< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright Google Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details Location Link/s Garston Garage Date added to site 14/01/2021 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: This is Garston garage in about 2017 (when it was still operating a mixture of red and blue buses), looking roughly south-east. This garage, located about 2 miles north of Watford, was built by London Transport but latterly operated by Arriva the Shires, running both TfL and commercial 'country' services. In 2016 the operation of the TfL services was transferred to Arriva London (still working from Garston), while the country operations were moved out to Hemel Hempstead in 2017. Finally, following the loss of some TfL contracts, the garage was closed on 1st September 2018, with one remaining route transferring to Palmers Green. Since closure the garage has remained intact though there have been plans to demolish it to make way for new housing. The most recent plans were rejected, partly because they were felt to be inappropriate for the locality and partly because the garage building has been given listed status. Looking at this photo, there is nothing remarkable about the design of the garage buildings. It was built in the early post-war years to relieve pressure on two smaller garages in Watford. At the time, London Transport had a reputation for high-quality design and architecture, combining functionality with a distinctive but not ostentatious appearance. The site chosen for Garston garage was almost rectangular, allowing the layout to be designed for maximum efficiency. Ironically it turned out to be the only garage built to this model, many others being constrained by the shape of their sites. Along the front was a large building containing the admin offices, crew rooms, canteen and so on. At either end of this were two access roads to the main garage building (one for inward movements and one for outwards), both of which were wide enough and long enough to allow buses to be parked up if required. Linking these two roadways was a third, running behind the admin block and intended to be used by buses on layover. This link road also gave access to the docking area (i.e. the pits), which were in a separate building in the center of the site. I don't know how much of the garage has been listed but it seems likely that there might be an attempt to retain and re-purpose the front admin block at least.

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Kim Rennie	Saw some recent internal views online. Not a single reminder of LCBS days left, let alone LT. The canteen area vastly reduced in size and probably relocated (I believe the original area - designed for a staff of 300 - was converted to offices under LCNW). A sad end. The glass entrance doors bearing roundels went even earlier.	Mon 18/01/2021, 18:16