Celebrating a British icon 21
we pass St John’s Wood
Underground station, where
palm trees add a uniquely exotic
flavour to this already elegant
neighbourhood. Then we emerge
in the Swiss Cottage one-way
system, where there really is a
pub called Ye Olde Swiss Cottage.
The original is thought to have
been built here around 1800,
though the present building is a
2007 version.
The brutalist redbrick Odeon
Imax cinema towers over it next
door, though the venue is at
least flourishing, and has just
been updated to Luxe standard,
gaining leather seating and
more space.
The 13 now heads up the broad
and distinctive Finchley Road,
an urban dual carriageway
that forms part of the foremost
northbound route out of central
London. It winds between
tall, mainly redbrick Victorian
terraces, undulating but
gradually rising to the summit
at Fortune Green, where Hendon
Way branches off left towards the
A1 and M1.
We continue directly north
on Finchley Road, following a
slow descent through Childs
Hill to Golders Green, where a
railway and bus station form
the centrepiece of a busy traffic
hub. These days the 13 bypasses
the bus stands on its way
farther north.
Not far from here, Finchley
Road crosses the North Circular
at a major junction known as
Henlys Corner (after a garage
that closed after 55 years in
1989). Over on the north-west
side, look out for a bronze
statue known locally as the
naked lady. Actually called La
Déliverance, it was designed in
1914 by French sculptor Émile
Oscar Guillaume, and was a
gift to the public from Daily
Mail founder Lord Rothermere
in 1927. Other copies exist
around Europe, but some were
suppressed, perhaps through
unease about their content.
Following Regents Park Road,
we pass through the busy retail
and commercial area of Finchley
Central, where the junction
with Hendon Way can oftenLondon by Bus
LEFT: War
memorial with
the statue of St
George slaying the
dragon.LEFT: Like an
errant spacecraft?
The Media Centre
at Lord’s cricket
ground.LEFT: Ye Olde
Swiss Cottage, this
version built just
11 years ago.LEFT: The Odeon
Imax at Swiss
Cottage.