Ash Grove opens its doors

Tuesday 6th October 2026

London’s Ash Grove bus garage in Hackney marked its 45th anniversary this year (yes, just a spring chicken in age terms) by holding an Open Day on Saturday in association with another of the London Bus Museum’s ever popular running days – this one involving route 106 between Finsbury Park and Limehouse, which coincidentally runs past Ash Grove garage.

Due to other commitments on many weekends I’m rarely free to attend such events, but last weekend was an exception so I rocked up at Finsbury Park bus station conveniently sited alongside the rail and Underground station’s main exit, to join in the fun by travelling on one of the 30 or more heritage (and not so heritage) buses running along the 106 route over to Hackney to take a look inside Ash Grove garage.

Volunteers at the London Bus Museum organising the running day do a fantastic job providing information online about what to expect with superbly clear route maps (TfL please note) …

… and a full timetable (TfL please note)…

and vehicle allocation so die heard enthusiasts can select a particular journey being operated by their favourite bus to ride on.

The first departure of the morning at 09:10 had to leave the busy bus station a few minutes ahead of time so as not to impede normal service buses wanting to depart, so I just missed it – this was in the hands of SRM3 the silver liveried Routemaster painted for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 – four years before Ash Grove was born (!) – which I saw later in the morning on its way back to Finsbury Park.

Next up at 09:30 was RM848 which also struggled to get through the busy bus station…

… but when it finally got to the stop I jumped on board but most of the others at the stop…

… were patiently waiting to sample STL2377 due to depart at 09:44 which at 89 years old this year (entered service 1937) is obviously a bigger draw than a bog standard and youthful 1960s RM.

It was a smooth ride over to Hackney with more passengers joining along the way including ordinary folk going about their business and expressing surprise at this feast of nostalgia as we turned up at bus stops along the route.

It shows how times have changed as at one stop a mother and child in a buggy went to board as normal before realising it wasn’t a step free bus as the conductor explained to her. Can you imagine going back to the days when what we used to call ‘push chairs’ had to be folded and stored in the small cubby hole under the stairs – even smaller on RTs than RMs – and those needing to use a wheelchair had no chance, yet for decades that was regarded as the norm. It was thanks to pioneering work by the late Claudia Flanders as well as my good friend Andrew Braddock that made low floor buses the norm.

As shown in the above maps, today’s route 106 still operates via Stoke Newington, Clapton, Hackney to Bethnal Green from where it continues to Whitechapel but back in the 1970s it ran via Limehouse to Poplar and the Blackwall Tunnel and even further back in time continued to Becontree Heath.

Saturday’s heritage timetable saw most journeys terminate at Limehouse with some short workings to Ash Grove around lunch time with a few continuing from and to Becontree Heath at the beginning and end of the day. As you can see as we continued towards Ash Grove through Clapton and Hackney heritage buses were passing us towards Finsbury Park every few minutes making for a feast of nostalgia. Saturday’s operation also saw single deck ‘heritage buses’ on route D6 which took over the southern end of route 106 through Mile End to Crossharbour.

We reached Ash Grove on time at 10:13 after a steady run and already a small queue of eager visitors had formed outside the gate of Ash Grove bus garage which wasn’t opening until 11:00.

Others were taking the opportunity to watch and photograph the many heritage buses passing by every few minutes on both the 106 and D6.

Many local people walking by couldn’t understand what was going on with old style buses on the road and hundreds of people queuing to get into a bus garage. And yes, by 11:00 there really were hundreds of people waiting to get in.

But there was plenty of room for many stands selling books, photographs and models which were proving as popular as ever.

It was brilliant to see people from of al ages and all backgrounds including families with young children, teenagers, middle age and olduns. It just shows how much interest there is in buses and transport provision. Open the doors of somewhere that’s usually out of bounds and people are naturally curious as to what they will find.

Even residents of the flats on the corner of the main road and the small road leading to the garage came out on to their balconies to watch the buses pass by. It was lovely to see such interest being taken in public transport and its history.

London Buses – then part of London Transport – opened Ash Grove in April 1981 as a replacement for the old Hackney and Dalston garages becoming part of the London Forest Bus Division when that was set up. However the garage closed just ten years later when London Forest was disbanded but in a varied career with a number of openings and closures over the subsequent 35 years it’s been rented out to various operators including Kentish Bus, East Thames Buses, Arriva London and CT Plus which sold out to Stagecoach in 2022 before going bust shortly afterwards and Stagecoach continues to occupy the garage today, currently running 107 buses on routes 26, 242, 277, 309, 310, 388, 394, D6, and D7 as well as Night Bus routes N26, N242, N277 and N550.

So, it’s a busy garage but at 11:00 on Saturday the gate finally opened and volunteers from Macmillan Cancer Support were on hand to sell admission tickets at £5 with £3 for a programme making for a well deserved handsome amount which must have been raised for this charity from gate receipts.

Inside the garage visitors were greeted by a fine display of varied vehicles including examples from Manchester and the south coast together with many associated with London.

A couple of unusual buses taking centre stage included this preserved Mercedes Citaro articulated bus…

… and this rather smart looking ADL Enviro200 resplendent in old style Red Arrow livery.

For those of us with longer memories examples of the ill-fated ‘Merlin’ and ‘Swift’ class were also on display including the original Red Arrow livery.

Some areas of the garage were obviously our of bounds including the engineering pits…

… and the fuel and washing bay.

Stagecoach was also doing a roaring trade in selling off old destination blinds – something in a few years time will be a thing of the past as more buses are fitted with electronic screens.

And there was fun for younger children aspiring to be bus drivers trying their hand at steering a Bus Kart as Mum and Dad pushed it around the designated circuit.

A lot of hard work and effort goes into organising and running an Open Day like this and the Stagecoach team did a fantastic job and hundreds, maybe even thousands of visitors will have appreciated the fine display put on.

Similarly those at the London Bus Museum who organised the 106 Running Day must be congratulated along with all the owners and volunteers of the many heritage buses out on the road on Saturday giving much joy to all who travelled.

I came away delighted to see so many young people taking a keen interest in the event as well as seeing those of an older generation throwing themselves into the spirit of the day bringing back fond memories of ‘the good old days’ the youngsters would regard as ancient history.

The Museum’s next Running Days in 2027 are already in hand for Saturdays 20th March on route 6 and 13th June on route 107. And to end, here’s a selection of just some of the buses involved on Saturday as they passed by the bus garage while waiting for the doors to open, including some (as you will have noted in the allocation list shown earlier) from other operators.

Roger French

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