Averil's 2010 Tour of Brighton and Hove

Ditchling Road tram shelter

By Averil Older

To follow this tour, click on the links on the right.

The Downs School 

Whilst living in Ditchling Road, I attended the Downs School. At that time it consisted of the large red-brick main building and an ‘annexe’ which was across the road, behind what I always assumed to be the caretakers cottage. This was directly behind the bus stop.

Remembering the trolley buses

I always assumed the shelter was a bus-shelter but now know of course that it was one of the few remaining tram shelters to be found in Brighton and Hove. I can remember, of course, the trolley buses which ran up and down Ditchling Road. In fact, my uncle’s dog Smokey was run over by one whilst we lived there. Not far from the house, across the road, was a ‘request’ stop, we used to look back up Ditchling Road towards Fiveways and if there was no bus in sight, we walked (or ran) down to the shelter.

Full circle to the tram shelter

At the age of eleven I passed the 11 plus and used to walk to Varndean Girls School. Later, my daughter attended the Downs School too. We lived in Preston Road at the time but soon after moved to Montpelier Road. That meant we had to catch two buses, one to the Old Steine and then on to a number 26 and of course the same journey home and back in the afternoon. So again, fifteen years later, I found myself waiting in the tram shelter.