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November 12, 2004

A Mariemont Institution Retires to Florida

Joining thousands of other snowbirds before her, the Mariemont Inn’s last London double-decker bus has left Cincinnati for sunny Florida.

The big red Omnibus, a fixture at the Inn for more than three decades, was purchased last month by a couple in Pensacola, Florida, that plans to turn it into a rolling restaurant.

The bus, imported directly from London in 1983, is joining her sister vehicles across the pond, which are being phased out after more than a half-century of service in Great Britain’s capital city.

The idea for bringing an authentic London double-decker bus to the Village of Mariemont came to Dan Spinnenweber in 1968 as a way to promote the English-themed Mariemont Inn. A bus seemed like the perfect rolling billboard.

After an early reconnaissance trip to St. Louis to view a bus owned by the Cheshire Inn, Spinnenweber went to London, where he found London Pride, a tour bus company that was willing to sell him a reconditioned double-decker bus, which was then the staple of London’s municipal bus system.

The first bus rolled onto the pier in Baltimore in 1968 and, despite having to be jump-started, ran like a dream. Spinnenweber drove it to Cincinnati on the Pennsylvania turnpike at the blistering speed of 40 m.p.h.

The bus became an instant success and was used throughout the 1970s for trips to Reds games, Moon Light gardens, pops concerts at Music Hall, and even a local wedding or two.

A few years later another bus was purchased and the two made promotional appearances throughout the Midwest at department stores, shopping centers and civic events. Their longest trip was a two-week jaunt to Houston for a shopping center opening.

The bus sold last month was the fifth bus that the Inn has owned since 1968. It was purchased in 1983 but never licensed. Concerns about liability and high insurance premiums confined it to the Inn’s parking lot, where it was used as a standing billboard and as a novelty for guests. In the early 1990s, due to revisions to the village’s sign ordinance, the bus could not longer be used as a billboard and reduced its role to a place of semi-retirement on the back lot of the Inn.

The Routemaster buses were first put into use by London Transport (the company that runs London’s public transportation system) in the 1950s. Over the years, their distinctive red styling has made them a symbol of the old city, beloved by tourists and locals alike.

In a push for more efficient service, London Transport has decided to phase out the 250 remaining Routemasters by the end of next year. They will continue to run a few buses on tourist routes through the central part of the city.

And so for Mariemont, and London, it is the end of an era.

To view pictures of the bus, click here.

Posted by gioielli at 12:00 PM