Where I Used To Get The Bus To School

A Memory of East Finchley.

This picture (e199012) must be mid-afternoon judging by the shadows but there is surprisingly little traffic. The bus stop on the right, with a shelter, is where the 17 and 104 would stop on their way north. The stop on the left is for the 102 in the direction of Golders Green. The Estate Agent is still there. Next to it is "Tudor 4000" which sold electrical goods and also a small selection of records. In the centre, just beyond the road junction on the left, is the Rex cinema (affectionately known as the flea pit) which is now the Phoenix. Down the hill on the right-hand side, beyond the trees is the United Dairies, which included stables for the horses used for milk delivery. Further down the hill, behind the trees is hidden the Underground station and Eric Aumonier's famous sculpture of an Archer.

Strange to see it looking like that without trolley poles and wires. The wires had been gone for over 3 years, the poles stayed a little longer. Otherwise the road has not changed much since the 50s when I can I remember with affection catching trolleybuses with my Mother, and when he was not working my Father, to take us north and south: 517 & 617 (replaced 02/61) and 609 (11/61).

I live in Kent now but come back when I am in striking distance to have a look round, walk past the old maisonette in Market Place and perhaps a saunter through Cherry Tree Woods. Then there is probably time for a pint and a bite to eat in the Old White Lion before catching the tube back to Charing Cross.