Clapton Bus Garage (CT)

Operator: Arriva London
Address: 15 Bohemia Place, London, E8 1DU
Garage Code:  CT
Opened:  1882
Peak Vehicle Requirement: 98

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Vehicle Types Operated:

Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 3
Wrightbus New Bus for London (NB4L)

Garage History

The origins of Clapton Bus Garage can be traced back to 1882 when the North Metropolitan Tramway Company opened their horse tram depot, referred to as Hackney Tram Depot on the site.

In 1896, the London County Council Tramways network began to expand heavily across the Capital and purchased North Metropolitan.

However, the LCC did not begin to operate its services from the depot until 1906, after the site had been converted for electric tram operation.

The LCC operation lasted until 1933, being taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board and the last trams operated from the depot in 1939.

At this time, following the demolition of some of the surrounding buildings to create more space and better access arrangements, the depot was converted by the LPTB for trolleybus operation.

In 1950, the garage changed its name to Clapton to avoid confusion with the nearby bus garage in Well Street and works were commenced to convert the garage to motorbus operation.

The conversion was completed, and the first 67 motorbuses were allocated in 1959 as part of the trolleybus replacement programme, with the last trolleybuses running in 1962.

Following a downturn in the number of routes allocated to the garage, it was closed in 1987 with the vehicle allocation moving to the nearby Ash Grove garage.

However, the garage was re-opened in 1989 to take the pressure off of other garages in the area. The garage allocation increased again in 1991 with the closure of Ash Grove and again in 1995 with the closure of Stamford Hill.