There are believed to be some 1280 old Routemaster buses still in existence. Some of them still are still in use in London on the number 15 Heritage route and many of them around the United Kingdom are used for weddings, parties and functions. There are however a number of them that are used rather differently than was originally envisioned for the iconic red bus.
Ghosts
There are the Ghost Bus tours with a London Routemaster painted in black that haunts the London skyline. With tales of the demon Barber of Fleet Street, Southwark’s Cross Bones Graveyard and then there is then black dog that haunts Newgate Prison. You’re sure to be terrified.
Florida
Although no longer a common sight on the streets of London, the Routemaster bus is still alive and well in Florida, United Sates of America! That’s right, Florida, in the U.S! Not only did a Routermaster bus cross the Atlantic Ocean but it also has a new lease of life as an ice-cream parlour selling Edy’s Ice Cream at fairs throughout South West Florida. How many passengers all those years ago would have said to themselves on a cold wet dreary London winter’s morning ‘one day this bus will be amongst the palm trees selling ice cream in the sunshine capital of America’? Probably not many, but sometimes life is stranger than fiction.
M&M’S
M&M’S WORLD™ London, Leicester Square. The owners of Mars bought an old London Routemaster bus from 1963 and converted it into a display at their West End store.
The Big Red
Fancy a pizza? Yes, always, but how about eating a pizza in a restaurant that is actually a converted Routemaster bus? The Big Red based in Deptford,London converted the double-decker bus into a restaurant serving great selections of pizza, puddings and salads.
Camden Bus Estate Agents
Also based in London, Camden Bus Estate Agents converted a bus and no prospective buyers and sellers can sit in the bus and discuss their business.
Crazy Golf Course
A crazy golf course based in Turnham Green London use a Routemaster as their star attraction.
The Fish and Chip Shop
The Routemaster Fish and Chip Shop journeys around London and has be seen around the Shoreditch, Greenwich and the South Bank areas.