Red Double Decker Bus, London · Travel Poster

Not just a view, the heritage behind it. Ella writes about the place, its hidden history, and the details that never make it into the guidebooks, all printed on the poster.

London's buses were never universally red by tradition or design, they were red because of a branding war. In 1907, the London General Omnibus Company painted its fleet bright red purely to stand out from a crowd of rival operators running buses in every colour imaginable through London's smoggy streets. It worked so well that when London Transport formed in 1933 and absorbed the competition, it kept the red and extended it across the network, though buses out on the fringes of the capital were, for years, painted Lincoln Green instead. The red so many people now think of as timelessly, essentially London was really just one company's marketing decision that outlived every rival it was designed to beat.

An original illustration, available in colour or black and white, created for the Ella's Adventures travel poster series.

No frame included.

Please note that, to protect the original artwork from copyright infringement, the images shown on this website are low resolution. The poster you receive is printed in high resolution, with all the detail and clarity of the original.