I've just received this email from Mc Jedi & Deejay. Naturally I am happy to promote, and I wish them all the best of luck building a career in the music industry.

Despite the snow the brave Arriva drivers at Dartford garage have resumed operations on route 428 from Erith to Bluewater via Slade Green. To my knowledge this is the only public transport we have at the current time in Slade Green.

View latest bus running information

View latest rail running information

See photos of Slade Green covered in snow.

Currently there are no trains, no buses and no schools. But Slade Green is still functioning. Londis, newsagents and Forest Cafe are still open and trade is brisk.

See photos of Slade Green covered in snow

It is over 23 years since bus route 99 visited Slade Green, but yesterday saw route 99 replace route 469 between Erith and Bexleyheath. This change gives Slade Green residents a number of improvements:

• Route 99 runs every 12 minutes during the day (up from every 15 minutes with route 469)
• Route 99 runs every 20 minutes during the evening (up from every 20 minutes with route 469)
• Improved connections at Barnehurst from evening trains from London via Eltham to the 99 bus route towards Slade Green. This should be a do-able 4 minute change time from train to bus.
• Improved journey times from Slade Green to Woolwich by bus (which is naturally much cheaper than taking the train).

This change however does mean Slade Green residents are left without:

• a direct bus route to Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Woolwich).
• a direct bus route to Abbey Wood and parts of Belvedere and Erith.

Overall, I’m pleased with the new bus service. Makes getting home from places like Eltham (via train and bus) or Bexleyheath easier, the improved frequency is always beneficial.

I was quite surprised that Selkent (the operator of route 99) was running double decker buses on this route yesterday. I wonder if this will be the norm.

View the latest timetable for bus route 99 (from London Bus Routes)
Use TfL’s Journey Planner
See a history of bus route 99.

 

Their new leaflet has just come through my door.
I've added their events to the sladegreen.com calendar.
For reference here is a scanned view of their leaflet.
Click the leaflet for a full size image.

As most Slade Green residents will know, in mid December 2008 the Forest Café opened its doors in Forest Road, Slade Green. This is, to my knowledge, Slade Green’s first ever Café.

I think it’s a great addition to Slade Green. Having visited a few times it’s a great place, they do good food, its sad it isn’t open just a bit later. If it was open til say 8pm it could catch the lazy commuters coming home from work who don’t fancy cooking dinner. My only critical points are that they desperately need a faster toaster, and also they need to get some takeaway cup lids which flip up. It is near impossible to drink their tea on the morning rail commute to London.

For anyone who hasn’t visited, take a look at their menu, and pay them a visit.

Click here for the Forest Café menu

As you might have seen recently in the paper, there has been a lot of talk about the changes to train times from December 2009 owing to the introduction of 140mph high-speed train services from Ashford/Chatham to London St Pancras.

The high speed services don’t affect us directly, but by their introduction, capacity is freed up at places like London Bridge, which indirectly benefits Slade Green.

According to Southeastern’s 2009 website, from December 2009 we will have:

Slade Green residents will benefit from the opening today (Saturday 10 January 2009) of the Docklands Light Railway station at Woolwich Arsenal. The new service means we can access London City Airport, Canning Town, Poplar, Limehouse and Bank with one easy change at Woolwich Arsenal, and will certainly reduce our journey times to Stratford, Barking and other parts of East London.

Example journey times:

• Woolwich Arsenal to London City Airport in 6 minutes. For flights to almost anywhere in Europe)
• Woolwich Arsenal to Canning Town in 13 minutes. For connections to the Jubilee line for a quick journey to Stratford.
• Woolwich Arsenal to West India Quay in 19 minutes. Home to the Museum in Docklands, plus many outdoor bars and restaurants.
• Woolwich Arsenal to Custom House for ExCel in 19 minutes. A world class entertainment and exhibition venue.
• Woolwich Arsenal to Limehouse in 22 minutes. For C2C train services to Essex.
• Woolwich Arsenal to Royal Albert in 23 minutes. Get back to nature with the children at Newham City Farm.
• Woolwich Arsenal to Bank in 28 minutes. Providing access to the heart of the city.

DLR trains run every 10 minutes from Woolwich Arsenal towards London City Airport and Bank.

As an example (leaving Slade Green on a weekday).

	First train	Last train
Slade Green: depart	05:16	23:05
Woolwich Arsenal: arrive	05:30	23:19
Woolwich Arsenal: depart	05:36	23:31
Canning Town: arrive	05:49	23:44
Bank: arrive	06:04	23:59

As an example (coming home to Slade Green on a weekday).

	First train	Last train
Bank: depart	05:32	00:05
Canning Town: depart	05:47	00:20
Woolwich Arsenal: arrive	06:00	00:33
Woolwich Arsenal: depart	06:03	00:45
Slade Green: arrive	06:13	00:58

For more information:

Website: Docklands Light Railway
Photo: DLR 34 at Woolwich Arsenal
Photo: DLR 34 at Woolwich Arsenal
Photos: Other DLR photos
Video: DLR travelling from King George V to Woolwich Arsenal
Video: DLR travelling from Woolwich Arsenal to King George V

Happy New Year, welcome to 2009 and welcome to a revamped Slade Green website, with more of a focus on being a community resource. New features include the events calendar and news section. Take a look around and let me know your views.

Are you interested in helping to manage this site, post events. news and improve the content, if so please drop me an email. No website development knowledge is needed, as everything can easily be added via a simple Google interface.