Bath Bus Station - History

History

The old Bath Bus Station at Manvers Street opened in 1958 under the control of the Bristol Omnibus Company. The Southgate area of the city between Manvers Street to the east and St James’ Parade to the west was the area worst affected by the Baedeker Blitz of April 1942. The bus station was built as part of a project to replace this area of the city, where the city’s main railway station, connecting Bath with Bristol and London was already situated. The bus station was located next to the city’s red brick Victorian dairy, which showed lasting evidence of shell damage from the bombings. In this process, many of the city’s older buildings and streets were destroyed to make way for not just the bus station, but also the Southgate Shopping Centre and accompanying Ham Gardens car park. The demolition of this maze of historical buildings was known as the Rape of Bath and was finally halted in the early 1960s due to public outcry. The city has since been designated a world heritage site and 95% of the buildings in the centre are protected by listed building status. The new development was seen as being a threat to the city's World Heritage Status.

The bus station operated a range of services during its 49-year history – including local city buses, country buses, National Express coach services and Open top bus Tours. It has seen the Labour nationalisation and the Conservative privatisation of public transport, and the morphing of Bristol Omnibus into Badgerline, which was acquired by First and rebranded as First Somerset & Avon Ltd.