please empty your brain below
Well, the clickbait worked.

What is more I am very surprised. I am not totally unfamiliar with Leaves Green but never imagined this even though I was aware of multiple buses going there.

However, I have been aware that the bus service in this area is a LOT better than forty years ago. For instance, Downe had one bus an hour then as two of the three double-deck, crew-operated buses an hour on route 146 terminated at The Fox in Keston. I think all Leaves Green had then was a relatively infrequent Green Line service and possibly some infrequent green (country) buses.

I am also surprised that Chelsfield is a village according to the Ordnance Survey. It might not have a great bus service but it has, or pre-Covid had, a fabulous train service with trains non-stop to London Bridge in the peaks. This was due to, in part, to originally being the last stop in the zoned area when zones were introduced in London and a lot of de-facto off-street parking. This was combined with a desire not to overwhelm longer distance trains with hordes of people at Orpington - one stop closer to London.

Pedantic of Purley | 20.08.22 - 7:40 a.m. | #

You'll certainly fail the audition if you confirm that your clickbait is to be based on facts!

Frank F | 20.08.22 - 7:47 a.m. | #

Thank you for the last three posts,all based in and around Bromley. Good to read about somewhere you know from a visitor’s point of view.

Jo W | 20.08.22 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Highgate Village?

dg writes: no, nor Wimbledon, nor Dulwich, nor Marylebone, nor Hampstead, nor Portobello, nor Barnes, nor Walthamstow, nor North Greenwich... (see post).

winsleigh | 20.08.22 - 8:22 a.m. | #

The real improvements to Leaves Green bus service started in 1990 when LRT introduced route 320, replacing the hourly London & Country 410 Bromley-Reigate service and an hourly Kentish Bus Bromley-Biggin Hill 20. Both of these had I think been operated on a commercial basis up until then.

Weirdly for many years the Sunday version of the 320 was a separate contract which ran every 2 hours, a very poor offering for Greater London. For a time this was run off the 477 which extended from Chelsfield to Bromley on a Sunday - if this was delayed or failed to run, passengers would have a very long wait for the next one.

Leaves Green also had a direct service to Croydon between 1990 and 1998 with the commercial Metrobus 356.

PC | 20.08.22 - 8:25 a.m. | #

British Museum will soon lose its only bus service if the planned cull of the 14 goes ahead. Yet more ignominy following closure of its eponymous tube station. Totally cut off.

Strabismus | 20.08.22 - 8:37 a.m. | #

Ruxley’s in Bromley? Well I never….

dg writes: officially, yes.

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 20.08.22 - 8:46 a.m. | #

In 1976 Leaves Green was served by London Country route 410 (Bromley North and Sevenoaks) and Green Line 705 (Sevenoaks and Windsor), the newcomers were Orpington & District which operated the 859 (which looks like a school route) and the 860 (which ran Mon-Fri between Croydon and Biggin Hill).

The 320 replaced the Bromley end of the 410, the 246 also maintains the link between Bromley and Westerham but follows a different route.

Still Anon | 20.08.22 - 9:12 a.m. | #

Some of us in Charlton think we live in a village. After all, the main street is called "The Village".

Petex | 20.08.22 - 9:56 a.m. | #

If this were genuine clickbait I would point out that the whole premise is wrong. Parts of South Harefield for instance are just as long a walk to the bus route as is much of Mayfair to the many nearby routes.
(and whatever the OS say, South Harefield really isn't a separate village. It even steals Harefield proper's church.)

Andrew S | 20.08.22 - 10:33 a.m. | #

I don't suppose anyone who shops in those swanky Mayfair emporia ever rides on a bus. Or uses any other form of public transport!

Suse | 20.08.22 - 2:47 p.m. | #

My London's latest attempt at niche bus content disguised as clickbait is properly niche, but also headlined by a screaming untruth.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 20.08.22 - 3:18 p.m. | #

Bond Street's bus route has changed over the years. Originally the 25 (and 25b until 1950), it was taken over by the 8 in 1992, the C2 in 2009, and finally the 22 in 2017.

✉

Timbo | 21.08.22 - 8:11 a.m. | #

The 331 and U9 both pass my front door. Neither are picking up or dropping much through Harefield but the 331 starts out in busy Uxbridge before slipping briefly into south Bucks and then on to busy Northwood and Ruislip so quite an important route. U9 is a sleepier creature that has came under threat on various occasions but still does the important job of bringing staff and patients to Harefield hospital so I guess it deserves its place.

Cottonsocks | 21.08.22 - 8:06 p.m. | #

As an example of how different London is, my village is 4 miles from a city centre bus station and has a population of about 500. There is one bus per week which doesn’t even go to the city and no other buses within 2 miles.

Kev | 22.08.22 - 11:03 a.m. | #











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