e2e.bike

Cycling adventures across Britain and beyond

Menu
  • End to Ends
    • Britain
    • Ireland
    • France
    • Belgium
    • Spain
    • Austria
    • Liechtenstein
    • Poland
    • Slovakia
    • Isle of Man
    • Faroes
    • Cuba
    • Sri Lanka
    • Taiwan
  • Coast to Coasts
  • Yorkshire Ridings
  • Others
  • Writings
Menu
← PreviousNext →

Monopoly 1: Old Kent Road

Posted on 8 September 20092 April 2021 by Rob Ainsley


In this series of posts, I’m cycling the streets and properties of the classic UK Monopoly game board.

The only south London property on the board, Old Kent Road runs for about a mile and a half from the Bricklayer’s Arms roundabout (right), with its flyover, to New Cross Road.

Chaucer’s pilgrims travelled this way en route to Canterbury. OKR is mentioned in Chaucer’s draft for ‘The Cykelist’s Tale’, which never made it into Caxton’s final printed version: “This dredeful streete, wyth foule pubs and flyover, / That hath not cykel parke from here unto Dover”. Now it’s the A2.


OKR is a fast arterial road, busy with lorries and traffic, and isn’t much fun to cycle down. There are no bike-convenient parallel routes, though, so you won’t be the only cyclist warily dodging the taxis, HGVs and frantic private cars. It’s lined with retail parks – Asda, Aldi, Comet, PC World, Halfords, B&Q, that sort of thing – but bike parking is dismal in the car-park steppes, including what may be London’s most comically-positioned Sheffield stands.


There quite a few shops. If you’re looking for a pavement cafe culture you may be disappointed, though if you’re after a nail makeover, tasteless piece of fried chicken, or salvation via a charismatic church, you’re in business. With pleasing irony, OKR is home to the Parking Shop (where you buy Southwark resident parking permits), but there’s nowhere to park a car (right).


OKR’s not the most rewarding leisure cycle, but there is one of London’s quirkiest landmarks a few yards from its start, at the Bricklayer’s Arms. On Page’s Walk, off Mandela Way, is a T-34 tank. Part of the fleet used to crush rebellion in Prague in 1968, it was bought and installed by a local property developer in frustration at his not getting planning permission to build on it. The gun turret, it’s said, points to the council offices. (There’s also a Follower-of-Banksy mural behind it.) Cyclists who have just had another close call with a lorry may well feel that a tank would be a more appropriate way to travel the Old Kent Road.

Monopoly’s Old Kent Road costs £60. What could this buy you there? You could stock up at Halfords with a cheap and cheerful bike jacket, waterproof trousers and bike computer, and still have enough change for chicken and chips – if you can find somewhere to park your bike.

Previous
←   Kinloch Hourn: Dead end job
Next
Monopoly 2: Whitechapel Rd →

You are here

e2e.bike > Other > Monopoly > Monopoly 1: Old Kent Road

Recent Posts

  • Helmsley: Star line-ups 2 February 2023
  • Ripon: Up secret valleys, down Cathedral rabbit holes 23 January 2023
  • Castle Howard: Bridleway Revisited 20 January 2023

Random Posts

  • SE 1: York to Ferriby11 June 2017
    The sixth of my Yorkshire Compass Rides was a two-day trip down …
  • Thirsk: Thoroughly vetted8 July 2021
    Both the 1980s and 2020s TV settings of All Creatures Great and …
  • (Austria 11: Vienna Ringstrasse)25 October 2022
    A rest day (hence the brackets) in Vienna. Nigel went to Budapest …

Search e2e.bike

Find me

        
Facebook • Twitter • Linked In • Email
© 2023 e2e.bike | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme