Sunday 6 July 2025

10am to 4.30pm


Cheltenham Town Football Club

Whaddon Road, Cheltenham, GL52 5NA


HISTORY

In February 1925 Greyhound Motors of Bristol, started what is considered to be the first daily express coach service in Britain. It ran between Bristol and London along the A4, call at towns along the route. A hundred years later we're celebrating the centenary of express coach services at Cheltenham - once a hub of nation-wide express coach services and home of Associated Motorways.


OUR EVENT

Up to 30 beautifully restored luxury coaches from yesteryear will be on display, lined-up in the way they used to at Cheltenham Coach Station.

COACH TOURS

Some of the coaches will offer a free 'Coach Tour', so you can experience the good old days of express coach travel. Tours will depart every 30 minutes from 10.30am to 3pm. Journey time of around one hour.


DISPLAYS

There will also be picture displays and the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust stall selling books, models and a souvenir programme. The programme will be packed with history and photos commemorating 100-years of Britain's express coach services.

GETTING HERE

There will be NO car parking at the Football ground. So, please come by bus - Stagecoach route 'A' links the Town Centre (Clarence Street) with Whaddon Road every 20 minutes.


There will also be a regular free  'Shuttle' service, operated by heritage Cheltenham District buses & some coaches. The shuttle service will run every 20 minutes.

First departures from:

  • Queens Road, lay-by, opposite train station: 09.32;
  • Royal Well Bus Station, lay-by: 09.42;
  • Cheltenham Racecourse Park & Ride site: 09.45.

Car parking at the Racecourse Park & Ride site is free.

PROGRAMME

On-site we will be selling a souvenir programme, which will include the full timetables for the days free trips & a detailed history of early express coach services.

Programme sales help fund the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust. This helps us restore and present classic buses & coaches for your enjoyment.  


CATERING

The football club will have their café/bar open (10am to 4pm) serving cold/hot and alcoholic drinks, hot food (burgers, chips, sausages, southern fried chicken fillets, scampi). There's ample toilets on-site too.

MASS DEPARTURE

At 4.30pm an inspector will ring a bell and all the coaches will depart on-mass, just like they used to from Cheltenham Coach Station for fifty years (1934 to 1984)! Re-creating the glorious sights and sounds of the golden age of express coach travel.

Cheltenham Classic Coaches is brought to you

in partnership with the

2024 MASS DEPARTURE


Forty years after the last mass departure of express service coaches from Cheltenham Coach Station (in 1984), we re-created the sights and sounds of this daily spectacle. Using our very own temporary Coach Station for the day, courtesy of Cheltenham Town Football Club.


Watch as coaches from the golden age of express road services (from the late 1940's to the early 1980's) pour onto the streets of Cheltenham, just like they did for nearly fifty years between 1934 and 1984 (minus a few years during World War II). 


Turn-up the sound, wait for the whistle and enjoy!


Thanks to the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust for the video.