No RV1 from Waterloo to Aldwych
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Great Bus Journeys of the World No 16 Mike Roden enjoys being a tourist in his own town on the RV1 from Waterloo Having exhausted the routes which walkways added on each side though path which from the Norman period touch on Battersea, I decided the upstream one was removed when ran along the inside of the embanking to embark on some voyages of the line was widened. river wall; and it still retains the twists discovery by bus through different The remaining footbridge was and turns of a country lane. In quick parts of London, highlighting some very narrow, and became dilapidated succession here you can see BFI lesser known bits and pieces of and dangerous – it was the scene Southbank, the National Theatre history on the way. All the new of a murder in 1999 – and in 2002 complex and the London studios routes will be easily accessible from it was replaced by two 13ft wide of ITV, the home of many popular Battersea. footbridges, marking the fiftieth daytime and entertainment shows. The RV1 has been operating since anniversary of the Queen’s reign. Next to the studios is Gabriel’s April 2002 between Covent Garden Wharf, almost deserted at 11am on a and Tower Gateway station. It serves Grade 1 status January morning, but in high summer many streets that previously were Before 1951 this was an area of its shops, bars and restaurants are not served by buses. At the time the industrial buildings and railway a magnet for tourists. It’s hard to Daily Telegraph dubbed it one of sidings which formed the principal pin down the history of this wharf the ‘best routes for sightseeing on a site of the Festival of Britain. The area further back than its life as a shoestring’. only building to remain was the collection of old garages. I’d opted today to let the train take early nineteenth century shot tower, Traffic starts to slow down along the strain, and came into Waterloo built to make lead shot by dropping Broadwall. If you want to visit the Oxo that way. The bus actually starts at molten lead from a height. During Tower, which is behind us, you’ll need Catherine Street in Covent Garden, the Festival, it housed a large radio to get off at the next stop. Originally heading to Aldwych then across telescope and transmitter. It was a power station serving the Royal Waterloo Bridge. I’ve missed out that eventually demolished to make way Mail it was acquired in the 1920s by bit, and started on York Road. for the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Most Liebig (makers of Oxo cubes) for use Anyway, the bus arrives and three of the other structures like the Dome as a cold store. The company over- other passengers come aboard with of Discovery and the Skylon have rode a ban on illuminated advertising me. We’re soon turning past Jubilee also gone. But the Royal Festival Hall signs, by giving the tower four sets Gardens with the London Eye behind remains and we’re behind it now. It of vertically aligned windows which it. We’re in that quiet period where the was the first post-war building to be just happened to spell out the word city’s not over-run with tourists and granted Grade I status in 1981. OXO. In the 1990s the tower was the queue for a ride in one of the pods We’re now heading along refurbished to include a restaurant, is very small. Belvedere Road towards Waterloo craft shops and exhibition space and Bridge. The first bridge on the site is now a popular visitor destination. Hungerford Bridge opened in 1817 and despite needing We pass under the Hungerford regular reinforcement was not finally Facebook pub Bridge, opened in 1845. It was replaced until the 1940s with a new Turning into Stamford Street a sign originally a suspension footbridge design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. welcomes us to Borough & Bankside designed by I K Brunel crossing the It’s often described as the ‘ladies’ and we pass the Thirsty Bear which river between the South Bank and bridge’ because of the large female bills itself as the first Facebook pub. Hungerford Market. In 1859 it was work force which was involved in its Customers can pour their own pints bought by the South Eastern Railway wartime construction from table-side taps, text for waiter Company to extend their line into After the bridge the road changes service and use the iPads provided the new Charing Cross station. The its name to Upper Ground. The to order food or update their social new bridge, designed by Sir John oldest thoroughfare in this part of network profile. Sounds like fun. Hawkshaw and opened in 1864 had Southwark, it is the descendant of the Traffic now slows to a crawl and 8 Sights to see: Hungerford Bridge; the Royal Festival Hall (shown when first built); the Oxo Tower; the Hop Exchange; The Shard; City Hall the bus joins a queue of construction After passing Borough Market and road, and cross the historic bridge. vehicles and enters what feels like Southwark Cathedral (attractions for I ‘alight’ at the next stop and walk a massive building site. Number another time) we head past London down to the Tower of London. My visit 1 Blackfriars – one of the largest Bridge station on Tooley Street. On there is another story. developments on this stretch of the the left is Hays Galleria, now a mecca Southbank – is now well advanced. for small shops and restaurants The Battersea Society Its 50 storey tower will contain 274 but formerly known as Hays Wharf, flats, from studios starting at £1.15m once one of the chief delivery points Chair Sara Milne to penthouse suites expected to fetch for ships bringing tea to the Pool [email protected] up to £23m. The sellers are targeting of London. At one time so much potential buyers in Russia, China and imported food passed through here Vice-chair Sue Marshall the Gulf. Affordable housing it ain’t! that it was nicknamed ‘the Larder of [email protected] London’. Museum Despite incorporating fireproofing Secretary Harvey Heath On Southwark Street we pass the technology Hay’s Wharf was [email protected] Kirkaldy Testing Museum. David destroyed in the great fire of Tooley Kirkaldy’s Testing and Experimenting Street of 1861. This started in a jute Committee Chairs Works opened in 1874 setting consignment stored nearby and was Planning Liz Walton international standards in testing London’s biggest fire since the Great materials. Preserved here is Kirkaldy’s Fire. It raged for two weeks and killed, [email protected] unique Universal Testing Machine – a among others, the superintendent Open Spaces huge hydraulic powered machine of the London Fire Engine [email protected] in full working order. At the moment Establishment, James Braidwood, the museum is only open on the first when a warehouse exploded. The fire Events Sunday of the month between 10am was the catalyst for the founding of [email protected] and 4pm and on the third Sunday the London Fire Brigade in 1866. for guided tours at 11am and 2pm. General enquiries It’s one of those surprises that even Deftware [email protected] a busy street can spring on you in If you want to visit City Hall – home of London. the Greater London Authority – you Website The Shard looms ever closer as can get off at the next stop, and walk batterseasociety.org.uk the bus ambles past numerous new across Potters’ Field, opened in 1982 Registered charity no.1103560 residential and office developments and re-landscaped in 2007. A potters’ with ‘retail opportunities’ on the field is a burial ground for paupers ground floor. Another little known on land previously used to dig clay advertisement building here is the Grade II listed Hop and thus of no agricultural use. In Exchange. Opening in 1867 it served the seventeenth century Delftware as the brewing industry’s centre for was produced in this area by Dutch hop trading. A glass roof allowed refugees, and the existence of a small business on the trading floor of the disused burial ground was recorded Great Hall to be conducted under in the nineteenth century. Whether natural light. A fire in 1920 led to the this was actually a potters’ field is top two storeys being removed, and open to speculation, but that’s what the building is now used for offices the park is called. and as an events venue. Very soon we turn onto Tower Bridge 9.