Attention all; the final street, and ultimately the longest stretch of Main Road SOX lighting left in the whole of Greater London is in the London Borough of Bromley, but unfortunately it looks like a TFL replacement scheme threat is looming, and the last stretch of 10 metre high SOX (in London) days are numbered.
So briefly, Bromley has held the title for the most amount of Main Road SOX lighting, and the longest stretch of SOX lighting within the M25, since around 2018. Prior to this, that honour went to the London Borough of Bexley, namely
North Cray Road.
Afterwards, the honour went to the London Borough of Bromley, namely
Sevenoaks Road, which had a long, beautiful stretch of 1970s GEC SOX lanterns on lovely, squared off brackets. Unfortunately however, TFL replacement scheme of the Bromley side of the A21 started in early 2021, and by mid 2021, all these lovely survivors were all gone.
Since then, that honour still remains with Bromley, but this time, on the much shorter stretch further down the A21 on
London Road. These date back to 1979, and still have some of the original GEC z9554s, with the exception of various casual replacements.
However, TFL replacement scheme has managed to sweep through the majority of Bromleys section of the A21, and is now getting much closer to London Road, which is also the last section of the A21 in Bromley.
Therefore, I highly encourage everyone to visit this before it goes. I strongly believe that this is London last stretch of 10 metre main road SOX Lanterns, where the road is still predominantly SOX.
However, if and when this does go, TFL does have ONE FINAL stretch of predominantly SOX main road lighting (albeit these are 8 metres) but again, in Bromley,
Croydon Road in Keston/Hayes on the A232.
Less than 10 years ago, there was still a decent amount of SOX Main Road Lighting to be found in Greater London, so i find it very sad that we are right at the end of it. Enjoy it whilst it lasts