimed at improving the river's course came in 1425, then in 1571 the River Lee Navigation Act authorised the creation of straighter cuts chopping off awkward meanders and the introduction of towpaths on both sides of the river. The sequential introduction of major reservoirs in the second half of the 19th century entirely redrew the map in the vicinity of Walthamstow, which is where we find ourselves today, and the Lee Flood Relief Channel brought further restructuring after WW2.
The Coppermill Stream is thus unusual amongst London's unlost rivers in that it didn't always exist and also used to be longer and is now an entirely artificial construct. It also doesn't bubble up from the ground, its source is water entering from the River Lea itself, and at the other end it either flows back into the Lea or ends up in a water treatment works and eventually comes out of your tap. That said there was once a copper mill here, the road that runs up to Walthamstow is Coppermill Lane and the filtration plant is Coppermills Advanced Water Treatment Works, a major facility that provides drinking water for 1½m households in East London. Let's just walk it shall we?
Today's Coppermill Stream begins amid the Walthamstow Wetlands, the reservoir-packed nature reserve opened up to the general public in 2017, which means I couldn't actually have walked this river ten years ago even if I'd wanted to. We're in the lesser-walked half of the reserve to the north of Ferry Lane, about two minutes from the road, where water overtopping the Low Maynard Reservoir tumbles noisily over a fenced weir. The reason for the artificial source was the construction in 1897 of the enormous Lockwood Reservoir, last and largest of the Walthamstow reservoirs, whose excavated footprint destroyed a former channel threading down from Tottenham Marsh. The footbridge that crosses the start of the stream is securely locked for reasons of biosecurity. A pylon stands sentinel. A thick appropriately-copper pipe suggests there's a lot more going on here infrastructurally than meets the eye.
The Stream, which feels more River, flows quietly behind a hedge for about 200m, but with occasional gaps in case you want to peer in. I'd like to apologise to the heron I disturbed here, twice, before it swooped off to eye up prey in quieter waters. The beer garden across the water belongs to the Ferry Boat Inn, a 200 year-old pub with pitched tiled roof which once catered to weekend Cockney merrymakers and is now more steak than ale. It faces Ferry Lane, once one of the very few places the Lower Lea could be crossed, and which still manages to cross six separate channels of water. If approaching from Tottenham Hale the first waterway you meet is the Pymmes Brook, then the full-on Lee Navigation (used by boats and ramblers), then two forks of the River Lee Diversion (the second of which once marked the boundary between Middlesex and Essex). The Coppermill Stream is number five and finally, on the very far side of the reservoirs, is the River Lee Flood Relief Channel. Do cross the road carefully.
The southern half of the Walthamstow Wetlands is better trod, especially by folk carrying fishing rods and/or binoculars. The Coppermill Stream sneaks in under the Goblin, or as we have to call it now the Suffragette Line, then runs briefly alongside the viaduct. Streamwalkers must instead negotiate the car park and aim for the Engine House, once a pumping station and now a visitor centre with an integral cafe offering. For an elevated view of the stream, and to look down on the heads of the latte-slurpers, head upstairs to the industrial chic viewing platform and keep your fingers crossed the outdoor terrace is unlocked. It wasn't yesterday. Alternatively the river flows right past the downstairs patio and underneath the bridge everyone has to cross to reach the main reserve, so you may well have soaked in the ambience of the Coppermill Stream yourself.
When I've been here before my eye's always been on the mighty reservoirs and thus not the river quietly threading inbetween. But here it flows, trapped between thin brambly banks, occasionally linked by sluices to the rest of the reservoir chain. Birds tend to prefer the larger waters, it has to be said, but a few ducks and moorhens prefer milling about on the Coppermill. Some local fly fishers prefer it too, taking up position on a narrow strip of footpath on the far side, but that's because they're allowed to walk past the signs that say 'Sensitive Wildlife Area Please Do Not Enter' and non-anglers aren't. A full half mile of the Coppermill Stream is enticingly visible like this, which is a lot better than many unlost rivers manage.
The large brick building streamside is called the Coppermill and sits on the site of a windmill built here four centuries back. In the 1800s it was purchased by the British Copper Company who built a watermill instead so they could transport copper ingots from Wales by sea (and by Lea) and roll the metal into sheets. This'll be when the name of the stream set in. The building was later used by the East London Water Company as a pumping station when their first reservoirs opened, hence the Italianate tower perched on top, and these days Thames Water merely use it as storage space. But visitors are welcome to step inside and climb to the top for a perhaps windswept view across the Warwick Reservoirs towards the Hackney/Haringey skyline. A new cluster of flats seems to have shot up every time I visit.
The Coppermill Stream is last properly seen as it flows out of the Wetlands behind a row of trees, now muted because a lot of the water has been funnelled off for filtration. It used to meander a lot here before the reservoirs were built but still passes under the railway line where it always did. Everyone else has to duck beneath the notorious Incredibly Low Bridge, headroom 1.5m, which was even more hazardous yesterday because it had almost entirely flooded. I assume every serious London psychogeographer has taken a selfie here. It's now but a very short walk (fork right!) to the mouth of the Coppermill Stream at Coppermill Bridge, or the overgrown remains of it. Originally the stream entered the Lea on the outside of a very squished meander but that's since been bypassed and the infill is now a private pleasureboat marina. Happy 10th anniversary.
So far that's over 30 unlost rivers blogged, in various levels of psychogeographic detail, the first being the River Shuttle and the most recent the Burnt Oak Brook.
Clearly I haven't finished yet so expect further reportage over the upcoming decade, from piddly streams to mightier Thames tributaries, potentially also including lesser trickles not yet mentioned.
I've also picked a 10th anniversary unlost river to walk, which was tricky because we've already had two inches of rain this month and I wanted to avoid a midwinter mudbath, but thankfully I found a decent footwear-friendly option and will bring you my report later.
The Silvertown Tunnel - what we now know and what we already knew
What we now know: When it'll open
The Silvertown Tunnel will open on Monday 7th April 2025, i.e. in exactly three months time. That's yesterday's genuinely new news. It'll be the first day of the school Easter holidays so traffic should be lighter than usual for the first fortnight. It is possible there'll be a soft launch over the previous weekend, but the big Mayoral ribbon-cutting publicity bonanza will be on the Monday. That'll also be the day the tolls start.
What we already knew: The Silvertown Tunnel will be tolled
This has been baked in since the start of the project in 2012 under Mayor Johnson. The toll is fundamental to the financing of the tunnel's construction, and was also intended to manage demand and reduce congestion. It's no good moaning now about the imposition of tolls, that ship sailed long ago.
What we already knew: Tolls will be introduced on the Blackwall Tunnel on the same day
This has also been baked in since the start of the project in 2012. You can't maintain a free tunnel alongside a tolled tunnel because everyone would use the free one. Tolls will be identical. None of this will be welcomed by existing drivers. It'll be the first toll for using the Blackwall Tunnel since it opened in 1892. The Rotherhithe Tunnel remains untolled.
What we already knew: What those tolls will be Tolls were confirmed last July. They'll be £1.50 for motorbikes, cars and small vans off-peak, rising to £2.50🏍 or £4.00🚗🚚 for a few peak hours on weekdays in one direction only. You'll have to pay online or by app, just like paying for ULEZ or the Congestion Charge - there won't be toll booths. Tolls will not be charged between 10pm and 6am.
What we already knew: the Silvertown Tunnel will be the A1026
This wasn't in yesterday's press release but it's clearly visible on a roadsign at the northern end of the tunnel. Google Streetview shows the sign has been in situ since at least September. They'll have wanted a road number to match the Blackwall Tunnel which is the A102. All the other numbers between A1020 and A1029 have already been taken, but A1026 has been going spare since it was briefly used during the bypassing of Ipswich. A1026 it is then.
What we already knew: Cyclists will have to catch a bus
Cycling through the tunnel will not be permitted for safety reasons. The option of a segregated lane or larger tunnel was ruled out at the design stage as impractically expensive. Instead a specially branded bikes-only bus service is being introduced. A consultation last summer confirmed that buses would run at least every 12 minutes from 0630 to 2130 and be free to use for at least the first year of operation.
What we now know: Where the cycle bus stops will be
The 'north' stop location will be located on Seagull Lane immediately to the south of Royal Victoria DLR station. The 'south' stop will be located on Millennium Way near the junction with Old School Close. Both stops are supposedly optimised for proximity to cycle routes. TfL have also released a map showing the precise route the cycle buses will take, but on a one-stop journey that's as irrelevant as knowing which way the Waterloo & City line goes.
What we already knew: The control tower above the northern portal is quite photogenic
The building has a conical form on a green landscaped plinth with all-round visibility, and sits immediately above the tunnel entrance. The upper floors house work spaces and tunnel management facilities. Yesterday's press release was accompanied by a very nice photo taken looking down out of the window.
What we already knew: The roundabout on the north side is pretty much complete
You'd hope so given it opens in 90 days. It has lane markings, traffic lights, feeder lanes and a lot of plastic barriers waiting to be swept away. It's a very elongated roundabout and the centre is beautifully landscaped with a broad pedestrian walkway swooshing through. This is odd because this is the arse end of the Royal Docks and not especially on the way to anywhere, but one day it'll be on the way to riverside neighbourhoods as yet unbuilt and that's proper forward planning for you. You can't walk across it yet.
What we already knew: Two bus routes will use the Silvertown Tunnel
One will be an extension of the 129 which will continue through the tunnel from North Greenwich, then weave slowly round the Royal Docks to Gallions Wharf. The other will be the remaining Superloop route, the SL4, which will run from Canary Wharf through the tunnel and south to Grove Park. It includes a three mile non-stop express leap from the edge of Docklands to the Sun-in-the-Sands roundabout. Both routes look bafflingly suboptimal but their rationales were fully explained in 2022.
What we now know: Cross-river buses will be free for the first year
Expect free travel on the 129, the SL4 and the existing 108 which uses the Blackwall Tunnel. Previously the proposal was "free trips to support local residents" but that's now been broadened to free rides on all three routes for at least the first year. This seems ridiculously generous. For example it sounds like if you're waiting at Bus Stop M in April intending to go to Stratford, a ride on the 108 will be free but the other three routes will cost you £1.75.
What we now know: Some DLR journeys will be free for everyone too
Specifically one stop cross-river DLR journeys will be free for at least one year, specifically Cutty Sark to Island Gardens and Woolwich Arsenal to King George V. That's not quite so generous because Island Gardens and King George V aren't places a lot of people want to be.
What we already knew: The building above the southern portal is not photogenic
It's low, swirly and grey. It's to be used as a back-up control room. The backside's along Millennium Way. It doesn't look much nicer from down below.
What we already knew: The junction on the south side is pretty much complete
You'd hope so given it opens in 90 days. This one's much harder to see unless you're in a vehicle. It's only marginally landscaped. The original tunnel approach roads have been bent slightly to accommodate the new connection. The on-ramp and off-ramp are currently securely sealed off, as is Tunnel Avenue alongside.
What we already knew: The opening of the Silvertown Tunnel is going to be transformational
What we don't yet know is quite how transformational, but we'll start finding out in three months' time.
It's the motorway junction of the year, it's J20 M25. (If the M20 had 25 junctions yes, that would be better, but it only has 13 so we're off to Hertfordshire instead)
J20 is the northwesternmost junction on the M25, an interchange with the A41 and the designated exit for Hemel Hempstead and Aylesbury. It's on the outskirts of Kings Langley, one stop north of Watford Junction. Unlike J19 and J21 you can actually walk round it, which is fortunate for blogging purposes. And I should probably start by explaining how it came to be where it is.
After WW2 there were plans to build a series of four concentric Ringways to motorway standard to carry traffic around London. The inner Ringways proved exceptionally controversial due to the amount of demolition required so were swiftly dropped in 1973 when Labour took control of the GLC. The focus then switched to the outer Ringways which were to be combined to create a single London orbital following the line of least resistance, essentially combining the route of Ringway 3 to the north and east with the route of Ringway 4 to the south and west. This left an unexpected gap in the Watford area so in November 1974 a consultation was put forward offering several possible routes to connect Micklefield Green (Ringway 4) to South Mimms (Ringway 3).
With great foresight I acquired a copy of that consultation document 50 years ago and retained it, so here's the fold-out map at the back :)
Three options were proposed for the western route, each bearing off from the North Orbital Road at a different point. This was already under construction and would be completed in 1976, ten years before the fresh link round the top of Watford. Route 1 diverged early near Sarratt and cut across fields to cross the Gade Valley between Kings Langley and Abbots Langley. Route 2 bore off later and passed west of Langleybury to join route 1 before crossing the valley. Route 3 followed the full length of the new road to Hunton Bridge but would then have required building a tunnel underneath Leavesden Aerodrome, this long before it was a famous film studios. All three routes were designed to interchange with the new A41(M), a bypass which ultimately opened in 1993 without achieving motorway status.
Route 3 was the shortest (2.1 miles) and also the least damaging to 'distinguished landscape', but also by far the most expensive (£15m) because of the tunnelling. Route 1 was the longest (4.5 miles) and the most environmentally damaging, though it did require demolition of the fewest number of dwellings. At 3.7 miles long Route 2 proved the happy medium and was also the cheapest of the three options with costs estimated at £6.1m at November 1974 prices. Route 2 was thus duly chosen and duly built, opening in October 1986, and I imagine taxpayers carped and criticised the eyewatering costs (Six Million Pounds!) even then. Selecting route 2 also meant that junction 20 ended up on the edge of North Grove Wood in fields beside the existing A41 Watford Road, and that's how it came to be where it is.
J20 M25 is essentially a big five-armed roundabout with the M25 swooshing across the top. Two of the arms are thus motorway slip roads, two are the new-ish A41 dual carriageway and the other is the A4251, which is what the A41 used to be. One side is in the district of Dacorum and the other in Three Rivers because the planners chose to build it straddling the boundary. Also one side has traffic lights and the other doesn't. As a pedestrian this makes crossing the M25's anti-clockwise off-slip dead easy but crossing the on-slip potentially deadly, so although it's perfectly possible to follow pavements across the junction it isn't necessarily wise. This hazard mainly bothers residents of North Grove Cottages, two properties left narrowly unscathed when the motorway was built but which now find themselves adrift on a brief dead-end spur on the alignment of the original main road.
The M25 is elevated here because it's about to cross the Gade Valley Viaduct, a significant structure which carries the motorway across the Grand Union Canal and the West Coast Main Line. Technically it's a 450m-long box girder bridge comprising twin decks, both fashioned from four open top steel girders with an in-situ cast concrete slab. Aesthetically it's very elegant, as is easily seen from a passing train, although for three years recently it needed a cage of scaffolding underneath because the welding of the structure's bottom flange needed urgent reinforcement. Thankfully all that's cleared, so I got the best view by walking the canal towpath underneath on a bright sunny day - sweeping curves, thin trapezoid pillars, crystal clear reflections - all just before a narrowboat chugged through and rippled the lot.
The first field to the north appears empty, and the 'Bull in field' sign on the gate looks entirely unconvincing. But this grass pasture is actually a scheduled monument, the site of a medieval royal hunting lodge called Little London, and what's more several traces survive. Chief of these is a rectangular moat surrounding an island 120m long and 60m wide with a causeway on the western side. The moat's dry these days and the eastern side has been filled in, but the remainder is a dry channel approximately 12m wide and 1.5m deep with further low earthworks outside which may be the remains of ancillary buildings. It's very hard to distinguish any of this from outside the field so the layout is best imagined from above. And it turns out the lodge is here because, a tad to the north, Kings Langley used to be the site of a significant royal palace.
Queen Eleanor of Castile acquired the hilltop site in 1276 and started building works, with the palace passing to her son Edward II in 1302. During the Black Death Edward III used Langley as his seat of government, it being safely out of the way, and his fourth son Edmund de Langley was born here in 1341. Edmund is crucial to Plantagenet history because he was the first Duke of York and the founder of the House of York, one of the two sides in the internecine Wars of the Roses. Edmund's nephew Richard II loved Langley Regis so much that he spent Christmas here twice, and after being deposed was initially buried here before being shifted to Westminster Abbey. Shakespeare even set Act 3, Scene 4 of his play Richard II here, although it's hardly a classic.
SCENE IV. LANGLEY. The DUKE OF YORK's garden. Enter the QUEEN and two Ladies
QUEEN: What sport shall we devise here in this garden,
To drive away the heavy thought of care?
Lady: Madam, we'll play at bowls.
The palace fell into decay during the Tudor period and the priory on site was inevitably trashed by Henry VIII. In the 20th century the site was used for a large boarding school, most recently a Rudolf Steiner School, which further destroyed the overall footprint so excavations in the 1970s didn't find much. The best place to be dazzled by Kings Langley's royal connections is thus the parish church of All Saints, a fine flint building dating back to the 13th century. Its Royal Chapel contains the marble tomb of the aforementioned Edmund de Langley, 1st Duke of York, which is decorated with painted shields and has been here since the Priory was dissolved. An information panel references the suspicion that the tomb is so ornate it was probably meant for Richard II, and mentions that the stained glass window immediately above was donated by Queen Victoria. It's quite a thought that the bones inside are of a man whose lineage directly ruptured English history, and here he lies in a building that hosts Tiny Tots and a foodbank every Tuesday.
Before I leave Kings Langley I should of course mention the Ovaltine factory, opened on Station Road in 1913 and greatly expanded during the 1920s as the nation's love of hot malted drinks increased. Across the road were established the Ovaltine Model Dairy and Model Poultry Farms, top-class facilities which helped provide the drink's main ingredients and which also inspired the dairymaid logo which appeared on later packaging. The factory is of course now luxury flats and has been since 2006, with addresses on Ovaltine Drive and a flurry of Private Property signs to keep other villagers at bay. As for the farms they proved so attractive to the M25's civil engineers that they built the motorway straight through them, this particular option being known as the 'egg farm route'... and hey presto we're back at J20 M25, the motorway junction of the year.
It's a mile long, it's in Sussex and I walked the length of it yesterday.
The best thing about the A2025 is that it starts by the sea. We're in Lancing, eight miles west of Brighton, so the beach is a long strip of shingle punctuated by wooden groynes. I stood by the oscillating water's edge and watched the breakers rolling in, and beyond them a thin stripe of golden sky illuminating the turbines of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm deep in the English Channel. The good people of Lancing tend not to venture onto the shingle at this time of year, instead hiding away in the beachfront Perch Cafe with hot beverages or alternatively in the Perch Gym depending on their New Year resolutions. When I was last here at May Bank Holiday children were playing by the huts on Beach Green while a hen party queued for ice creams at the kiosk, and I'm still kicking myself for failing to notice that the A2025 started a few steps away which is why I had to come back again.
The coast road is the A259 while the A27 dual carriageway runs a mile further back inland, and it's the A2025's destiny to link the two. It begins at a mini roundabout alongside a tyre fitting centre and a large seafront care home that's currently under construction, geriatrics being one of Lancing's growth industries. Connoisseurs of road numbering may like to know that only four UK road signs include the number 2025 and half of them are on the approach to this roundabout. Lovers of good spelling may not be impressed that the first shop on the A2025 believes it sells Confectionary.
This is South Street, the lesser end of Lancing's main retail offering, and also includes a few blocks of newbuild flats with balconies deftly angled to try to squeeze in a sea view. Businesses of note include a beauty salon with the ghastly name of Glamour Lengths, a hotel that doubles up as the local bistro and an artisanal sandwich shop that proudly claims 'Established 2024' but appears to have closed. Even though it's January the marvellously higgledy-piggledy chandlery at number 156 is still trying to sell 2024 tide tables for 70p, while the One Stop minimarket will probably have even less luck flogging leftover Lindt Advent calendars for £5.50. Well done to the tattoo shop for not calling itself Lancing Tattoos, whereas I reckon I'd think twice about availing myself of Lancing Dental Services.
The dominant business on the A2025 is Gardner & Scardifield, an ironmongers founded in Lancing over 100 years ago that's since spread its wings. Their main presence on South Street is a large G&S hardware repository, nextdoor is the G&S Door Showroom, round the corner G&S builders merchants, across the street G&S homewares and just down the road G&S timber supplies, the latter wafting the sweet smell of cut wood across the pavement. Starbucks and Costa do not intrude on Lancing, but Tamp & Grind have all the caffeinated froth and supposedly hilarious signage any coffee lover could want. In the newsagents the Daily Mail's pile is at least twice the height of any other paper. I fear the shuttered music shop at Instrumental Attic has sold its last banjo. The Favil Press has been bookbinding since 1921. Mr Chips does not take cards.
On the bend in the road is Lancing Parish Hall, the main community hub (and warm refuge during periods of cold). Most of the parish's tourist-facing signs claim that Lancing is England's largest village, though do not reveal the basis on which this much-contested claim is being made. Councillors here get to rule on garage conversions and rear extensions, but also whether the runway at Shoreham Airport should be widened from 18 to 23m because parish boundaries stretch all the way to the Adur estuary. Out front are two war memorials, one shifted here from the Lancing Carriage Works which built and maintained railway carriages from 1911 to 1965 but has since been entirely replaced by the equally enormous Lancing Business Park.
A copper-roofed pub called The Farmers marks the A2025's halfway point, and is also where all the interesting stuff bears off. North Street is where all the bigger shops are, from Boots to WH Smith plus the entrance to the Asda that dominates grocery shopping in BN15. It's also where the railway station has been since 1845, alongside a level crossing whose barriers all too regularly sever the main street. Back in the 1950s this inspired local planners to build a bridge just to the east which could carry through traffic safely and uninterruptedly north, so that's the way the A2025 now goes. At the foot of its gentle incline is the Gardner & Scardifield Garden Centre, suggesting they're essentially funnelling local pensions into their own coffers. And up top is a fine elevated view across coastal suburbia past Brighton & Hove Albion's futuristic training ground towards the humps of the South Downs, and maybe even a passing train.
The northern half of the A2025 is called Grinstead Lane and once had just four cottages amid a quiet area of market gardening. In the 1930s came the locally prestigious detached hideaways, some resembling Dutch barns, others bungalows, along with an ever increasing stream of traffic. Each house was named not numbered, one evocative sequence being Rosemont, Fidelis, Pippins, Florida, Thalassa, Blenheim, Glenlea, Sundene, Applesham, Sunnyside and Fernleigh. I fear that one of the bungalows has since been renamed Live Laugh Love because that was the only wording I could see out front, but maybe it's just a sign they picked up at the G&S Garden Centre. The only other business on Grinstead Lane is The Britannia, once a postwar pub but now a Harvester restaurant, which conveniently offers a takeaway option in case you don't want blow your budget on drinks.
The A2025 ends after a final flourish of bungalows at a junction on the A27, this one of a handful of roundabouts that interrupt the free flow of the dual carriageway along this section of the south coast. Plans for improving the A27 through Lancing went to consultation in 2023 but were among those jettisoned by the Chancellor last summer so this low key finale is unlikely to change any time soon. One of the A2025 roadsigns here points towards 'S L ncing' and the other towards 'S Lan ing', so maybe some local improvements would be welcome.
I suspect by now you've realised the A2025 is nothing special, except chronologically, thus I was entirely wasting my time travelling all that way to walk a lacklustre mile and write half a dozen paragraphs about it. I concur. But after I'd finished I crossed the dual carriageway and continued up the streets of North Lancing past a 17th century timberframed cottage called The Old Cottage and a 13th century parish church built of flint cobblestones with a Sussex cap-style roof. I climbed further to reach steep rows of backstreets lined by lucky houses with a panoramic view across a sea of rooftops and ultimately the sea. I crossed the boundary of the South Downs National Park, entered the car park where dogwalkers with welly boots assemble and strode on up the Celtic chalk trackway that leads to the prehistoric heights of LancingRing. I passed a mud-splattered mountainbiker, spotted the mighty chapel at Lancing College and watched a plane take off at Shoreham Airport. At the summit I enjoyed three separate panoramic views, one west along the coast towards Selsey Bill, one far inland across the High Weald and one east across Brighton towards the mighty chalk humps of the Seven Sisters.
And OK by the time I got back to the station my boots were caked in clay, and sure it would all look even more fabulous in high summer, and yes it'd probably have been better to write about this part of my day instead of the A2025, but this is why walking a distant road that just happens to have a relevant number is sometimes an excellent thing to do. Next year, alas, not so much.
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.
Jan: The denouement of The Traitors results in an unsatisfying victory by someone nobody wanted to win Jan: Donald Trump becomes President again and the world's media begins four years of paying him far too much attention Feb: Dry January was a failure and you can no longer be bothered to go to the gym because winter is endlessly miserable Feb: An embarrassed actor fluffs their lines at a crucial moment during Eastenders' live 40th anniversary episode Mar: To celebrate 200 years of railways in Britain, fares rise by three times the rate of inflation Mar: America, China, Israel and Russia all do terrible things Apr: Donald Trump ends the war in Ukraine in a way nobody foresaw and hardly anybody wanted Apr: The Silvertown Tunnel opens, bringing a much-needed connection but also tolls, air pollution and two rubbish bus routes May: Reform do thunderously well in the local elections and Nigel's masterplan edges forward a gear May: The UK's Eurovision entry arrives with high hopes and crashlands in an embarrassing 25th place Jun: The Lambeth Country Show isn't as good as it used to be since they put that big fence around it. Jun: The Oasis tour is all over everything everywhere all at once, even worse than bloody Taylor Swift last year Jul: America, China, Iraq and Russia all do terrible things, again Jul: Elon Musk takes over another media empire in an attempt to hasten the dystopia George Orwell warned us about Aug: Several much loved cultural icons die, much like any other month Aug: Mince pies are back in the shops and the dark hurtle towards midwinter has begun again Sep: Sir Keir Starmer manages to underwhelm just enough voters to guarantee a really poor outcome at the next election Sep: False video created by AI results in the death of 15 people somewhere in the West Midlands Oct: Microsoft withdraws support for Windows 10 in an attempt to force users to upgrade to something better but intrinsically worse Oct: MyLondon exemplifies shit journalism by claiming it will snow at 11am in six weeks' time Nov: America, China, North Korea and Russia all do terrible things, yet again Nov: COP summit in Brazil ends with diluted diplomatic compromise which fails to address inevitable serious climate impacts Dec: Everything costs more and your income isn't keeping up, but Christmas still needs paying for Dec: Wham's Last Christmas continues its unstoppable eternal run as the Christmas Number 1 for the rest of your life 2026: Next year is definitely going to be even worse, so make the best of enjoying 2025 while you can
I had a nice 2025-related post lined up for you today, but I have issues.
The photos I need to illustrate the post are on my iPhone.
But my iPhone no longer connects to my laptop, the connection's stopped working.
It worked OK yesterday morning but it's not working now.
More importantly I can't charge my iPhone.
Normally I charge the phone by connecting it via a cable to an adaptor plug.
But the connection's stopped working, so it won't charge.
The connection's been dodgy for over a year, but I've always been able to twiddle the cable and connect.
Sometimes it works first time, but sometimes it's taken a lot of twiddling.
I have become an expert in twiddling, often at a cunning angle.
Yesterday morning it twiddled fine.
But it's not twiddling now.
Thankfully the phone's still on 30% charge, not 3%, but that won't last long.
I am thus on a quest to charge my iPhone before it becomes an expensive brick.
I'm pretty sure the issue is a mucky lightning port.
Yes, I've tried cleaning it but to no effect.
Yes, I know not to clean it too forcibly in case of damage.
Yes, I've tried using a different cable.
Yes, I've read the online advice.
Yes, this is not an uncommon problem.
Yes, my phone is very nearly four years old.
Yes, I know someone at an Apple Store might be able to help.
Yes, exactly the same thing happened with my last iPhone.
Yes, it's a stupid design error but we can't change that.
No, I am not buying your favourite type of phone instead.
There are potential getarounds to get the photos off the phone.
For example I could email the photos to myself, but there are loads of them.
Also I'm only on 30% so I'm trying not to use my phone in a power-hungry way.
The serious problem here isn't the photos, it's the charging.
Whatever, I was faced last night with the possibility that my phone might soon lose all its charge and become useless.
This isn't just annoying, it's potentially very restrictive.
An awful lot of services insist on verifying things via a phone.
Purchases, banking, medical stuff, tickets, allsorts.
If you suddenly can't do that you're fundamentally buggered.
For example, you need phone verfication to access your Self Assessment tax return.
I realised last night I hadn't submitted mine yet, and might not be able to.
So I spent last night compiling and submitting my 23/24 return before I suddenly couldn't.
And thus I didn't write my nice 2025-related post.
For which I apologise.
I also have a nice 2025-related post lined up for you tomorrow.
Best keep your fingers crossed.
10:30am update: Good news, it charges again. I tried poking around with a soft brush but it didn't help. I went out and bought some wooden cocktail sticks (60p from Tesco), scraped around with two of those but that didn't help either. So then I went to the Apple Store in Stratford. I didn't have an appointment but it was a Friday morning in very early January so I got seen almost immediately. The helpful techjuggler gave it a scrape with a metal dongle on his keyring, decided that still wasn't good enough, fetched a soft brush and used it for a prolonged scrub, then finally produced a paperclip and scraped away with that too. All in all he did about five minutes of intensive focused cleaning, like going to a session at the hygienist, after which the port was properly clear and a cable could push in all the way. I'm home now and my phone's already up to 40% and charging happily. Problem solved. It still doesn't get you a proper 2025-related post today though, sorry.
1) See the Clock Tower
The most iconic symbol of South Norwood is probably the ornate cast iron clock tower at the top of the High Street. It's a facsimile of Little Ben outside Victoria station, both having been built by the legendary Gillett & Johnston of Croydon, although this is 15 years younger. It was gifted to the community in 1907 by William F Stanley, the local inventor/philanthropist, on the occasion of his golden wedding anniversary. It's more of a traffic obstruction these days but useful if you want to know the time or the wind direction. Come on the second Saturday of the month, which I didn't, and you can enjoy a streetfood market in the vicinity.
2) Attend Stanley Arts
William's greatest legacy is the gorgeously eccentric cluster of buildings at the foot of South Norwood Hill comprising Stanley Technical Trades School (Britain's first technical college) and Stanley Public Hall (for concerts, plays, lectures and general educational betterment). Most schools don't have an astronomy tower but that's what happens when your benefactor makes telescopes. Stanley Tech is now a Harris Academy, having been out-entrepreneured, and the public space nextdoor recently rebranded as cultural hub Stanley Arts. You can still go inside for ceilidhs, flowerpot workshops and a weekdays-only cafe, but if it's panto you want alas Red Riding Hood closed last weekend.
3) Down a pint in the Jolly Sailor
The Jolly Sailor Inn was the first public building in the locality, opened in 1810 to serve canal traffic, and thirty years later when the railways came there was nothing else nearby so they named the local halt Jolly-sailor. The pub still serves pints, although its corner building by the busy crossroads isn't the original, it's a 1860s replacement. As old pubs go it looks depressingly bland, especially if you peer inside at the recent refit, although I suspect the Wednesday pub quiz and Thursday drag karaoke are lively affairs.
4) Sit on Captain Sensible's bench
The good Captain from The Damned is a local lad, as you'll know from his song Croydon, and grew up living on Edith Road SE25. Ten years ago the good folk of the South Norwood Tourist Board remembered him by transforming a small wasteground by Goat Bridge into a cultivated community space called the Sensible Garden. Ray attended as guest of honour and even gave an impromptu performance in The Ship, alas a couple of months before that age-old watering hole closed for good. The garden is no longer so well maintained and the Captain's bench is in a sorry plaqueless state, but it is still possible to rest awhile under the glare of the Heart FM digital billboard.
5) Shop on South Norwood High Street
SE25's High Street is jampacked with shops including a Morley's, a fishmonger and a lot of places to get your hair or nails done. There's even a hardware shop called SE25DIY which confirms we're in the right place. The only place Time Out would get especially excited about is Shelverdine Goathouse, this exactly the kind of quirky name Antic select for their pubs in an attempt to entice discerning punters. Time Out would also likely get very excited about Little Mouse, the artisan cheese and wine shop which cements its middle class credentials by retaining above its window a vintage signboard from the days when this was Elfin Pet Stores, but technically that's a few doors down Selhurst Road.
6) Walk through the world's first reinforced concrete underpass
As thrilling blue plaques go, 'The world's first reinforced concrete underpass Opened 31 July 1912' is right up there. Use the narrow-bore whitewashed subway to pass directly underneath the station, which is of course no longer called Jolly-sailor but goes by the much better known name of Norwood Junction.
7) Pop into the Brutalist library
Heavens this is great, assuming you like brutalist public buildings conceived by Borough Architects in the late 1960s. This slabby concrete box looks ridiculously small if you peer in from the ramped lobby but is in fact on five offset floors, each open plan and cosy with knowledge. Of course this being financially-challenged Croydon the council have proposed demolishing it, then withdrawn that philistine plan in favour of opening just two days a week, which local readers still aren't especially pleased about. If it's not Tuesday or Saturday you can at least still admire the child-designed swirly heritage mosaic in the forecourt, or just salivate at the concrete overhang.
8) See Arthur Conan Doyle's plaque
Sherlock Holmes' creator really got about but from 1891 to 1894 his home was a three-storey detached villa in Tennison Road, South Norwood. The Adventure of the Speckled Band and The Adventure of the Final Problem were all published in Strand Magazine while he was living here at number 12, amazingly. Today his house is somewhat unloved and, judging by the doorbells, has been subdivided into six flats. But at least it's still standing, whereas numbers 2 to 10 Tennison Road have all been demolished and each replaced by three lowlier townhouses, none of which will ever be graced by a blue plaque.
9) Experience pneumatic nirvana
As thrilling blue plaques go, 'The London to Croydon Atmospheric Railway operated through South Norwood' is right up there, in this case high on the wall beside the bridge on Manor Road. Only four such air-pressure-powered railways ever operated, this one in the mid-1840s with its pumping station located just north of the bridge. What's more the pipe got in the way of adjacent tracks so they had to build a wooden ramp to get the rails across, gradient 1 in 50, and that was the world's first railway flyover.
10) Join Stormzy in the Blue Jay cafe
Rapper Stormzy would classify SE25 as his 'hood, and has confirmed the Blue Jay cafe on Portland Road as his favourite eaterie. It serves proper Caribbean cuisine daily, include jerk chicken and curry goat, but also a Full English if you don't want ackee and saltfish with your breakfast. A few lucky punters can sit out front on a covered patio, while those inside can scrutinise a wall completely covered with photos (I don't know of what because it was closed).
11) Swim at South Norwood Leisure Centre
Let's knock the old pool down and build a new one said Labour councillors in 2005. Let's not said the incoming Conservative administration the following year, let's save £6m and just refurbish it. It is thus a less exciting leisure centre than it could be. It does however have a blue plaque out front for Ellen 'Ciss' Wright, 1930's All England champion over 440 yards, but she lived half a mile up the road so it's not especially well placed.
12) Explore Brickfields Park
There's a clue in the name here because Brickfields Park used to be a brickfield, indeed so did several parks locally because the high grade London clay hereabouts was ideal for brickmaking. Try to picture the site as it was 50 years ago with five kilns and a 160 foot chimney, rather than scrubby grassland, a flooded claypit and an austere play-labyrinth.
13) Hit the southern edge of London Elmers Road (alongside Blackhorse Lane tram stop) isn't just the southernmost street in SE25 but also the southernmost street in the entire London postal district. The southernmost public building is the Church of God of Prophecy, the southernmost business is Blackhorse Service Station, the southernmost food outlet splits its offering between pizza and burritos, and a resident of the southernmost property really should have pulled his trousers up before leaning into the back of his white van.
14) Squidge through South Norwood Country Park
Prior to becoming a country park in 1989 this utterly sprawling greenspace has been a farm, a sewage farm, an army training ground and a spoil heap, so is much better off in recreational form. It can feel a bit remote along the trails in the centre as well as squidgy underfoot, so it's very low down on my list of favourite parks, but on this occasion I had a proper close-up encounter with a lone fox near Harrington Lane tramstop so it's gone up in my estimation a tad.
15) See the actual Arena
If you've ever wondered which Arena the tram stop called Arena is named after, it's Croydon Sports Arena SE25 4QL. This opened in 1953 and is still home to Croydon Amateurs, now Croydon FC, midtable stalwarts of Southern Counties East League Division One.
16) Walk through Heaver's Meadow
A walk alongside the Norbury Brook sounds lovely, but the river's in a culvert and the long tarmac path alongside is sandwiched between a thickety bog and the edge of an exceptionally large rail depot, so really only pleasant if you like crows, flood prevention schemes and Southern rolling stock.
17) Get trained at Selhurst Depot
The Southern and Gatwick Express Driver Training Centre is at Selhurst Depot, so if you're planning to become a fully qualified train driver you could spend the first six months of intensive training here before being allowed out for 225 hours driving experience with an instructor.
18) Try to see Coleridge-Taylor's house Samuel Coleridge-Taylor is best known for his choral work Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, a setting of verses from the Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. With the proceeds of his success he moved from Croydon to a smart little house in Dagnall Park, close to Selhurst station and appropriately enough bang opposite the Brit School. Samuel was also the first ever black recipient of a blue plaque, but you'll struggle to see it because the house's current owners have surrounded their front garden with a deliberately obstructive screen of shrubbery.
19) Experience top flight football at Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is Crystal Palace's home ground, and has been since 1924 when the club were ejected from the current site of Selhurst train depot. The Main stand is an original but is about to be replaced. The Whitehorse Lane stand contains executive boxes perched on top of a Sainsbury's supermarket. The Holmesdale Road stand is the most recent and from the rear has all the charm of a secure institution. Fans can enjoy a visit to the club shop, a drink in the Fanzone and a photo in front of a mural depicting ten famous players, although I recognised none of them. There are also lots of pictorial references to Eagles, this being the club's nickname, and no references to the fact that Apple TV drama Ted Lasso used the stadium as the home ground for AFC Richmond, Nelson Road.
20) Walk through Grangewood Park
This is a lovely large park, triangular in shape with more woodland than grassland and packed full of contours. In the centre I found a sunken garden, the remnants of some public conveniences, a couple of players bravely playing tennis and evidence of an outdoor playgroup called Mudder Nature. It's also somewhere a lot of local residents bring their muzzled dogs for exercise, because SE25's hounds appear to be on the large side.
21) Go sailing on the reservoir
When the Croydon Canal was built they needed a reservoir so they dug one at the top of South Norwood, off what's now Avenue Road. Since 1836 it's not been needed, but that's good because today you can sail boats on it and fish from round the edge of it. Croydon Sailing Club keep their boats on a slipway near the cafe and launch them every Sunday, with members watching proceedings from the clubhouse verandah. Bowls is a Monday and Wednesday affair. Swimming is not permitted, and all fish must be returned to the lake.
22) Walk through the actual Great North Wood
Norwood was originally covered by the Great North Wood, hence the name, of which not many ancient fragments remain. But Beaulieu Heights is one such remnant, a glorious deciduous slope below the TV mast threaded through with a waymarked path. I followed the white arrows up wooden steps scrunchy with oak leaves and from the summit enjoyed a broad view across SE25 and far beyond.
23) Gaze up at the Croydon Transmitter
Visible for miles on the top of Beulah Hill, this 152m mast is the successor to ITV's very first TV transmitter erected in 1955. It still transmits radio, both analogue and digital, but since 2012 no longer television... although it is ready to kick in as back-up if Crystal Palace ever fails. From close up you can see a bevy of dishes attached to its latticework, and from even closer up you can rick your neck while standing in Arqiva's car park.
24) Ordain yourself at Spurgeon's College
Have you ever wanted to be a Baptist minister? Thankfully Charles Haddon Spurgeon opened a training college in 1856 and in 1923 it moved to Falkland Park, a grand home on Beulah Hill gifted by a wealthy convert. I know it's unlikely that your career plans include Bible-led teaching but if they do Pastor Rick Warren would love to welcome you to SE25.
