Ash Grove bus garage is a bus garage in Hackney,

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

. It is located on the

Mare Street Mare Street is a street in the London Borough of Hackney. It has existed since the 15th century, when it was one of the first roads at the centre of the parish. It was then known as ''Merestret''. The word ''mere'' was either the Old English '' ...

, where it crosses the

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames ...

. The depot is occupied by two companies,

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva sub ...

and

Stagecoach London Stagecoach London is a major bus operator in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London mostly in East and South East London as well as some services into Central London. It i ...

, and holds around thirty buses. Opened in 1981 by

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus ...

, it was closed in 1991 following the abandonment of the

London Forest London Forest was a subsidiary of London Buses that operated services between April 1989 and November 1991. History London Forest was formed as one of the eleven operating units of London Buses in readiness for privatisation. It commenced opera ...

subsidiary, but reopened in 1994 by

Kentish Bus London Country South East (LCSE) was a bus operator in South East England and London. It was formed from the split of London Country Bus Services in 1986 and operated a fleet of around 170 buses from four garages, with its headquarters locat ...

East Thames Buses East Thames Buses was the trading name of London Buses Limited, an arms length subsidiary of Transport for London. In 2009, it was sold to the Go-Ahead Group. History East Thames Buses was formed in 1999 to take over the services operated ...

have also used the site.

History

Ash Grove is one of three new garages opened in 1981 by

at a cost of £3.5 million. It had space for 140 buses undercover and a further 30 in the yard. The roof was unusual in being carried by ten 35-ton triangular trusses, said to be the largest in the UK, supported on

reinforced concrete column A reinforced concrete column is a structural member Structural elements are used in structural analysis to split a complex structure into simple elements. Within a structure, an element cannot be broken down (decomposed) into parts of different kin ...

s. The garage assumed Hackney's operation of Red Arrow routes 502 and 513 using new Leyland Nationals which had been stored at the garage, and the entire Hackney and

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas incl ...

allocations. When London Buses was split into eleven separate companies Ash Grove became part of the

operation, but closed in 1991 when London Forest was wound up.London Bus Garages: Ash Grove '' The London Bus'' Volume 6 2019 pages 116-120

1990s

The garage was re-opened in 1994 by

. This came about after then gained a small number of routes in the

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the Rive ...

area, including former Boro'line route 108, although they referred to the garage as Cambridge Heath. Ash Grove was also used at various times to house stored vehicles for the

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the ...

.Arriva London - News - Ash Grove garage fully operational again

2000s

Ash Grove re-opened again in 2000 for use by the London Buses company

which took over the former

Harris Bus Harris Bus was an English bus operator that operated services under contract to Transport for London. History Harris Bus was established in October 1986 as bus and coach operator in Grays. In 1997 it diversified, operating routes under contrac ...

routes after that company ran into financial difficulties. Although East Thames Buses have now moved to new premises at Mandela Way,

CT Plus HCT Group was a social enterprise providing transport services and community services in several areas of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1982 as Hackney Community Transport in the London Borough of Hackney, to provide transport services ...

moved into the garage yard to house its routes won in the London area. CT Plus use the garage to stable vehicles for routes 153, 212,

385 Year 385 ( CCCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Bauto (or, less frequently, year 1138 ''Ab urbe co ...

388 Year 388 ( CCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1141 ''A ...

394 __NOTOC__ Year 394 (CCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Western Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Flavianus without colleague (or, less ...

812 __NOTOC__ Year 812 ( DCCCXII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 11 – Ex-emperor Staurakios, a son of Nikephoros I, dies ...

, W12, W13 and 675.

used the depot as the base for their new

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asi ...

articulated buses for route 38 following the conversion from

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...

s in November 2005. This has ended following the route's conversion back to double-deck operation, but routes 78 and

168 Year 168 ( CLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Paullus (or, less frequently, year 921 ''Ab urbe co ...

have been transferred to operate from the garage.

Industrial relations

The garage has suffered from a number of industrial relations difficulties in its history. In 1991 London Forest won a group of eleven tendered routes in the

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London and the ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Charing Cross, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and Sou ...

area on the basis of very low prices. This led to the company proposing a pay cut of around 18% to all staff, which saw staff at all of its four garages strike. Following these events the company was wound up and the garage closed. In June 2008 forty CT Plus employees based at the garage protested against the dismissal of a shop steward who had refused to drive a bus with a health and safety defect. October 2010 saw strike action by CT Plus workers in a dispute over pay, although most services were not disrupted significantly.Hackney bus services continue despite strike , Eastlondonlines
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References

External links

{{coord , 51, 32, 9, N, 0, 3, 32, W, type:landmark_region:GB-HCK, display=title Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hackney Bus garages in London Transport infrastructure completed in 1981