The tiny London village that is the only area not served by any London buses, the London Underground or trains

London’s public transport is one of the most comprehensive in the world, with 96 per cent of the capital’s population living within 400 metres from bus route. Last year, Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed TfL aimed to ensure 99 per cent of Londoners were within 600 metres of a bus route. The remaining one per cent is essentially farmhouses and rural cottages on the very outskirts of London.

There is only one small village that is an exception. Noak Hill is just within the M25 motorway, only just in the borough of Havering. It’s essentially a collection of houses, businesses, a church, school and temple centred around a T-junction. The ‘village’ is just over 600 metres from the nearest bus stop at Wincanton Drive, which is actually on the furthest edge of Harold Hill.

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You’d be forgiven for thinking this bus would take you to the heart of Noak Hill… not quite!

The two areas are vastly distinct though, separated by a country lane (Noak Hill Road) and several fields. The ‘Noak Hill’ bus stop is the terminus of routes 256, 294 and school route 646, which all show ‘Noak Hill’ on their destination screens even though it is not in the village proper, as shown in the map below.

By no means is Noak Hill a transport desert entirely. The walk from the village church to the nearest bus stop is around ten minutes and minicabs or a dial-a-ride service are available for anyone unable to complete the journey on foot. The layout of the roads around the village means that unlike nearby Havering-atte-Bower, which has a place for a bus to turn around at Passingford Bridge roundabout, there is no suitable place for a bus to terminate, which is what leads to the village being unserved.

Noak Hill is not the most remote location in Greater London though – there are several villages and hamlets in the borough of Bromley that are far more rural. However, they are all served by a series of TfL bus routes that centre on Orpington, notably routes R5, R7, R8 and R10.

Those routes only operate a handful of journeys each day and operate on a ‘hail and ride’ basis where they stop at any point that is safe to do so instead of fixed bus stops. Many of the country lanes the routes traverse do not have pavements on both sides meaning fixed bus stops would potentially be a traffic obstacle.

Just beyond the village, over the M25 in Essex, are Old MacDonald’s Farm and Fun Park and Weald Country Park, both of which bring road traffic through the area. Otherwise, the village is relatively quiet and all of the homes furthest away from the bus stop have off-street parking.

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https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/tiny-london-village-only-area-23012662

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