A2212

A2212
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From:	Lee Green (TQ398749)
To:	Bromley (TQ401697)
Length:	3.6 miles (5.8 km)
Meets:	A20, A205, A21
Former Number(s):	B212
Highways Authorities
Bromley • Lewisham
Traditional Counties
Kent
Route outline (key)
A2212 Lee Green - Bromley

Route

The A2212 was originally part of the B212 which now runs from the Standard at Blackheath to Lee Green. It is also the only A2200 series road that reaches an outer London borough; this is because it is not the original route of the number.

Lee Green - Bromley

The A2212 starts at the busy junction with the A20 and B212 at Lee Green which has an uninviting and windswept small shopping precinct. The A2212 takes Burnt Ash Road past some grand Victorian houses on our right that form part of the Lee Manor Conservation Area and post war houses on our left. There is a small shopping area and we pass under a railway bridge at Lee Station which carries the Dartford Loop railway line via Sidcup. Burnt Ash Road becomes Burnt Ash Hill and we climb gradually to the traffic lights with the A205 Westhorne Avenue, which is part of the South Circular. Burnt Ash Hill carries straight on but the A2212 turns left to briefly multiplex with the very busy A205 and then turns left at the next set of lights into Baring Road. Baring Road is named after a local family who founded Barings Bank (of Nick Leeson fame).

Baring Road passes a small shopping area and the small Northbrook Park, which is named after Lord Northbrook who was a member of the Baring Family. The very high lighting on our right is for the Hither Green freight yard. The A2212 steadily climbs and becomes tree lined but in the early 1970s Ringway 2 was planned to plough through this area as part of the motorway box project. Apart from the Greater London Council plans, the other piece of evidence is a large mound of earth on the other side of the railway by The Railway Children Walk. The Railway Children Walk commemorates E Nesbit's association with this area. In the rush hour a queue of traffic starts here as we arrive at Grove Park with its two sets of lights. The B226 (Chinbrook Road) is on our left and we pass over the railway from Charing Cross to the Kent Coast and Hastings with a queue of cars turning right into Downham Way. However the A2212 and Baring Road carry straight on and we skirt the edge of the large Downham Estate which was built in the 1920s and 1930s by the London County Council (LCC) as part of the slum clearance. The estate takes its name from Lord Downham who was a leader of LCC.

The A2212 swaps the LB Lewisham for the LB Bromley and Baring Road becomes Burnt Ash Lane. Burnt Ash Lane winds around as we parallel the Grove Park to Bromley North branch. We pass some high rise flats and a shopping parade on our right and the Kings Meadow Pleasure Ground on our left with its attractive park keeper's lodge. A little further on Burnt Ash Lane narrows and the A2212 comes to a large square roundabout which is made up of four roads. The A2212 turns left into Plaistow Lane, right into Cambridge Road, right into Paxton Road and left into College Road. Northbound traffic just carries straight on along College Road and into Burnt Ash Lane. The grassed area in the middle of the roundabout was the site of a school. College Road is quite narrow and passes the wonderfully named Farwig Public House and Farwig Lane.

The A2212 terminates on the A21 (Tweedy Road) but before the widening of Tweedy Road and the completion of Kentish Way in 1990, the A2212 carried straight on as College Road where southbound traffic turned right into North Street and then right East Street for Widmore Road and northbound traffic used West Street. This was in association with the pedestrianisation of Bromley High Street and the building of The Glades Shopping Centre.

Original Author(s): A211 Driver