Nottingham Buses

Introduction

Back in the late 50s I went to live in Nottingham. Now, where I grew up, buses were either red or green, but in Nottingham they were all sorts of colours. The Corporation buses were green and cream, there were two companies with blue buses and three with red ones, including the plum-and-custard vehicles of the Barton company. Some of the buses were quite old, while the Trent company had very modern rear-engined one-man double-deckers.

I lived in lodgings in Salisbury Street, Beeston and one day my landlady made the Delphic utterance, "If the trackless come to Beeston, our rates'll go up." This needs some unravelling. The 'trackless' were the Corporation trolleybuses which had replaced the old trams. They ran along the Derby Road, but the only Corporation buses that came into Beeston were motor buses. The thinking was that, if the overhead wires were installed on the route to Beeston, this would be the thin end of the wedge which would lead to the incorporation of the town into the City of Nottingham. The council rates were higher in the City than in the Urban District of Beeston and Stapleford. The trolleybuses never came to Beeston, and in the reorganization of 1974 the town became part of the Borough of Broxtowe.

I used to walk home along Queen's Road, where there was a huge factory belonging to Boots the Chemist. Few ordinary people had cars in those days and so at going-home time vast numbers of buses poured out of the factory gates and turned towards the city centre. The convoy of buses reminded me of a column of ants marching relentlessly onward.

These things are touched on in this piece of youthful doggerel.

Nottingham Buses

Nottingham buses are all shapes and sizes;
Nottingham buses are green, red or blue.
Nottingham buses run on Sundays,
But not at the times when they're needed by you.

Nottingham buses are diesel or trackless
And some have those doors that slide shut at the front.
Some Nottingham buses are ultra-modern
And others there are which are almost defunct.

At knocking-off time half of Nottingham's buses
Proceed from Boots' factory in formic array;
And if you should wish to cross over Queen's Road then,
You'd best pitch a tent there and wait till next day.

Nottingham buses are all shapes and sizes;
Nottingham buses are red, blue or green.
Nottingham buses are just like all buses -
When you reach the bus stop, the last one's just been.