Page 17 - HB- Church Road

Church Road Redditch Heritage

The Bus Depot

The first bus service in Redditch started in April 1914 and ran from Birmingham. The red brick
garage in Church Road, was built by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company
Limited, and catered for the increase in local services within the town. It was opened on 1st July
1931, with an initial allocation of approximately 18 vehicles. (This was the same year that the
Public Hall next door had a new facade and opened as the Gaumont Palace.) The depot was
extended at one end in November 1938, increasing capacity to 35 vehicles. During the Second
World War three ambulance buses were also allocated space. By 1956 the garage was operating
at a maximum capacity of 35 vehicles.²¹ The following photo of Church Road was taken facing
Church Green. The bus depot was to the right of the Employment Exchange.

The bus depot in the 1960s

In March 1974 the bus company was renamed the Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited, and
had a depot allocation of 40 vehicles and approximately 107 staff. Depot control passed to Midland
Red (West) Limited when the Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited split up in September 1981.
The bus company was renamed the First Midland Red Buses Limited in March 1999. The depot
was closed in January 2004, and vehicle maintenance was transferred to the Worcester and
Kidderminster depots. Local administration work moved to the Plymouth Road site, and in 2005
vehicle maintenance duties were also moved to this site.
The Church Road site was sold in 2004 to a private property developer, Mohammad Farooqui,
who leased it to Pete’s Travel which later traded as the People’s Express. The depot was closed
by People's Express in June 2005, and the building remained empty until the Go-Ahead group
decided to reopen the depot.²² In March 2006 Go-Ahead acquired the assets and services of
Probus Management Ltd (People's Express) for around £2.4 million. All services that were operated
by People’s Express were transferred without change to the Diamond Bus Company. It was planned
to reopen the Church Road garage from late October 2006 for the operation of Redditch local
services. However, the re-opening of the Redditch depot was delayed whilst the application to
change the operator’s license was processed. Diamond Bus finally re-opened the Church Road
depot in February 2007, following an extensive refurbishment.

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