Afternoon. Viv was right: heading south on Hook Road, you cannot get onto the Hook roundabout, and she says the buses are going the long way round. There are no trains from Surbiton into London this weekend. And you have found more places to post a parcel.
Viv wrote in yesterday. Heading south on Hook Road, you can no longer get onto the Hook roundabout, and the buses are being diverted. She is right about the closure.
UK Power Networks is laying cable ducts outside the Shell garage and has shut the way into the roundabout — the Ace of Spades — from Hook Road, with access to the garage only. The signed diversion is Ditton Road and Ewell Road. The power company says the work runs from 15 to 28 September. The permit behind it allows the closure until 24 October.
The buses are where it gets confusing. Viv says the 71 now goes along Ditton Road and Ewell Road to the Tolworth roundabout, then the A3 back to Hook. The 465, she thinks, goes straight on at Tolworth. She says the K4 has been sent down Thornhill Road, and the K1 is running as normal. TfL's route pages mention none of it, only Victoria Road, and she has seen people panic on the bus as it heads for Tolworth. If you ride the 465 or the K4, reply and tell me where it goes.
UK Power Networks is holding a drop-in about the works on Monday 28 September, 6 to 8pm, at St Paul's Parish Hall, 224 Hook Road.
TfL has two answers for when the Victoria Road diversion ends. Its route pages now say 6pm today. Its own stop listings still say 4pm on Monday, and the council's list has the closure running to Monday. I'll tell you tomorrow which one held.
All lines through Wimbledon are closed on Saturday and Sunday, so buses replace trains between Surbiton and Clapham Junction on both days, and between Clapham Junction and Worcester Park and Chessington South too. On Saturday, Hampton Court trains start from Surbiton; on Sunday that line is on buses as well. Berrylands stays shut either way.
On Thursday I gave you the two branches the closure letter points to. You have found more.
Helen reminded me of Red Lion Road in Tolworth, at number 165, KT6 7RG. It opens 9 to 5 on weekdays and 9 to 12 on Saturday, and does cash withdrawals and deposits, parcels and bill payments — but not passports or car tax.
For those, Tolworth Broadway is a full branch, at number 64, KT6 7HR: passport Check and Send and vehicle tax, open 9 to 5 on weekdays and 9 to 1 on Saturday. The closure letter doesn't mention it either.
Andrew spotted a board outside Highlife on St Mark's Hill saying it is a Post Office drop-off and collection point. It isn't on the Post Office's own branch finder, though InPost and DHL both list it, so ask at the till what it takes. The finder does list a drop-and-collect point at Hill Park Food and Wine, 157 Surbiton Hill Park, open since 2 September, 7am to 10pm every day: prepaid parcels, returns and collections, plus bill payments and phone top-ups. No stamps, no banking.
The planter in the middle of Tolworth Close stops drivers using it as a short cut but lets bikes and people on foot through. It has been there on a trial order since June last year, and residents still get in from Ewell Road. The council's final survey on whether to keep it closes on 1 October. The results go to the Surbiton Neighbourhood Committee on 3 November, which then decides whether it stays. Have your say here.
Kingston's Place Committee meets at the Guildhall at 7.30pm on Wednesday, open to the public and webcast. It is being asked to cut the Seething Wells updates to the Surbiton Neighbourhood Committee from three a year to one. The same report says officers are considering a Section 215 notice — an order to clean up a neglected site — on the old pumphouse, after the neighbourhood committee asked them to look at its graffiti and rubbish.
This evening: 17 to 19°, with a chance of a shower between 5 and 9.
Saturday: cloudy and breezy, up to 22°, dry in the morning with a chance of rain from mid-afternoon. The Farmers' Market on Maple Road, 9 to 1 · coffee morning for veterans at the Royal British Legion on Hollyfield Road, 11.30. The guided tour from the station I listed yesterday needed booking, and booking has now closed.
Sunday: sunny spells, about 21°. Junior parkrun at Alexandra Recreation Ground, 9am, 2km for 4 to 14 year olds · Garden in the Square at St Andrew's Square from 10, free · help at the Knollmead allotments in Tolworth, 2 to 4, free.
Comments on the Rose Restaurant's licence at 41 Tolworth Broadway — alcohol from 11am to midnight, recorded music and late food — close on Sunday: licensing@kingston.gov.uk.
Back tomorrow.
Mike
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