please empty your brain below
I always enjoy these birthday posts. Working at Upton Park garage during the Olympics was an eye opener, as Green Street is very different to most of provincial England.

Al | 10.03.23 - 2:25 a.m. | #

You did (technically) pass a tenth pub on your route, the Leyton Technical, in the former Leyton Town Hall. It's temporarily closed due to a rent dispute, though that's been the case since September and there's no sign of it reopening so perhaps best left off your list after all.

martin | 10.03.23 - 7:44 a.m. | #

I'm looking forward to your 60th birthday bus ride, but I don't expect you're looking forward to that birthday.

Petras409 | 10.03.23 - 8:41 a.m. | #

The Forest Tavern is visible from the 58 in Forest Gate - two doors from The Fox & Hounds.

JohnC | 10.03.23 - 9:35 a.m. | #

Funny you mentioned open conversations in buses. Yesterday I was just in front of a lady who was explaining to another how to use a stolen or defrauded credit card to pay for travel. I showed her that I had noted down the credit card details and a major ruckus ensued. Dumb criminal indeed.

international reader | 10.03.23 - 9:37 a.m. | #

I use this bus to get from home in Forest Gate to Leyton Orient games.

As others have noted, there's also the Leyton Technical (currently closed) and the Forest Tavern pubs.

The Forest Tavern is in Forest Gate separated from the Fox and Hounds by a now closed estate agent.

It's possible that you didn't see the Forest Tavern, as it is currently undergoing refurbishment and is hidden behind scaffolding at present.

Charlie | 10.03.23 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Lovely account. Sadly there is no numerically-equivalent bus route for me to use where I live on my special day today. I'll make do with a randomly-selected one instead.

cau1khead | 10.03.23 - 10:09 a.m. | #

London Bus Route histories links.

The 58 timetable link takes me to the 58 (058-2.html), but the one for the route history takes me to the 85, even though the link says 058.html it takes you to 085.html.

dg writes: fixed, thanks.

Still Anon | 10.03.23 - 10:31 a.m. | #

"Places of worship on the southside of the road include a mosque, an evangelical church and a McDonalds drive-through."

Breaking News: Heaven replaces Pearly Gates with Golden Arches. Worshippers flock in!

I wonder what next year's birthday ride will bring.

Cornish Cockney | 10.03.23 - 11:44 a.m. | #

The Who Shop? My first thought was 'What's Roger Daltrey got to do with Newham?'

Alan S | 10.03.23 - 12:14 p.m. | #

Petras409… of course dg is looking forward to his 60th Birthday!

He will then be able to apply for his 60 Plus Oyster card. It will give him free travel all over London and Greater London, on buses, trams, tubes and trains, after 9am weekdays and any time at weekends. It’s an amazing privilege for people living in a London Borough.

Neesi | 10.03.23 - 5:06 p.m. | #

But I will also be nearer death.
So, swings and roundabouts.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 10.03.23 - 5:08 p.m. | #

When you get older! losing your hair,
Many years from now,
Your bus journey will take you to Croydon.

Cottonsocks | 10.03.23 - 6:21 p.m. | #

This was a much longer route when I was growing up in Walthamstow -- from the Crooked Billet pub to Canning Town, with rush hour extensions to Silvertown and North Woolwich. I did not know that Etloe House once housed an archbishop, but I do know that it was later a nunnery, because I was taught by the nuns!

James Webber | 10.03.23 - 7:19 p.m. | #

So, assuming Over 60 passes are still available in two years time (and what Mayor would dare withdraw them?), your first free ride will take you to Coulsdon.

timbo | 10.03.23 - 10:09 p.m. | #

No it won't.

My thanks to the eight readers who've commented on this year's trip.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 10.03.23 - 10:13 p.m. | #

For anyone who has ever planned or attempted the tube challenge, this is possibly the most difficult part of the route to decide. Whether to treat Walthamstow as a dead end, or link from Leyton by bus, or from Leytonstone by overground.

Kev | 10.03.23 - 10:54 p.m. | #

It really doesn't feel like a year since the last one.

John Styles | 10.03.23 - 11:40 p.m. | #

Route 58 memories: The Savoy Cinema at the corner of Lea Bridge Road & Markhouse Road became a Bingo hall and then later was used by a church. Might perhaps have been mid-70s? My aunt's family lived in Malta Road just off Church Road. She moved to Chingford in the mid-70s, when I think the 58 came through to Chingford Mount. At some stage it might have become the 158?

To pick up the note from James Webber and his mention of the Crooked Billet Pub, my aunt went to school with the daughter of the publican and told stories of going down into the cellars. And a final note: I am not sure whether Etloe House became a care home in more recent years?

Happy Birthday and thanks for all the interesting posts.

g.chingford | 12.03.23 - 5:35 p.m. | #

Yesterday they ran special routemaster services on the 58 route for Comic Relief.

Vicki | 20.03.23 - 7:19 p.m. | #











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