A200
From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
| A200 | ||||
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| From: | London Bridge (TQ327802) | |||
| To: | Greenwich (TQ382777) | |||
| Length: | 4.1 miles (6.6 km) | |||
| Meets: | A3, A2205, A100, B202, A101, B205, A2208, B206, A2209, B208, A206 | |||
| Primary Destinations | ||||
| London • | ||||
| Highways Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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The A200 runs along the south bank of the Thames to connect central with south-east London. My father, who hated driving, would always use it in preference to the parallel A2 as it tended to be rather less busy, though I can't say what traffic levels are like now.
Route
London Bridge - Greenwich
Eastbound, the road begins at the southern end of London Bridge near Guy's Hospital, as St Thomas Street. (Westbound traffic takes a parallel route to the south.) This section runs alongside London Bridge station, and the overhead railway is extremely wide at this point - travelling in the opposite direction there's a "tunnel" effect where the road passes through the arch created by the railway and the buildings on either side. Emerging from the shadow of the railway along Tooley Street, we arrive at the crossroads with the A100, which leads straight onto Tower Bridge on our left.
There's then an unexpected stretch of dual carriageway through Bermondsey - Jamaica Road, which is probably named after the "Jamaica House" in Cherry Gardens, that Samuel Pepys visited in 1664. In his diary, he wrote that he had left it "singing finely". Nowadays, Cherry Garden Street leads to a pier of the same name on the river. Thus, Jamaica Road takes us to the junction with the A101 Rotherhithe Tunnel approach, after which we return to single carriageway along Lower Road. Again, the name is hard to explain since there doesn't appear to be an "Upper Road" to go with it. We head round a very lengthy one-way system at Surrey Quays, then onto Evelyn Street. Just beyond the start of Evelyn Street (no.24) lies one of London's hidden gems; Mama Pho, which (IMO) is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants outside Indochina!
The road continues through Deptford, before reaching the junction with Deptford Church Street (A2210). This is rather interesting, because a dual carriageway yields to a T-junction with the single-carriageway A200. After getting through the traffic lights there, the final section of the road has the fairly logical name of Creek Road, since it bridges Deptford Creek. It ends just outside the Cutty Sark DLR station in Greenwich, connecting via a one-way system with the A206, which take us further down the river to Charlton, Woolwich and beyond.
Original Author(s): Guy Barry
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