Friars Street depot, Hereford
- Land acquired on Friars Street by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) in 1920. The site included a former 17th century Quaker chapel that had been converted to three residential homes, known as Chapel Cottages.
- Purpose-built single-bay depot, built with steel frame covered with steel and asbestos sheeting. Located behind Chapel Cottages with access to Friars Street via gated driveway that ran alongside the cottages.
- Two of the Chapel Cottages were merged into one house which became the home of the garage foreman, Mr. E.W. Suddrick, who was the Resident Engineer at Hereford until January 1945.
- Opened by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) in April 1925, replacing operations at “Black Lion” depot, Bridge Street, Hereford.
- Garage extended in December 1930 by lengthening the single bay. This new part of the building was built higher than the original part of the garage to accommodate modern double deck buses.
- Traffic offices, drivers’ canteen and travel shop sited in Hereford Bus Station, off Commercial Road, from the opening of that site in 1934. From this time, the site was only used for engineering purposes and overnight parking.
- Certain services in Hereford, Leominster, and Kington areas are sold to Yeomans Motors of Canon Pyon on Monday 10th December 1934.
- Depot requisitioned without notice during Second World War, but soon de-requisitioned without being occupied by any government department, follow an appeal by BMMO.
- Extended again from 1947 with the addition of an open yard at the rear, bringing the capacity to about 50 vehicles.
- One-man operation introduced on sigle-deck buses for the first time by BMMO in an effort to reduce costs, starting at Hereford depot on Sunday 1st July 1956.
- Vehicle allocation of 49 in February 1962.
- Height increased on the original part of the building in 1965 to accommodate double-deck buses throughout the site.
- Land to front of depot used for bus parking and staff car park, from mid-1960s, following the demolition of Chapel Cottages.
- Company renamed to Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) on Friday 29th March 1974, with a depot allocation of 37 vehicles and approximately 118 staff at this time.
- Heavy cuts to rural services and a fleet allocation reduced from 36 to 24 vehicles on Saturday 11th March 1978, with the introduction of the “Wandaward” MAP scheme.
- Traffic offices established on the site in a former tyre store following the closure of the offices in Hereford Bus Station on Wednesday 28th February 1979. New stores are built inside the garage occupying space previously used for indoor parking.
- Further cuts to rural services in c. August 1980, with the allocation reduced to 19 vehicles.
- Control of Hereford depot passed to the newly formed Midland Red (West) Limited on Sunday 6th September 1981, when Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited ceased trading as a bus and coach operator.
- Herefordshire became a trial area for deregulation of the bus industry from Monday 21st September 1981, with service in the area no longer subject to normal licensing procedures and subject to competition from other operators.
- Bus operations of Yeomans pass to Midland Red (West) Limited on Saturday 9th April 1983.
- “Wandaward” brand names phased out from July 1984.
- On Saturday 23rd April 1988, Midland Red West Limited introduce a new network of services in Hereford using a fleet of new Mercedes-Benz 609D minibuses, operating in yellow, green and orange livery under the brand name “Hereford Hopper”. A new bus station sited behind Tesco supermarket on the junction of Victoria Street, New Market Street and Edgar Street is opened to operate the new local network of minibus services.
- Company renamed to First Midland Red Buses Limited on Friday 26th March 1999.
- On Monday 29th June 2015, First Midland Red Buses Limited announced the closure of Hereford depot from the end of services on Saturday 5th September 2015, with all FirstGroup services in Hereford being withdrawn. All staff are offered the chance to transfer to any other FirstGroup depot but most choose to take redundancy, with only one driver and two supervisors moving to Worcester depot.
- From Sunday 6th September 2015, all services withdrawn by First Midland Red are taken over by David Morris (“D.R.M. Bus”) of Bromyard (Service 420 only), or Yeomans Canyon Tours Limited of Hereford (all other services). Initially timetables will be unchanged from those operated by First Midland Red.
- Building used for storage of withdrawn vehicles until Thursday 15th October 2015.
- “Sold” sign shown on depot from Friday 4th December 2015, but negotiations fell through. Site is finally sold c. March 2018.
- Demolition work started on Thursday 7th June 2018, and completed within a week.
Page Top