Loughton Bus Garage
Published: 11 September 2017
BLUE HERITAGE PLAQUE commemorates the Loughton Bus Garage 1923 – 1953
Homebase, 140 Church Hill, Loughton IG10 1LJ
Since 1997 Loughton Town Council has
installed a series of blue heritage plaques around the town to commemorate
either famous former residents or the buildings themselves. The
latest plaque to be installed, the 39th, is at the Loughton branch
of Homebase to commemorate the building’s former use by the London General
Omnibus Company as a bus garage between the years 1923-1953.
The official unveiling ceremony by
town mayor Phillip Abraham took place on Monday 10 July. Councillor Chris
Pond gave a short talk on the history of the building.
Also present at the ceremony was a
vintage bus, a 1949 Bedford OB generously provided by Lodge’s of High
Easter.
We thank the property
owner, James Lang Wootton Investment Management, for supporting this scheme.
The right hand photograph above shows the funeral of former bus driver, Mr Longhurst in 1936 and we are grateful to Theresa Walstow
for providing the following information:
“My father, Mr John Walstow, was born and lived just up the road at 120
Church Hill; he is 92 now and remembers the Longhurst family very well.
The Longhursts lived at no 16 Englands
Lane. Mr and Mrs Longhurst had two
children, the eldest being Joan and a son called Cyril.
I started Staples Road School in Loughton at
the same time as Cyril around September 1930. We became great friends on his visits to my
family home in Church Hill just up from the Bus Garage. We used to play with
our model aircraft in the fields opposite my home, an area which is now called
Hill Top.
Mr Longhurst drove the 'solid tyre buses'
namely the 100B route, which ran from Loughton Garage to the Elephant and
Castle. He was quite tall in stature
with dark wavy hair – a kindly man; sadly he contracted tuberculosis and died
in a sanatorium in 1936.
My friendship with Cyril continued throughout
the years until his death in 1980.”