Ace of Spades (junction)

The Ace of Spades roundabout is a road junction in Hook in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated at the junction of the A243 Hook Road and the A3 Road, known as the Portsmouth Road, as well as the conclusion of the A309 Kingston Bypass.

It takes its name from a once well known 1930's roadhouse^[1] at the same location. The Ace of Spades Roadhouse was a pioneer roadhouse, serving meals 24hrs a day in a restaurant with seating for up to 800, dancing until 3 am, open air swimming pool, a miniature golf course, polo ground, riding school and an air strip. Acts such as Billie and Renée Houston as well as Collinson and Dean appeared there.^[2] Once spotted at the swimming pool was Diana Dors^[3] trying to teach Dennis Hamilton how to swim. The roadhouse eventually fell into decline and in the mid-1950s burnt down.

Later the Hook Underpass was dug, the first of its type in the country and featured as a model in the Science Museum. It initially had road surface heating powered by two local generators^[4] however this was eventually decommissioned. In the preceding months after opening it attracted motorcyclists keen to ride the underpass at high speed.

Today there is a traffic black spot^[5] during peak hours going northbound before the Hook underpass. The road reduces from three lanes to two in the underpass. The speed limit at this point reduces from 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), with the first of many GATSO speed enforcement cameras situated before the road bears to the right and under the bridge . The traffic from the A309 also joins just before the underpass. This section is often busy from about 7:50am to 8:30am and from 5:15pm to 5:50pm.

References

Coordinates: 51°22′30″N 0°18′14″W / 51.375138°N 0.303951°W / 51.375138; -0.303951

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

Districts	Berrylands Chessington Coombe Hook Kingston upon Thames Kingston Vale Malden Rushett Motspur Park (part) New Malden Norbiton Old Malden Seething Wells Surbiton Tolworth

Attractions	Chessington World of Adventures Coronation Stone Kingston Museum Out of Order sculpture Rose Theatre Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University The Queen's Promenade, River Thames

Bridges and tunnels	Kingston Bridge Kingston Railway Bridge

Parks and open spaces	Bushy Park Canbury Gardens Richmond Park

Constituencies	Kingston and Surbiton Richmond Park

Rail stations	Berrylands Chessington North Chessington South Kingston Malden Manor New Malden Norbiton Surbiton Tolworth Worcester Park

Places of worship	All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames St John's Church, Kingston upon Thames

Sport	AFC Wimbledon Kingstonian F.C. Surbiton Hockey Club Kingston Rowing Club

Other topics	Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Schools

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