Coach stations.

[Condor7]

Having just heard that Victoria Coach station is to be given listed building status, it just got me thinking are there any other coach stations in the UK?

I am of course aware of the many bus stations, but cannot think of another coach station.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Only one that springs to mind apart from London Vic is Birmingham

 

[gordonthemoron]

Milton Keynes Coachway?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Milton Keynes Coachway?

Manchester Chorlton St, Liverpool Norton St, Newcastle, Birmingham Digbeth, Brighton Pool Valley, Southampton Western Esplanade plus some in seaside towns such as Torquay and Blackpool
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Might also had that Leeds is a coach station built with NX funding onto the adjoining bus station that replaced a dedicated coach station (if you can call it that) at Wellington Street.

 

[radamfi]

Where is Blackpool Coach Station nowadays? My mum and dad used to take me to Blackpool regularly by Ellen Smith excursion from Rochdale in the 80s and the coach went to the Rigby Road coach station. I passed there a few months ago and saw that it was demolished. There is also no longer a Talbot Road bus/coach station and National Express now use a few bus shelters nearby.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Where is Blackpool Coach Station nowadays? My mum and dad used to take me to Blackpool regularly by Ellen Smith excursion from Rochdale in the 80s and the coach went to the Rigby Road coach station. I passed there a few months ago and saw that it was demolished. There is also no longer a Talbot Road bus/coach station and National Express now use a few bus shelters nearby.

I was thinking Rigby Road/Lonsdale; it's been a while since I've been to Blackpool so thanks for putting me right. Think Torquay is still there though

I guess there's also the distinction between a coach station for scheduled express services, and a coach park that acts as a parking area/redezvous point (though I think Torquay does/did both)

 

[bussnapperwm]

Newcastle on Tyne has one

 

[Busaholic]

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Cheltenham St Margaret's. After Victoria this was the busiest coach station in the country until the mid 1980s, with the 2 p.m. mass exodus one of the seven wonders of the coach world. I only visited once, and unfortunately after the witching hour so didn't see too many coaches. I'm sure there are loads of pics on the internet,

 

[telstarbox]

Not sure if Sheffield Interchange counts - it's a bus and coach station but National Express have their own stops, waiting room and crew area.

 

[Liam]

Broxden? Only coaches and the P&R shuttle.

 

[robertclark125]

Blackpool coach station is on Central Drive, on part of the site of the former Blackpool Central Railway Station.

 

[dvboy]

Wolverhampton has a "coach station" but NX services depart from a dedicated stand at the bus station on the other side of town. The coach station is mainly used by touring companies and football "away" coaches.

 

[childwallblues]

Oxford?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Oxford?

Local bus services also use Oxford for Swindon and Chipping Norton (and other places) so not exclusively coaches

 

[LuSiVe]

Chesterfield is called a coach station but is used by the X17 and Pronto service buses so not sure if that counts. It doesn't have a bus station though ...

 

[Liam]

Not UK, but didn't some private firms (I think Citylink was one of them) build a coach station in Galway? When I was last there, Bus Eireann were still operating from outside the Railway Station.

 

[6Gman]

There are/were a number of places that have/had bus & coach stations that were adjacent, but separate - if you see what I mean.

Exeter - buses upstairs, coaches downstairs.
Liverpool (Skelhorne Street) - buses downstairs, coaches upstairs.

Rhyl used to have a coach station - Crescent Road.

 

[158747]

Southampton has a coach station.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Southampton has a coach station.

Already mentioned it - Western Esplanade

 

[radamfi]

In most places in Greater Manchester, other than their own coach station at Chorlton Street, National Express use regular bus stations. However, until the late 1980s, in Rochdale they used the Yelloway coach station instead of the GMPTE bus station (which was just across the road). After Yelloway went bust, the coach station was demolished so National Express relocated to the regular bus station.

If Yelloway still existed today, I wonder whether National Express would have continued to use the Yelloway coach station?

 

[Rapidash]

Torquay has a small one as well.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In most places in Greater Manchester, other than their own coach station at Chorlton Street, National Express use regular bus stations. However, until the late 1980s, in Rochdale they used the Yelloway coach station instead of the GMPTE bus station (which was just across the road). After Yelloway went bust, the coach station was demolished so National Express relocated to the regular bus station.

If Yelloway still existed today, I wonder whether National Express would have continued to use the Yelloway coach station?

Yelloway didn't go bust technically. The owner sold to ATL Holdings (regarded by some as asset strippers) who bought it mainly as a base for competitive bus services. Perhaps it was already ailing but the coach side was wound up and the vehicles plus a number of NTE ones were sold at auction (Kirkby at Hellaby?) to fund a wholesale move to bus operation.

The depot was then used for a while for bus work but I think the decrepit fleet of elderly VRs, Fleetlines and Nationals eventually attracted the attention of GMPTE and TC (a raft of PG9s) and the business was wound up and depot sold for redevelopment.
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Torquay has a small one as well.

I mentioned that one too earlier

 

[Welshman]

Rhyl used to have a coach station - Crescent Road.

Indeed it did.

There are some interesting photographs of Crosville's Crescent Road Coach Station in Martin Jenkins & Charles Roberts The Heyday of Crosville.

Incidentally, I sometimes wonder why the present-day National Express services use the bus stop at The Seaquarium instead of the refurbished bus station outside the railway station.

Also, giving this thread another angle, Llandudno is an interesting example of a town which has a Coach Station [Mostyn Broadway], but not a bus station.

[although with your user -name, I expect you're well-aware of that! ]

 

[Statto]

Indeed it did.

There are some interesting photographs of Crosville's Crescent Road Coach Station in Martin Jenkins & Charles Roberts The Heyday of Crosville.

Incidentally, I sometimes wonder why the present-day National Express services use the bus stop at The Seaquarium instead of the refurbished bus station outside the railway station.

Also, giving this thread another angle, Llandudno is an interesting example of a town which has a Coach Station [Mostyn Broadway], but not a bus station.

[although with your user -name, I expect you're well-aware of that! ]

Probably easier to get in & out of Rhyl[you don't want to stay too long in Rhyl] without using the one way system.

 

[atraindriver]

Indeed it did.
Incidentally, I sometimes wonder why the present-day National Express services use the bus stop at The Seaquarium instead of the refurbished bus station outside the railway station.

Perhaps they'd have to pay to use the bus station? Roadside is presumably free.

 

[Busaholic]

Plans have just been published for a new coach station in Plymouth to replace the eyesore called Bretonside. It will be on the site of the Mayflower West multi-storey car park and provide bays for seven coaches and some limited covering for waiting passengers, although, unlike Bretonside, it is unlikely to be used by any bus services. It will be on ground floor level, so no need to negotiate stairs or escalators trying to avoid the druggies. A public consultation started on September 16th inviting feedback.

 

[starrymarkb]

Plans have just been published for a new coach station in Plymouth to replace the eyesore called Bretonside. It will be on the site of the Mayflower West multi-storey car park and provide bays for seven coaches and some limited covering for waiting passengers, although, unlike Bretonside, it is unlikely to be used by any bus services. It will be on ground floor level, so no need to negotiate stairs or escalators trying to avoid the druggies. A public consultation started on September 16th inviting feedback.

Having seen the plans the site looks very small, think the big 15m coaches that NatEx and Megabus use may struggle

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Having seen the plans the site looks very small, think the big 15m coaches that NatEx and Megabus use may struggle

As always, it'll be too small. Such is the way when the prime mover is retail development.

 

[Busaholic]

As always, it'll be too small. Such is the way when the prime mover is retail development.

The nonsense of this is that the last thing Plymouth needs is more shops: since Drake Circus opened the centre of gravity in shopping moved there from Dingles and the market and surrounding area are like a depressed zone, with closed, charity or 'temporary' shops. That multi-storey car park was at least in the centre of the city - now many of those people will park at Drake Circus and, the way it is configured, have to pass by all the shops therein in order to get out, thus ensuring it gets even more of the available trade. The only shop that could help Plymouth would be a John Lewis in the centre and I think there's more chance of getting one here in Penzance, in other words, zero minus!