But it doesn't sound so good!
Freeman, Hardy and Willis factory
The present town of Kettering grew up in the 19th century with the development of the boot and shoe industry, for which Northamptonshire as a whole became famous. Many large homes in both the Headlands and Rockingham Road were built for factory owners while terraced streets provided accommodation for the workers. The industry has markedly declined since the 1970s, large footwear manufacturers such as Dolcis, Freeman, Hardy and Willis, Frank Wright and Timpsons, having left the town or closed down in the face of stiff overseas competition, while others have outsourced their production to lower-cost countries. Only two smaller footwear businesses remain.
Timpson factory
In recent history, the centre of the town was, of course, the High Street. Here is a picture from either just pre or just post World War 2.
Note the art deco Regal Cinema, later renamed the Granada ...
... and most recently, Gala Bingo.
The High Street was "improved" in the 60s ...
... and later (almost) pedestrianised.
But our particular interest is with the route along the A43 between Northampton and Kettering, a route which a shamefaced fbb and former Northampton resident has never travelled by bus. (Shock Horror!) It is here where "things" have happened from November 2nd.
We can begin our investigations in 1952.
"But we don't want to sell you that," said the bonny lass on the desk (paraphrased by fbb). "What you really want is a saver to Banbury £31.00 and a day return from Banbury to BI at £10.50; total £41.50."
A saving of £10.70. All prices quoted are with senior discount. But neither of the on-line ticket splitting web sites would tell you that. See yesterday's blog (read again).
Give that young lassie at Ryde a peanut and, yet again, a really rude and resonating railway raspberry for their stupid fares systems.
In 1963, United Counties opened a bus station on the town side of their Northampton Road depot.
There are Kettering residents who, still today, blame this obvious improvement on the decline of the High Street; as the new facility took many services away from their traditional stops near the equally traditional shops.
In 1914, one of the earliest bus services ran from Kettering to Rushden via Burton Latimer, Finedon, Irthlingborough and Higham Ferrers.
Stagecoach 49 and 50 still follow the historic route ...
... with a bit of Kettering local tacked on at one end, a Rushden local wiggle on the 49 and onward to Bedford for route 50.
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Split Ticketing c/o Island Line
Isle of Wight correspondent Alan went to Birmingham International [BI] on Sunday last. The quoted old fogey price, Portsmouth Harbour to BI, was £52.20. So Alan trots off to Ryde Esplanade to purchase same.A saving of £10.70. All prices quoted are with senior discount. But neither of the on-line ticket splitting web sites would tell you that. See yesterday's blog (read again).
OR
MoneySavingNonExpert.com!
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Next bus blog : Wednesday 19th November
Perhaps our esteemed blogger should consider split ticketing.com as an answer for his split ticketing needs. It takes into account returns and railcards thus knocking money saving expert out in two counts. Separately I would also recommend here transit as a half decent plan your public transport route option. Managed by Nokia, Here Transit seems to come up with more sensible and reliable info then Google, although it is still quite far from perfect. MAG
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