B590

Hawley Road, Hinckley

The B590 is a circular inner-town-centre route in Hinckley. It serves as a distributor road for five other B-class roads converging on the town.

Route

If we head clockwise from the southwest corner of the town centre – at a roundabout junction with the B4109 by Lidl – the B590 runs first northward along the residential Rugby Road (the original route of the A447) to arrive at traffic lights at the junction with Trinity Lane. At one time the B590 continued ahead to reach Regent Road but that is now closed to through traffic so we bear left onto the dualled Trinity Lane. The B4666 (former A47) Coventry Road comes in from the left and Trinity Lane continues (although signs claim that the route is now numbered B4667).

Skirting the edge of the town centre we bear right at traffic lights onto Mansion Street, then at the next set of lights the B4667 continues ahead whilst the B590 bears right onto The Borough. Less than the length of a pub later we reach a further set of lights, at the northern end of Regent Road, and turn left.

Our route now lined with the sort of shops you get on the edge of a town centre, we climb Council Road and continue on past light industry back into the suburbs. On Leicester Road yet another set of lights is reached. The B4668 continues ahead; we TOTSO right onto Spa Lane. After passing the modern St Peter's Church, we bear left onto London Road, the former line of the A5070.

The road passes Queens Park on the right, although it's only briefly visible behind the houses, then TOTSOs right at traffic lights, with the B4669 continuing ahead. We run along Park Road (the park itself not visible), which soon becomes Southfield Road; the Nuneaton to Leicester railway line lies behind the houses on the left and it's not long before we pass the station, which is hidden behind Tesco. There's then the short Hawley Road left, through a light industrial area, before we arrive back at Lidl and the B4109 once more – and we've completed the loop.

History

The B590 was the first B5xx road outside London to gain its number, presumably dating the road to the mid-1920s. It appears to have been classified for no other reason than that it linked the centre of Hinckley to the town's station. Starting on the A47 Castle Street at SP425939 it ran south along Station Road to reach Hawley Road at SP425933. Although Hawley Road itself is now part of today's B590, no part of the present itinerary follows the original route, which lasted until at least the 1980s before being downgraded.

By the 1950s (and almost certainly much earlier), Hawley Road and Southfield Road had been classified as part of the B5402. The B590 later took over this section and was then extended along some of the former A-roads in the town centre to form the complete ring it is today.