Yester Years: End of the road for Northwich bus terminus

The bus terminus pre-1924

In the early 1950s, the North Western Road Car Company supplied the transport with single and double-deckers painted in cream and red, then towards the end of the 1950s, the paint scheme changed to one of all-over red.

The terminus in the early 1950s

After that, the company became part Crosville and for a short while continued in red, as seen here, but then assumed the Crosville colour scheme of green.

Transition, North Western to Crosville

But what of North Western? It was formed in Stockport in 1923 from the subsidiaries of other bus companies. In 1924 the Mid-Cheshire Motor Bus Company became part of North-Western bringing the Northwich terminus into the company.

A very early North Western bus

At this time, it was situated on the road next to what was to become the extensive terminus and workshops, in 1974. The remaining depots and services in Cheshire were transferred to Crosville Motor Services.

But that was not the end of the North Western Road Car Company. The National Bus Company was privatised and operated between 1969 and 1988. It did not run busses but was the owner of regional companies. The Government stipulated that the larger bus companies be split to increase competition. The Ribble Bus Company covered a huge chunk of the north west from Cumbria down. It was decided to merge its depots in Merseyside, Aintree, Bootle, Skelmersdale and Wigan to a new company called – the North Western Road Car Company, based initially in Bootle.

The Over bus

This new company had nothing to do with Mid Cheshire but in 1988 Northwich once again welcomed busses with North Western graphics, this time red and blue bearing the name North Western. The Drawlane Group purchased the North Western Road Company in 1988, and they expanded it to include Mid Cheshire, this time using minibuses as well as single and double-deckers.

By now independent companies had started to use the large Northwich bus station as well as Crosville subsidiaries under the names Mini Lynx for minibuses and Town Lynx for single deckers. But bus passengers had declined sharply as car use had grown and by the early 1990s the decision was made to close the large terminus, it subsequently became a supermarket and care home, the bus stops being moved to Watling Street.

Bus pre-1924

Then along came the Northwich gyratory system and the bus stops began to cause congestion. A dedicated terminus is now being sought.

Paul Hurley has a Facebook group, Mid Cheshire Through Time, with nearly 6K members covering local photographic history and other interesting non-political subjects.