Buses in Nottingham

[Trevor S 2,003]

You're right.....no centre street lights and traction poles are now just ordinary light poles

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=Mansfield+road+sherwood+notts+uk&hl=en&ll=52.98162,-1.146054&spn=0.009521,0.033023&sll=-37.860283,145.079616&sspn=1.598166,4.22699&t=h&hnear=Things+to+do+in+Nottinghamshire,+Mansfield+Rd,+Sherwood,+Nottinghamshire+NG5+2GA,+United+Kingdom&z=16&layer=c&cbll=52.981469,-1.146264&panoid=WeSU38zxnsyGkoiYO9Edyg&cbp=12,61.17,,0,-12.4

[Merthyr Imp 729]

I've dug out this photo which shows the cafe on Huntingdon Street I mentioned was in fact called 'The Journeys End', not Capocci's after all.

The coach is Makemson's of Bulwell AEC Reliance, registration XNL107. The sticker in the windscreen says 'On Hire to Lincolnshire' so it's probably just arrived from Mablethorpe or somewhere. The photo must have been taken in 1970 or 1971.

[Commo 1,292]

MI, the cafe was Capoccis originally, but would appear to have changed hands by the time of your photo'. I knew it in the 50's as one of the few places open on a Sunday morning, and apart from having the coffee bar at the rear of the shop, also sold sweets and chocolates at the front. Used to very occassionally, when funds allowed, buy a bar of Toblerone to take back to Mum for Sunday afternoon after having cycled down on a Sunday morning from Ruddington to visit relatives.

[Trevor S 2,003]

Thanks for the pic at #333, MI. That will be the one that I remembered from back in the 50s. Windows painted halfway up and yellow from memory.

With the writing on the windows suggesting catering connoisseurs (?) it must have really gone up in the world from the simple transport cafe that I remember. What do you reckon Commo?

In the picture below courtesy of PTP, the cafe would have been in the building to the left, probably just out of picture and a short distance up from the Central Market.

[ChrisB 150]

I had a wander round last week and it seems the only part of the old bus station which is still recognisable is the area where they used to park spare buses at the top right, to the right of the present Staples office store.

It's nice that Huntingdon House survives (don't think a cafe would do much business today though!)

The old art-deco Barton garage is boarded up again, having been a Rapid Fit Auto Centre and the old Robin Hood garage is a Halfords Auto Centre, so I don't suppose there was enough business for two auto centres side by side!

[Trevor S 2,003]

Talking about buses and Bartons, anybody remember the main road leading away from Nottingham CBD, semi rural and with a long chain link fence alongside the road, large fir trees and at regular intervals, the destinations in England and abroad that Bartons used to travel to back in the late 50s?

The signs used to be red, gold and black or similar and one sign that always sticks in my mind was the Black Forest destination. These signs were on the top of the steel fence posts, about 6-7 foot off the ground and the signs would be about 2 x 3 feet in size.

Not sure if it was Derby Road, Trowell or some other one but I have a feeling that it was out that way.

Anybody??????????

[denshaw 2,871]

That would have been the A6005 Queens road Chilwell at the back of their depot.

[Cliff Ton 10,454]

Now you mention it, I remember that. It must've been along here, but it's almost impossible to recognise now because the roadside is full of trees which Barton planted when their depot was still operating. http://goo.gl/maps/z7Qky

[Commo 1,292]

Trevor, Den and Cliff have pinpointed the road into Chilwell with the signs that always made me think, when nobbut a kid, of impossible to reach far away places and how long would it take to get there even on one of their tour coaches!

Regarding the Capoccis cafe, I have really been raking the memory archives and "think" I recall it ceasing to be such in the early 60's. As Capocci's it had an unobscured display window and obviously became more secretive in it's subsequent ownership.

I do also recall, as you mention earlier in the thread, of the cafe and rest room for use by the drivers and conductors, and this was hidden from the outside world, but try as I might I cannot place it exactly in the row between Kent Street and Rick(?) Street. If the bus was late setting off, then sat on the upper deck of the Trent you could watch and wait to see the crew leaving from their cuppa station.

[Commo 1,292]

Raking the memory archives about Huntingdon St.and the buildings around the 'bus station has just connected another synaptic gap in there. In the mid 60's there was a DIY garage, the entrance I think on Howard Street, where you could rent a repair bay by the hour and each bay fitted out with tools and tackle for you to repair your own motor. There was always a member of staff on hand to give advice on how to tackle a job if needed, and I remember them aso advertising a "Stirling Moss" respray service for 25 guineas, about 6 weeks wages at the time, so was never able to use it but was always envious of anyone who could!

[Limey 242]

Weren't the Barton's destinations on fake wooden flags?

[Commo 1,292]

Yes Limey, shaped I think like a pennant.

[denshaw 2,871]

Commo, was that Autoplus?

[poohbear 1,360]

Raking the memory archives about Huntingdon St.and the buildings around the 'bus station has just connected another synaptic gap in there. In the mid 60's there was a DIY garage, the entrance I think on Howard Street, where you could rent a repair bay by the hour and each bay fitted out with tools and tackle for you to repair your own motor. There was always a member of staff on hand to give advice on how to tackle a job if needed, and I remember them aso advertising a "Stirling Moss" respray service for 25 guineas, about 6 weeks wages at the time, so was never able to use it but was always envious of anyone who could!

Still there in the 70s You rented the bay but didn't get tools supplied...those could be rented extra at the counter.Handy place...last used it to swap a twin wheel axle on a van...far too heavy to do at home.

[Commo 1,292]

Den, that does sound familiar. P/B, remember a little better now re the tools. My friend started out as apprentice mechanic at the VW dealers next to GEM so had a decent box of Snap On tools.

[Ashley 288]

Re earlier post on Bulwell Forest Station and Wrigleys Wagon Works, the 2 were side by side for many a year, the latter surviving the station and still there in 1960's when it cut up a fair number of steam locos.

Re Buses abroad, once saw a colour photo of a Skill;s Bus in some German Town, the road it was on was festooned with nazi swastika banners etc, looked really strange, late 1930,s it was taking Nottm City Police Boxing Team to a tournamount,

[BulwellBrian 107]

Ashley, I am sorry to mention this again on the forum but the wagon works was W Rigley & Sons and not Wrigley. The old station building was used as a club house for I think an Artisans Golf Club who were not allowed to use the main club house. You could see them crossing the road with bags of clubs. The signal box at the station was also in use presumably to allow access to the wagon works, it would also be a block post between Bestwood Junction and Leen Valley Junction. There were no trains on this line on Sundays.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

Below is a photo of the back of a bus which shows a little of the buildings on the other side of Huntingdon Street, including Barton's depot. Just visible furthest right on this side of the road is part of Hughie's cafe.

The bus itself is Barton's no. 1182, a Bedford YRQ with bodywork by Willowbrook of Loughborough. It was new in 1971, so the photo was almost certainly taken in that year. If I'm a bit vague about some of the details of the photos I put on here I'm afraid it's because I was rather dilatory about recording details of what I photographed at the time.

[Compo 10,328]

I had forgotten the Art Deco Amusement arcade! What was it before amusements, anyone? It's in teh same style as the bus shed so presumably it was once the same owners?

[denshaw 2,871]

It was called Playland, the sign is still there today.

[ChrisB 150]

I had forgotten the Art Deco Amusement arcade! What was it before amusements, anyone? It's in teh same style as the bus shed so presumably it was once the same owners?

Well yes, but no!

It was originally the Robin Hood Coaches garage.

Robin Hood were taken over by Bartons in 1961 but I don't know how long Bartons kept the separate garage going.

[Trevor S 2,003]

Left click on picture to enlarge view.

Just as a matter of interest, I found these two pictures on Flickr and reading the information supplied by the site, it would appear that both buildings, shown in the photo of the rear end of the Barton Bus posted by MI, were owned by Robin Hood Coaches.

Presumably, when Bartons took over Robin Hood in the early 60s, they must have retained and renamed the lower premises as their own and disposed of the other premises which is later shown as an Amusement Arcade.

Thanks to Flickr for the use of the photographs.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

According to the book 'Barton - Part 2' by Alan Oxly, published by Robin Hood Publishing in 1986, control of Robin Hood (Coaches) Ltd passed to Barton in October 1961, with the business being absorbed from 1st January 1962. It says that Robin Hood had moved their base from West Bridgford in 1939 'when the bus side of the business transferred to a new garage adjacent to Barton on Huntingdon Street.' That implies that the Barton garage was already there. The book says the Robin Hood premises closed at the end of 1961.

There's more information in 'Barton - Part 1' published in 1983. No actual date is given, but it implies it was 1939 when Barton opened that garage: 'Vehicles were transferred from Chilwell to a new garage on Huntingdon Street, Nottingham. These new premises, although small, had a very modern office and enquiry complex, and were adjacent to the garage of Robin Hood Coaches Ltd and Trent's enquiry office.'

I think the confusion may be because - as seen in my photo - it said both Barton and Robin Hood over the entrance to the garage. This would have been because Barton more or less marketed themselves as 'Barton - Robin Hood'. By the end of the 1960s I think almost all their vehicles (except maybe the older ones) bore both names as seen in this photo, for example. So they would have put the Robin Hood name on their garage in the same way as they began to put it on their vehicles.

[Commo 1,292]

Thanks for that MI, I'd forgotten about the Robin Hood logo on the Bartons. Another piece of info resurrected into the dwindling memory bank!

[Merthyr Imp 729]

By the way, that photo of Barton's AEC Reliance no. 768 shows it on route 12 - the Leicester service.

Looking at it, it reminds me of a time in my bus spotting days, when someone, knowing I collected bus numbers said they'd not really noticed such things before, but that a Barton bus they'd seen that day had rather a long number on it:

"What was it?", I asked.

"254881"

"Er - no. That was their phone number."