100 British Bus Routes: Route 27
Cofton Hackett to Maypole

27 February 2022
ABOVE: National Express West Midlands 1921 (BX59 NTL), a Scania K230UB OmniLink, at Cofton Hackett, on the south-western outskirts of Birmingham, on Saturday 26th February 2022
Operator: National Express West Midlands
Runs: Daily, including evenings
Weekday frequency: Every 20 minutes
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: 11 buses (including route 20, Cofton Hackett to QE Hospital)
Off-peak journey time: 82 minutes
Estimated route length: 9 miles

Cofton Hackett sounds like a serious bronchial condition or, if spelt sightly differently, a relative of the frontman of A-ha. In fact, it’s a fine village in the Bromsgrove area of Worcestershire, although much closer to Birmingham than to Worcester. Apparently there are records of the village going back to the Eighth Century.

Back to 2022, and there are serious teenage sporting activities going on in the fields that sit alongside Groveley Lane, where, at the junction with Parsonage Drive, the 27 starts its journey across the southern suburbs of Birmingham.

It’s a slightly odd spot for a terminus. The centre of the village, according to electronic maps, is a little further south, although I can’t find a focal point; it’s just housing as far as I can tell, with the only major item of note being a reservoir. Clearly the bus doesn’t want to finish up in there!

But Parsonage Drive does provide a useful turning circle – except that it turns out that the bus I come in on doesn’t use it. As I leave at the ‘final’ stop, another passenger is still on board and the bus heads straight down the road. My initial assumption is that the bus is too long to use the turning circle and is heading down to a nearby roundabout.

However, it turns out that buses switch at Cofton Hackett from route 27, which comes in from the east, to route 20, which goes out to the west, via Northfield to QE Hospital (and vice versa). This explains how an intending passenger who has boarded with me at Longbridge station, on the way into Cofton, has asked for Northfield, which appears to me to be in the opposite direction.

My first thought is: why change the route number at all? However a check of the maps of the two routes covers that point off, as it’s clear that they criss-cross each other in the Northfield area in particular.

My bus comes in a couple of minutes ahead of its departure time, still labelled for route 20. The friendly driver is almost apologetic that we won’t be leaving for three minutes. As we’re not due out, that’s not a problem for me. There’s only one other customer from this stop and no-one has stayed on from the 20.

We pass lovely houses – many of them detached – as Cofton Hackett morphs into Longbridge. Once we get to Longbridge station, we get into a pattern where one or two people join at every stop. Most are either using free passes or paying by contactless (which, on National Express West Midlands is a ticket-free touch-in, as in London). Cash is still accepted, but only a couple of people on this route pay that way.

There used to be a car factory in Longbridge, but it’s now being developed into housing and is expected to substantially increase the population in this area over the next couple of years. But it’s still basically a derelict site at the moment.

As we drift on into Rubery (there isn’t much to tell us when we leave one area and move to the next), five people board at one stop. It’s becoming quite a busy run now – still seats for everyone but building up nicely.

On a route that runs across the suburbs, it’s inevitable that we will cross a number of major arterial bus routes into the city. Northfield is where we meet the 61 & 63, which use the Bristol Road into Birmingham City Centre. It’s also where we meet the 20 again, and one is heading for the QE Hospital. I’m trying to work out if I will already have seen this bus earlier in my visit, as a 27, but my head hurts.
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A little further along we come to the village of Bournville, where the Cadbury confectionery company was founded in 1824. I don’t mean any silly jokes when I say that the village centre is like a chocolate box picture; thinking about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bournville / Cadbury originated the phrase (and maybe this image was even used on a box of chocolates).
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ABOVE: The chocolate box village of Bournville, on a spring-like Saturday 26th February 2022

​I break from the 27 here, getting the same cheery wave from the driver that everyone else has had when leaving the bus. It’s now turned into a beautiful mild afternoon; much more like April than February.

Just opposite the Village Green is the striking Bournville Village Primary School, built in 1906 for Cadbury Workers’ children. The bells of the school clock tower (the “Bournville Carillon”) start chiming. Apparently there are 48 bells in there, and the sound is quite stunning. I am transported immediately to the mountains of Switzerland, and I don’t recall ever hearing such a pretty peal of bells in this country before.

After Bournville, we’re soon passing through King’s Heath, where we meet route 50, a service that kept me amused on a previous visit to Birmingham.
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ABOVE: Another 27 heading for Maypole, is seen just south of King’s Heath. Taken from the top deck of a number 50, on Saturday 18th September 2021.

The 50 takes a direct route to Maypole, but the 27 deviates again to serve the more residential areas to the east – and I discover some delightful green spaces as well.
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We come to Yardley Wood Bus Garage, the operating base of this service, and have a change of driver. The garage building reminds us of times gone by, with its Birmingham City Transport lettering.
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ABOVE: Yardley Wood Bus Garage, on Saturday 18th September 2021. Route 76 is one that criss-crosses with routes 20 and 27 several times on its route between Solihull and Northfield.

Finally, we reach the Maypole Shopping Centre – a bit of a misnomer, as it’s just a row of shops as far as I can see. We’re on a busy dual carriageway by this point. I can’t establish why this point is so-called – presumably there was a maypole here at one time?

Googling the place doesn’t reveal much; only that the attractions around here “include an Aldi, a Sainsbury’s, a Travelodge hotel and various fast food outlets including a KFC and a Starbucks”. How has Visit Britain missed all this?!

We’re at journey’s end for the 27. It really is a fascinating ride, though, through the southern suburbs of Birmingham. Some of those suburbs are very attractive, and there’s a lot of history as well, as Cadbury heads towards its bicentenary in 2024. Only two years away…