IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Dartmouth Road, LONDON, SE23 3XU

Even by London standards, this road is still narrow for an A Road.

Wetherspoon's have done a good job of retaining some of the former feel of this art deco building.

An interior view at The Capitol, a wonderfully ornate cinema opened in 1929. Acquired by Wetherspoons in 1996 and converted into a pub with many of the internal decorative features retained. See http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-capitol-forest-hill from Wetherspoons for a bit more info and a couple more interior shots. Exterior view Image

The railway here follows the line of the Croydon Canal which ran for nearly ten miles from Croydon, via Forest Hill, to the Grand Surrey Canal at New Cross. It opened in 1809, and closed in 1836, making it the first canal to be formally abandoned by an Act of Parliament. Much of the alignment was used by the London & Croydon Railway Company (to whom the canal had been sold for £40,250). The station was opened by the original London & Croydon Railway in 1839 as Dartmouth Arms after the name of the local inn. The line was also used by the London & Brighton Railway from 1841 and the South Eastern Railway from 1842. In 1844, the station was chosen by the London & Croydon Railway as the northern terminus for Phase 1 of an experimental Atmospheric railway to West Croydon operated by the railway. In 1847, 'Atmospheric' working was abandoned, and the station became Forest Hill for Lordship Lane. In the early 1850s, the line was quadrupled. The London Brighton & South Coast Railway station buildings, were destroyed by bombing during the Second World World. London Overground trains now operate from the station, as well as Southern trains.

The Capitol on London Road was once a cinema. The cinema closed in the 1970s and the building was later used as a bingo hall. It is now a Wetherspoons pub.

A former cinema and bingo hall, restored when it became a Wetherspoon's.