please empty your brain below
Like a waiter who recommends nothing from the menu. And yet still my appetite has been whetted...

Waterhouse | 02.11.21 - 7:45 a.m. | #

I used to be a regular visitor to Aldersgate Underground Station and always preferred its original name to its current name, in fact I still always tend to refer to it as Aldersgate Station and not Barbican Station in much the same way as I still talk about the Post Office Tower.

fishislandskin | 02.11.21 - 7:55 a.m. | #

A street I know well - but interesting anyway.

Steve | 02.11.21 - 8:00 a.m. | #

Bruckner's 2nd - eminently hummable. In fact, you have set off an ear-worm for me this morning. I tend to think of Bruckner as the Jean-Michel Jarre of symphonists - featuring patterns rather than melodies as such - which may be why the ear-worm is morphing into the 7th Symphony mixed in with bits of the Te Deum.

MartinG | 02.11.21 - 8:27 a.m. | #

When you get to the 27 miles of the B6270 we can offer accommodation at the 17 mile point.

Putters | 02.11.21 - 8:42 a.m. | #

...in which I walk the entire length of Britain's B Roads... Umm, pretty niche I thought and that'll take some time - until I read your last line.
So, London's B Roads it is then!

Dave | 02.11.21 - 10:02 a.m. | #

Looking forward to this series, despite your attempts to put us off!

Shame about the Beech Street 'tunnel' experiment. Bet it was much quieter as well as less polluted.

Cornish Cockney | 02.11.21 - 10:12 a.m. | #

The B100 is actually fairly interesting for a short road, but the best stuff is tantalisingly off it!

Mikey C | 02.11.21 - 10:12 a.m. | #

It doesn't appear to be very well signposted as the B100.

kev | 02.11.21 - 10:12 a.m. | #

Very nostalgic. I started my working life just off Chiswell Street, some fifty years ago.

Barry Coppock | 02.11.21 - 10:18 a.m. | #

Good to read "Great Britain" instead of "British Isles" -- B9087 would be painful to go to (lol)

Patrickov | 02.11.21 - 10:25 a.m. | #

My dad had worked in Finsbury Square (retired 1979) and my mum was born in the area. Nice to revisit, even if I don't now recognise a single thing. And I'm another who is weirdly looking forward to the next instalment.

Pamela | Homepage | 02.11.21 - 10:50 a.m. | #

Beech Street occupies a special place in my mental A-Z as a terrible trap. I worked unsocial hours in the grid south of Worship Street and my drive home began with the B100. Every once in a while road works, security incidents, City runs or parades like the Lord Mayor's Show closed off select nodes and the unwary driver tickled into Beech Street like an eel entering a buck. Aand.. a queue of the damned would be stuck stewing in the tunnel with no escape. The anguish was exquisite. In later years it was my very great pleasure to cycle the same route, gaily whizzing past the jammed and frustrated.

jpmac | 02.11.21 - 11:35 a.m. | #

A great post, and I'd really like this series to continue! I wonder whether Bruckner stayed in Finsbury Square in his 1871 visit, or the return visit he made the following year.

cau1khead | 02.11.21 - 12:09 p.m. | #

So where is the longest 'B' road? I submit the B3227 from Norton Fitzwarren in Somerset to Stibb Cross in Devon - 57 miles.

dg writes: it’s the B6318 (61 miles).

Tony Moore | 02.11.21 - 12:16 p.m. | #

That made me look up 'B Roads' on Google, and down that rabbit warren I soon found myself heading. Fascinating.

Stuart R | 02.11.21 - 2:10 p.m. | #

Ah the B6318...
Not just the longest B road but added interest as it (1) crosses the Scottish border (2) follows the route of a Roman road for much of its length (3) has fabulous views of Hadrians wall.
You could write a veritable essay when you get this high up the sequence, but could be difficult as public transport options on most of this road are nil.

IslandDweller | 02.11.21 - 3:02 p.m. | #

My interest is peaked by The Jugged Hare pub at the corner of the former Whitbread Brewery. Was it once the location of the breweries main pub?

dg writes: Yes.

Steven | 02.11.21 - 5:08 p.m. | #

Even if I do two B Roads a week, I'll still be long dead before reaching the B6318.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.11.21 - 10:21 p.m. | #

There may well be plenty of anonymous office buildings, but I’m not sure the UBS edifice at the beginning of your trip quite qualifies. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but it’s a pretty unique looking building.

Kirk | 03.11.21 - 6:43 a.m. | #

minor correction - Appold Street, not Appold Road.

dg writes: fixed, thanks.

Hoping you continue this series through the first few of each of the number "regions" in the capital - B300 has a fair few interesting sites and is surprisingly well signposted on Union Street.

Ted | 04.11.21 - 4:42 p.m. | #











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