A very tight squeeze!!
Frequent bus users
As a small boy I lived with my family in Colbourne Avenue from 1960 to 1967. I was 10 years old when we left in 1967 to live in Islingword Street. We were frequent bus users when we went into Brighton, but as a small boy I always loved the journey that took us into Pool Valley as it meant the bus always had to go down Pool Passage. I used to marvel at the way the driver used to sweep out to the right to get the correct angle so the bus could get down into Pool Valley without touching the wall on either side.
Stressful experiences
Even as a small boy, I felt there was a considerable amount of stress involved. Usually I would go into town with my Mum or my Nan, but in order to achieve this brilliant experience there were a few hurdles to get over. Firstly we had to get the bus in Lewes Road by the Moulsecoomb School caretaker’s house. Going to The Avenue was no use as the 49, 49a, 110 or 111, did not go right into Pool Valley.
Could I go upstairs?
Whilst waiting in Lewes Road the stress would kick in again as the only bus of any use was a country bus, Maidstone and District, to be precise. A number 13 was no use at this point as it stopped short in the Old Steine. The next obstacle was whether whoever was taking me would let me go upstairs, as downstairs was never a good view for what I wanted to see.
Width of a fag paper
The next stressful part of all this was whether I could get into the front seat as that was the best view of all. It was always an amazing sight to see and I do not know to this day, how the bus used to get into Pool Valley without getting damaged as the gap between bus and building was so small. As my Dad used to say ‘The gap was the width of a fag paper’.
Do you remember?
Do you remember the Pool Passage squeeze? Do you remember any other favourite bus journeys? If you can share your memories with us, please leave a comment below.
Comments about this page
I do remember the Pool Valley squeeze. I haven’t seen Pool Valley for about thirty years or so, how it has changed. The vehicles of today with their dressing table type mirrors would not have a chance of getting down into the pool without folding the mirrors in. I drove a school bus in the 70s for the Inner London Education Authority and they were 7 feet wide and then the mirrors. The buses were originally destined for the Egyptian army but the contract was cancelled. They were painted a light blue after that, the colours of I.L.E.A. They had double panel type mirrors which were not so bad. When I was in the military in the late 60s the mirrors on some of the military vehicles were atrocious no matter how wide the vehicle, compared to the vehicles of today. The only vehicles that I drove with decent mirrors were AFV 432s and Alvis Stalwarts. Bedford RLs had little 4″ round mirrors which needed some concentration seeing where you were going and would freeze up at the drop of a hat. Driving today is so luxurious with really decent vehicles.
I drove a double-decker for Southdown for about three months over Christmas 1969/70. I drove the routes that included Eastbourne, Arundel, Worthing, Moulscoomb. I can honestly say that driving into Pool Valley was never a problem – the problem area (at least in the beginning) was backing into the stands – on once occasion the bus I was driving caught the steel structure and opened like a tin of sardines (even now I shudder with embarrassment). I really enjoyed my time with Southdown before emigrating to Australia as a ten pound Pom.
When I was a youngster the “country buses” that came in via Lewes Road were the Southdown 16, 20 and 25, and the 18, 119, 122 and 180 which were jointly worked with Maidstone and District. In the early 60s the 13, which was my “local” route as I lived in Coldean, also terminated in Pool Valley. Reversing the buses into the bays was certainly a skill – I can remember on one occasion a single-decker being reversed into the front corner of a double decker! Some very fruity language resulted!
Growing up as I did in Hurstpierpoint in the 50s and early 60s, I spent many hours queueing for the Southdown routes that took us there, the 14 or 24, and what a cold and draughty place it could be, too! Bus travel was at its peak then, and the queues were long- so long, in fact, that quite regularly a ‘relief’ bus would be drafted in at short notice. I have a clear memory of having the strange sensation, when sitting on the top deck of a bus waiting to depart, that we were moving forward, whereas what was actually happening was that an adjacent vehicle was reversing into one of those tight parking bays. I too remember the very narrow entrance from the Steine- is it still there, I wonder?
Hi Ian, yes the narrow entrance is still there and in use. I took the pictures above last year. Pool Valley isn’t as busy as it used to be but it’s still as draughty. I used to love seeing all the buses lined up in the 60s, I also used to like seeing all the coaches lined up to the east of the Palace Pier and the boards telling you where they were going. Very often as a family we would go on the ‘mystery tour’. Great times.
Does anyone remember the waiting room at Pool Valley bus station? I remember as a child, that the waiting room always had a member of staff sitting in there – and also there were almost always homeless men sitting in there to keep warm in the winter. Their shoes/boots would have huge holes in them and I could see their feet poking out. I didn’t understand as a child, but I always felt sad when I saw them.
I would drive in to Pool Valley in the late 1960s and before that when I worked as a conductor in the early 1960s I would often be on a Southdown service which went in to Pool Valley.
One would enter the area and reverse on to the bay where the passengers would then alight.
Just after the war I would travel from Eridge on service 119 or 122 and after alighting I would sit in the waiting room to wait for my aunt to come and pick me up.
Still very memorable indeed.
From 2005 until 2009 I was sent from Victoria coach station to work in my role as an Inspector for National Express ( I lived in Brighton) in the coach station, as it is now, until I retired. The winds were/are still very strong and the waiting coaches would rock alarmingly on many occasions.
I am interested in the name Pool Passage being used for the narrow entry to Pool Valley bus station; Pool Passage is the name of the very narrow twitten that runs from the west corner of Old Steine into Pool Valley behind the former Cowley’s Bun Shop. That twitten has now been security gated. Interesting how place names and street names evolve over time and do indeed change, often causing ‘letters to the papers’!
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