Even with 20,000 photos uploaded to Flickr there are still some parts of London where I've never uploaded any. I filled eight of the largest gaps yesterday and today I'm plugging the largest of all. It's just south of Orpington and contains the minor outposts of Green Street Green, Tubbenden and Goddington, also much of Chelsfield. I have thus been out for a wander and have chosen ten photographs to best represent the space where formerly there were none.
New photo: Orpington War Memorial
The R7 driver gave me such a hard stare while I was taking this photo, perhaps wrongly assuming my focus was him rather than Armistice commemoration. Orpington's War Memorial has a very prominent position amid the roundabout at the south end of the high street, which as a downside makes it extremely dangerous to walk out and inspect. To combat this they've listed all the war dead on a roadside panel by the Village Hall, a lengthy list (although only casualties from WW1 made it onto the main obelisk rather than an adjacent slab). This junction was more of a crossroads before WW2 forced the expansion of the War Memorial from upright to circular, an evolution that's wrought considerable subsequent traffic congestion. Every Orpington bus route orbits the War Memorial, some of them four times, which must totally muck up local travel options during the Remembrance service in November.
New photo: Orpington Methodist Church
The town's first Methodist church was a tin tabernacle at the top of the High Street, switching to this site on Sevenoaks Road in 1933. That building is now the church hall because a larger church was built alongside in 1953, then in 2022 this shiny geometric concourse was added inbetween. It allows them to be more of a community hub with games afternoons and a cafe, and also makes pretty reflections when a red bus goes by which is the sole reason I've uploaded this to Flickr. I was instead going to show you the Conservative Club across the road with its bright blue timbers and large photo of MP Gareth Bacon out front, but a small child on a scooter entered the frame so that was instantly off-limits.
New photo: Christ Church, Orpington
It's not all going to be churches on today's list but when you're exploring deep suburbia the most interesting buildings tend to be either religious or alcoholic. Christ Church is also 1950s and has a rather nice circular mosaic out front which gives its name to the Wednesday morning cafe. Sundays are more about "a live band, modern songs and a relaxed atmosphere", so perhaps that gives you some idea whether this "spirit-filled community" is for you. Bus-obsessed readers will already know that the stop outside has been served by route R7 since 2017, previously the rejigged R3 from 2001 and originally the R8 in 1992, because they do love a terminus switcheroo in Orpington.
New photo: Goddington Park
Sorry if I've been over-reporting obscure suburbs recently but Goddington is right up there, a last burst of leafy streets before the fields of Kent kick in. For centuries all that was here was a medieval manor, then its replacement which still hides away up a private drive subdivided into flats. The park is public with ancient hedgerows, also full of recreational spaces including bowling greens, non-turf cricket and a two-lap Parkrun loop. The anchor tenant is Westcombe Park Rugby Football Club, so named because they were incomers from Shooters Hill in 1990. My photo shows the information boards in the car park because that's visually more interesting than a meadowy landscape with trees - the opposite way round to real life.
New photo: Chelsfield station
Here's a classic example of a railway station causing a geographical shift. Chelsfield station was originally just a halt a mile to the west of a tiny village, and it's still tiny because all the new houses, shops and services were built closer to the station instead. The building's from the 1970s so a dull glass box, although you can see how it would have looked in the 1920s in a splendid model railway cabinet by the ticket window. I chose a photo up the line towards the skew arched road bridge rather than a photo down the line from that bridge because usually it's best to go with which way the sun is shining.
New photo: The Chelsfield
With suburbia came this splendid Art Deco pub, a chunky brick watering hole immediately beside the station. The website's so syrupy it might put you off but the interior looks authentically 1930s and the lanterns out front are top notch. From here a lengthy parade of shops climbs Windsor Drive, the busiest of these on my visit being Little Big Treats, an extraordinarily twee cafe with chintzy floral decor. Potential incomers should note there are no coffee chains or kebabberies here, although the chip shop does advertise 'S.F. Chicken' so fried meat options are available.
New photo: Glentrammon Recreation Ground
Developers retained a chalky hump of grass when all the surrounding land became avenues, and very nice it is too. If you're a child you'll run for the adventurous playground at the summit, or if older the chuck-a-ball courts behind the trees. I preferred the view from the top of the slope, a patchwork of roofs and gardens with just a hint of something tower-blockier on the very far horizon. Alas my iPhone's poor at zoom so all I ended up with was a thin greeny-brown stripe, hence my decision to run with something arboreally framed instead.
New photo: Crescent Way
Down in Green Street Green the main retail draw is a big Waitrose, adoringly frequented, but for everything else the focus is the half-crescent on Crescent Way. This Mock Tudor parade's more mock than most, Elizabethans not being well-known for their long blocks of three-storey pastiche. A Co-op is as close as things come to national brands and a launderette called The Launderette the closest things come to retro, that is unless you count a chippy called the Seabream Fish Bar.
New photo: The Buff
Why did Greene King call their pub on Crescent Way The Buff? It's after the world famous chicken the Buff Orpington which was first bred by local farmer William Cook in the 1890s, although he actually lived in St Mary Cray so it's a few miles out. If you want to breed one for yourself you start by mating a Gold Spangled Hamburgh with a Buff Cochin, then mate the offspring with a Dark Dorking, then mate the offspring with a Buff Cochin. There is no evidence that the Katsu Chicken at The Buff is actually buff.
If you're wondering why the Crescent looks distinctly unTudor in this photo it's because I uploaded a different shot to Flickr, similarly my photo of The Buff is front-on rather than side-on. This is a shameless attempt to get you to look at the full-size photos there and not make do with the teensy 500x375 pixel versions as per usual.
New photo: Orpington Bus Garage
Unless you're a keen bus-grifter there's no interest in looking at a yard of double deckers from the wrong side of a wall. To be fair there's not much interest in showing you pubs you'll never drink in or churches you'll never worship at either, let alone recreational spaces with grass that could be anywhere. But sometimes I get lucky and on this occasion a local tattooed man with a pony and trap drove past, having just clogged up the traffic by the village sign, and hurrah the juxtaposition of horse power old and new makes for an unrepeatable shot. Now 20,025 Flickr photos and counting, and hopefully thousands more to come.
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