LOOPING THE LOOP IN EAST SUSSEX
9 March 2024
ABOVE: Stagecoach South East 15113 (LX09 FZK), a Scania N230UD OmniCity, passes the Meadowlands Avenue stop in Lindfield Road, Hampden Park, on an anti-clockwise journey on the Eastbourne Loop service. All photographs in this article were taken on Saturday 27 January 2024.
I've been coming to Eastbourne ever since I was a child. I've spent many weekends here on mini-breaks throughout my life, and at one time I was going to the Devonshire Park Theatre so regularly that it was effectively my regular theatre, despite my living almost 60 miles away!
Today I am trying out the Stagecoach South East 'Loop' service. This is one of two 'Loop' services that Stagecoach South East operates (I visited the other one, in East Kent, last year).
This Loop is easier to understand than its Kent equivalent, as it has a defined start / finish point, in Eastbourne Town Centre. A simple thing, perhaps, but it helps me as a 'stranger'! And, curiously, despite my long association with the area, it's funny how little I know of many parts of the route that I am about to sample...
I'm making a clockwise rotation, starting from Gildredge Road, just down the road from the station. Eastbourne station was rebuilt in 1886 and is now a Grade II-listed station. It's easy to see why...
ABOVE: Eastbourne station; despite the huge and impressive frontage, there are only three platforms within. A fourth track was lifted in 1991 as part of a re-signalling project.
I'm on a double-decker; a Scania N230UDADL Enviro400. I think this is the official allocation, but there's a mix of double- and single-deckers of various types on this route today.
ABOVE: Stagecoach South East 15544 (GN59 EWT), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, stands in Gildredge Road in Eastbourne, prior to starting another circuit of the 'Loop'. At this point, buses are officially heading for Hampden Park; displays are updated as the circuit progresses
We drive past the station, initially heading onto Upperton Road, the main road out to the north. But this is very brief, and we turn right into The Avenue (nice posh residential buildings a stone's throw from the sea). As a driver, if you start off from where we have, this is the way you will be signposted out of town, towards the Polegate By-pass. I suspect that the locals know that the Upperton Road is much more direct than the by-pass!
There are only three of us on the upper deck at this point. A young boy and (I assume) his Dad have gone to the back of the bus. It sounds like they have just seen Wonka (presumably the previous night, as it's only 10.30am). The boy has clearly been enchanted by the film, allowing "Dad" to reflect on the earlier films: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
We continue deep into the residential areas to the north of the town centre.
ABOVE: Enys Road, Eastbourne
We pass the Eastbourne District General Hospital in Upperton. There is a bus stop in the grounds but the Loop stops on the main road outside, Kings Drive. It's clear that there isn't room in the grounds for all of the 16 bus routes that pass (only two routes go in), but I would have thought that the Loop, given its general purpose, might be one that should.
We pass briefly through Hampden Park, before venturing into the Willingdon Trees area.
We turn into Hazelwood Avenue, a long, twisty road through the heart of the residential part of town.
ABOVE: On Brodrick Road, and about to turn into Hazelwood Avenue
We're actually doing a big loop within the Loop here. As we work around Hazelwood Avenue, the railway line is visible on the left, but it's a bit disorientating, as we're heading the same way as trains to Eastbourne. Yes, we have completed a full 180-degree turn to point back towards Eastbourne town centre.
ABOVE: Hazelwood Avenue, Willingdon Trees
We're now back into Hampden Park, around half a mile east of where we were seven minutes earlier before we moved into Willingdon Trees. It's slow progress towards Hampden Park town centre, and the reason becomes apparent - a level crossing at the station. We're one station from Eastbourne, and there's a frequent service of trains through here, including two per hour (each way) on the main London Victoria route, and trains to Brighton, Hastings / Ore and Ashford International. The gates of the level crossing spend a lot of time in the closed to traffic position, which must have the potential to cause havoc to the Loop timetable!
ABOVE: 15544 again, at Brassey Parade in Hampden Park. The station and level crossing are just down the road behind me.
I take a brief stop here for refreshment. Half an hour later I am awaiting the next Loop service, which is delayed for six minutes by traffic.
ABOVE: Stagecoach South East 15551 (GN59 EXA), a Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400, turns into Brodrick Road, Hampden Park, on an anti-clockwise journey, as similar 15636 (SF10 CCN), squeezes into Brassey Parade to enable me to continue my journey.
There's no delay for us at the level crossing itself, and we push through to the Mountfield Roundabout, where we dive into another residential area. This is a full loop within the Loop, as we come back to the Mountfield Roundabout. Buses in both directions go the same way around this particular circuit, which must be confusing to the locals.
ABOVE: Percival Road, Hampden Park
In Percival Road, we're only a stone's throw (probably literally - about 400 feet away) from Hazelwood Avenue. But it's on the other side of the railway line, just at the point at which that line splits in two as the London route separates from the Hastings line.
We come back to the Mountfield Roundabout via a road called The Hydneye. This commemorates a lost medieval village, which was important enough to be a minor member of the Cinque Ports.
We progress down Lottbridge Drove, a dual-carriageway section through some of the more industrial landscape of the area.
ABOVE: Lottbridge Drove. The building on the left is a Morrison's store. Quite curious to see that motorists for both Brighton and Hastings are directed the same way here, given that they are in completely opposite directions! But the bypass that they are being sent to will separate them out!
Such is the twisty nature of this route that we're now less than a mile, as the crow flies, from the Hospital that we passed earlier, and I reckon that we have done about five miles since then!
We skirt along one side of the Shinewater Park Country Park (a lot of it is hidden behind trees, unfortunately). We come into Langney, which Wikipedia describes as a "distinct" part of Eastbourne. The Shopping Centre here, as well as being a local focal point, also acts as the terminus for additional short-working Loop buses, which mean that a 15-minute interval service is provided from this point onwards.
ABOVE: Langney Shopping Centre
We turn into The Rising, a road where some wag has added an "O" to the street sign to create the word "theorising". Quite an educated wag to come up with that one?
This is another residential area that the Loop has detoured into - this route knows how to get close to its potential customers. It's quite surprising, therefore, that this journey isn't especially busy, but it is still morning - perhaps things will liven up later in the day?
ABOVE: Netherfield Avenue, Eastbourne
I notice a road called "Close 9". This is rather curious, and it turns out that there are a number (no pun intended) of these in this area, starting from "Close 1" and going all the way up to "Close 25". This must be confusing for residents when they give their address details to a company over the phone: "I live at number four, Close 5", or "number 16, Close 12"!
I'm also intrigued that Google Maps shows the numbers spelt out as words, as in "Close Nine", but signposts locally show the numerical digits. Google Maps "can't find" Close 25, but will find "Close Twentyfive" if you put it in as one word.
They're nice houses, but the town planners at the time they were built must have run out of ideas for names. Maybe they meant to say "Cloud" rather than "Close"? I love the idea of living on Cloud 9, although I wouldn't be so happy on Cloud 3...
As we work around these streets, there's a house with a full-size flagpole flying the Union Flag - upside down.
We cross a lovely stream, which is actually known by the rather less-lovely name of "Langney Sewer". This seems to be a (natural) drainage ditch from a brook called Bill Gut, which begins in the Pevensey Levels, east of Eastbourne.
ABOVE: Looking across from Pevensey Bay Road to Tanbridge Road, across the Langney Sewer
We're now approaching the coast. We're about two-and-a-half miles to the north-east of Eastbourne town centre. The roads here are wide and free-flowing. We're now determinedly heading back towards the town centre, but there are a couple more twists still to come.
ABOVE: The Langney Roundabout, looking broadly westwards
A left turn at the Langney Roundabout takes us onto the Princes Road, which leads to the Sovereign Centre, a leisure centre, gym and swimming pool. This is a road I have used regularly on route 99 from Hastings (of which more in a future article), so I think I know the route that we're going to follow back into Eastbourne.
But I don't. We suddenly take a left turn into Ramsey Way, and start a drive through yet another residential area. We're not far from Sovereign Harbour, a relatively-recent redevelopment (1993) of the beachland, and now Northern Europe’s largest composite marina complex.
We come back to Princes Road just before the Sovereign Roundabout, off which the Sovereign Centre is located. The Royal Parade leads off to the left - this is the seafront route back into Eastbourne that I know so well. But we're going via a parallel inland road, curiously called "Seaside".
ABOVE: A circuit of the Sovereign Roundabout shows Royal Parade, to the left, the seaside route back into Eastbourne. Right in front of us at this point is the Princes Park, a 33-acre park offering a putting green, bowling green & boating lake, plus a playground & café.
But first, we're back on Lottbridge Drove, driving back directly towards where we were before we started round Langney. A left turn onto "Seaside" prevents us from coming back on ourselves - which we would if we carried on another mile or so.
We come back into Eastbourne. "Seaside", which becomes Seaside Road when closer to town, varies between three quarters of a mile and less than a hundred yards from the actual seafront, but there are buildings all the way along preventing us from seeing it, apart from a short glimpse at the narrowest point, Marine Parade Road. Could have been worse - might have been called Seaview Road!
ABOVE: We saw 15551 at Hampden Park earlier in the circuit. Here it is (on the right), heading along Seaside Road in Eastbourne Town Centre. It has made it back to Eastbourne via Willingdon, and is now setting out again on the anti-clockwise Loop. On the left is similar 15560 (GN59 EXL), on route 1X from Hellingly, a village near Hailsham, about eight miles from here.
And we return from whence we started, at Gildredge Road in the Town Centre. The full circuit is scheduled to take 82 minutes, requiring three buses in each direction, whilst the short workings to Langney take 36 minutes, needing a further three buses. Despite a slow haul down Seaside Road, we are on time.
ABOVE: Here's 15113 again, in the heart of Eastbourne town centre, coming from Terminus Road into Cornfield Road, to start another anti-clockwise run around the Loop.
This is a route that is intended to get people around, into and out of the town centre of Eastbourne. The Loop certainly achieves that!