please empty your brain below
Sadly, after 333 years it looks like there might not be cricket at Mitcham Cricket Green for too much longer. The developer that owns the former Burn Bullock also owns the land that the cricket pavilion is on, and has refused to properly engage with the club for over a decade. They're looking to turn the pub into a hotel (because who doesn't want to stay in Mitcham?) and squeeze the club out.See this article in the Wimbledon Guardian from June:

Ian C | 04.08.18 - 7:35 a.m. | #

Better news for sports fans is that Dulwich Hamlet F.C., who are also in a dispute with their ground owner, are now groundsharing at Tooting & Mitcham F.C.'s Imperial Fields Stadium. Bus 280 stops outside the ground , just past the River Waddle (Wandle Ruad bus stop). They have I can confirm, a very tasty Jamaican food shack in their car park, that is open 7 days a week.

Doug Robinson | Homepage | 04.08.18 - 8:14 a.m. | #

It's not just a secondary school that will be squeezed into the old Sutton Hospital site. There are plans for a 'Cancer Hub' (a big research centre to link in with the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital just to the south on a contiguous site).

This will make the 280 busier (particularly from Sutton Station) and there are plans to extend the proposed Tramlink (currently to be between Morden/South Wimbledon and Sutton) as far as Belmont, in parallel with the 280 route to cater for the extra users.

RayL | 04.08.18 - 8:46 a.m. | #

Really enjoyed reading about your varied journey across London for the last four days. Even for your high standard of writing I found these four days particularly vivid and captivating and we get this all for FREE! Thank you :)

MS | 04.08.18 - 8:54 a.m. | #

The 405 from West Croydon goes into Surrey by a good distance!

dg writes: See my reply to the comment you left on Thursday's post.

Drew | Homepage | 04.08.18 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I once hopped on a bus to Belmont (was there once one from Putney?) purely because I saw it on the destination blind and wondered what was there. I wasn't really dressed for a walk on the common and had no map, the service wasn't very frequent and I don't think the weather was conducive, so I had the slight embarrassment of getting back on the same bus. It's possible the driver thought less of it than I did.

Andrew S | 04.08.18 - 9:54 a.m. | #

Back in 1969, the 280 started as a peak-time variation of the 80A to Walton-on-the-Hill (Chequers). Bus crews for many decades used to have their break at Mr Kite's tiny tea shack opposite the Chequers.

Although boarded up for many years the shack remained intact until around 2012 (TfL having long abandoned the Surrey village).

However, thanks to the ingenuity of Google's Street View, one can scroll back to 2012 and revisit this tiny piece of lost suburban transport history.

Ironicsteve | 04.08.18 - 10:11 a.m. | #

@Andrew S
The 80 used to run from Belmont to Putney, running parallel with the 93 from London Road. The route was then shortened, terminating at Morden, then extended to it's present terminus - Hackbridge. At some point, the 80 changed it's terminus from Belmont to the prisons, just up the road from where the 280 terminates.

The common is well worth a walk around for anybody wanting exercise and the weather is OK.

Rog | 04.08.18 - 10:25 a.m. | #

A great conclusion to a fascinating trip.

Although I sometimes hand over my front seat to an eager child, I sometimes do not: it's hard to figure out on the spur of the moment whether the child deserves it. But whatever your usual policy, DG, you had a good journalistic reason to stay sat there.

It is possible that every household in the leafy avenue has a car. But even so, some of the inhabitants will be unable or unwilling to drive, for age or other reasons, so the bus service should still be appreciated.

"Hairdressing for men" may be a less modern title than grooming, but it's still decades ahead of my upbringing, where women used hairdressers and men and boys used barbers.

Malcolm | 04.08.18 - 11:17 a.m. | #

There appears to be an amazing amount of space devoted to that terminus at Belmont.

kev | 04.08.18 - 12:27 p.m. | #

Really enjoyable read, hope you went home by train, Belmont station just round the corner feels like an old unstaffed railway halt and is on a single line as well.

dg writes: Absolutely.

Sir Biton | 04.08.18 - 1:30 p.m. | #

A lovely travelogue - thanks. Will you now be planning to do the equivalent diagonal journeys at some point.

Ending close to home, however, I think you have been a bit harsh with your summary of your brief foray through Mitcham town centre.

I have been really impressed with both the quality and style of these public works which have brought calm and some greenery to a previoulsy chaotic space. I would even go so far as to say that the reclaimed pedestrian space would qualify the area as a piazza.

The 'detour' for us luddites who still use a car is neither here nor there, a maximum of 50m additional journey length for north/south through traffic, whilst it is actually now shorter for those heading to/from Colliers Wood.

And, I'm not good with acronyms. Is the CBD in the Sutton paragraph - central business district. Help!

Ken | 04.08.18 - 1:43 p.m. | #

Have to agree with everyone. This has been great fun.

Regarding Mitcham cricket, if it is Phoenix Grp Investments Limited (based in Leatherhead) as some of the online materials indicate, then the details from Companies House are here.

If that is right, someone needs to hold the sole director and shareholder accountable ...

Andrew | 04.08.18 - 4:22 p.m. | #

For the first time ever, this morning I went into a business because it had featured in today's diamondgeezer. Though given dg's hatred of dodgy pr's I failed to tell them dg had sent me there.

I visited the Shed Centre as I am in the market for a shed and was disappointed at how bad the ones on the likes of B&Q were. Until dg mentioned it, I was unaware of its existance, even though it's a single bus ride away from me. So thanks dg.

On the way I spotted the still in use Tooting Police Station. A particularly impressive between the wars number... [photo]

ap | 04.08.18 - 4:41 p.m. | #

Rereading dg's excellent last 4 posts, I'm struck by the changes in the bus network since I started using LT Central Buses in 1962.

For example on the Albert Embankment there is now only the 77 doing the "full run" (Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall) plus the 344 from Lambeth Road, whereas in 1962 on Mondays to Fridays the 59A West Hampstead to Streatham (AK), the 77 Euston to Tooting and the 77A King's Cross to Raynes Park ran via Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall (also the rush-hour 50 from Victoria Embankment to Stockwell and Addiscombe); the 44 from London Bridge to Mitcham covered the current 344 route via Lambeth Road and Vauxhall; and the 168 Turnpike Lane to Putney Heath, 170 Leyton to Wandsworth and 276 Tottenham or Finsbury Park (depending on time of day) to Streatham (BN) all came across Westminster Bridge and then to Vauxhall. And Banstead Hospital - now converted to the 2 prisons - had Sunday afternoon buses on the 88!

Ian | 04.08.18 - 5:09 p.m. | #

An excellent read. A Ulysses for the 21st century.

BlackCat3000 | 04.08.18 - 5:34 p.m. | #

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last few days following your trek north to south. Thanks DG for some splendid writing and observations.

Tetramesh | Homepage | 04.08.18 - 5:42 p.m. | #

When reading, I thought that maybe calling it north-south was stretching things a bit, because I would have classified Waltham Cross as north-east-ish and Sutton as south-west-ish. However, looking at a map, it seems that my intuition was wrong, the angle of travel is pretty close to north-south after all. Should have known that DG would not get something like that wrong.

Malcolm | 04.08.18 - 7:07 p.m. | #

Well straight to my home town this time. I lived near Belmont in the 50's and 60's, when racing pigeons were still left in baskets on the up Epsom Downs platform (No 3) at Sutton station which also had a charming little lever frame of its own, and there was a very odd street lamp at the Belmont bus turn round with I believe a transformer in its cast iron base alongside an area of gravel.

Local rumour was that The Californian was so called as it was founded at the time of the Gold Rush. My mother was a patient at the Royal Marsden and I had an operation at Sutton Hospital (where the operating theatre had a large window facing onto the road so you could see the surgeons in mid-operation).

I never saw the beam engine at the Banstead lunatic asylum (now the prison) but I and a friend did discover a body on Banstead Downs in 1963. And until I was allowed to ride a bike to school I used to use what was then the 213 from Pine Walk to Sutton.

Thank you for this and all your fascinating blogs.

Westville13 | 04.08.18 - 7:08 p.m. | #

This trip was great, although I did think you would somehow get to Kingston then take the 465 to Dorking which is obviously much further out but I've just realised that would require another bus

Ethan | 05.08.18 - 3:10 a.m. | #

Watford to Kingston is perfectly possible in three buses, so maybe that's a north-south trip for another day...

diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.08.18 - 8:43 a.m. | #

DG, just out of interest, have you ever attempted to do/find the longest possible journey on consecutively numbered buses? Eg. No 1, directly changing to 2, then 3, 4 and beyond etc.

Quite a time consuming and difficult thing to work out, i'm sure, but seemingly right up your street?

ambient | 05.08.18 - 12:03 p.m. | #

Quote DG: "Watford to Kingston is perfectly possible in three buses"

You had done the other way round 4 years ago already, albeit along the edge, and in four buses (216 >> Surrey 441 >> U3 >> 331), and that movement is no longer possible now (see my comment back in the 441 trip's post for details).

I do wonder how Watford - Kingston is done, and whether it can avoid Heathrow.

Patrickov | 05.08.18 - 3:10 p.m. | #

Crossing Greater Manchester by bus also provides great varierty but generally can be done with 2 or 3 busses given its smaller size. A great read as always.

Rick | 05.08.18 - 5:01 p.m. | #

Watford to Kingston.
258, 483, 65
Via Harrow and Ealing, and nowhere near Heathrow.

(There may be other possibilities)

Iggy | 06.08.18 - 8:00 a.m. | #

It is a worry about Mitcham's Cricket Club. I'm not a fan of the game myself, but I popped the ween in for their cricket for kids sort of thing and they were an extremely friendly and enthusiastic bunch. Sorry to say I'm an antisocial grump and didn't take them up on most of it though.

I used to live just a 5 minute walk down Mulgrave Rd from Sutton station. Had some visitors over from the States and made it back late from central London. So tube to Morden and a bus (no trains by then). The looks on their faces when we boarded the 80... Oh no, we're not just going to Belmont Prison. We're going to Belmont Prison*S*. :D

Chz | 06.08.18 - 9:26 a.m. | #











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