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Closing of digbeth Coach Station

Thats sad news to a far away Brummie, the times I spent there collection Midland Red Bus numbers.:(
 
Trouble is, Alf, it had seen better times and was, to use an in expression; no longer fit for purpose - in other words it had degenerated into a dump!

BTW, you're not confusing it with the bus station that was in Edgbaston Street, are you? That closed yonks ago with the redevelopment of the Bull Ring.
 
Have I missed a thread on this.?
If they are closing Digbeth where are the long distance coaches operating from?
Have been gone from Brum some thirty odd years and only knew of Digbeth.
 
Am I thinking of the right one, it used to smell awful with all the fumes!!! Just down from the Bull Ring...with all the Midland Reds & coaches (on the same side of the road as the Bull Ring).
 
Willoughby, the coach station - National Express has moved to a temporary home nearby until a brand new coach station is built. About time too, let's hope provision will be made for cars to drop off and pick up passengers, as its been a nightmare for years.
 
Dolphie said:
Am I thinking of the right one, it used to smell awful with all the fumes!!! Just down from the Bull Ring...with all the Midland Reds & coaches (on the same side of the road as the Bull Ring).
Click to expand...

Dolphie,

The Midland Red Bus Station, which I referred to as closing some time ago, was almost in the Bull Ring Market, just along from St Martins. (Not much use for it now with no Midland Red.)

The Digbeth Coach Station, handling National Express coaches, is/was on the opposite side of the road to Digbeth Civic Hall. As Sylvia says it is a nightmare of a place to pick up and drop off passengers, and its ramshackle appearance would not have given a great impression to anyone visiting the city for the first time.
 
Thanks Oisin, my memories must be from the smelly Midland Red bus station I think. It always seemed 'thick' with smoggy fumes whenever you went in, & you took your life in your hands trying to get to a bus stand!! I do remember the coach station tho as well, that seemed a tad bleak too.
 
Oisin said:
Dolphie,

The Midland Red Bus Station, which I referred to as closing some time ago, was almost in the Bull Ring Market, just along from St Martins. (Not much use for it now with no Midland Red.)

The Digbeth Coach Station, handling National Express coaches, is/was on the opposite side of the road to Digbeth Civic Hall. As Sylvia says it is a nightmare of a place to pick up and drop off passengers, and its ramshackle appearance would not have given a great impression to anyone visiting the city for the first time.
Click to expand...

I must be really out of touch.... No Midland Red!! What has taken their place? What is the Midland Red Bus Station used for now? It was right around the corner from my school in the Bull Ring... but I still used to walk to New Street to catch my bus... back in the early 60's.
Georgie
 
Thanks Sylvia on the update.
I only remember it all those years ago and it was a miserable, smelly, dank and rubbish strewn place then.
If there was one thing that would get folks on the train and away from the coach, it was Digbeth coach station.
A job done that was long overdue.
 
Well guys it may have been old and smelly, however it served Col & I well a few months ago while in Brum. It was a lot cheaper than the Train .... We went down and back on visits to London twice (one time there was not a train leaving New St earlier enough to get us to where we were going in time), off to Warwick and Stratford, and Down and back to Bristol.
Here's Three ticket stubs I had stashed away for the G/kids to play with, I will just keep them now.

Pom :angel:
 
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Oisin said:
Trouble is, Alf, it had seen better times and was, to use an in expression; no longer fit for purpose - in other words it had degenerated into a dump!

BTW, you're not confusing it with the bus station that was in Edgbaston Street, are you? That closed yonks ago with the redevelopment of the Bull Ring.
Click to expand...

I was on about the Midland Red one Digbeth Oisin Double Doors with those Flats or Offices on the corner:)
 
I never had a problem with the location of the National Express Coach Station at Digbeth. When making my way on foot from there to New Street Station, I usually cut through the Pallasades Shopping Precinct which would take about ten minutes. But then again, spare a thought for those coach passengers armed with suitcases travelling that distance using the same method - it's not so easy for them!
 
Degsy168, and with all the parking restrictions in the area and lack of a dedicated set-down point, it ain't easy for those with suitcases etc. to be dropped off by car either. :(
 
Oisin said:
Degsy168, and with all the parking restrictions in the area and lack of a dedicated set-down point, it ain't easy for those with suitcases etc. to be dropped off by car either. :(
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Agreed Oisin - In the case of the National Express Coach Service, you would have expected Birmingham City Council to locate designated set-down points for these coach services en route to Digbeth for passengers to alight and make their own arrangements accordingly. Such provisions do exist in London for passengers using National Express coaches. One such location in London is Golders Green Bus Station for services travelling from the north.
 
I feel sad when people especially outsiders go on about the state of the old Digbeth Coach Station. It certainly wasn't ideal by the end of it's days and the closure but most folks seem to overlook the fact that it only started out in life as a bus garage. Over it's Midland Red days it coped reasonbly well when doubling as a coach station although it was obviously under more pressure on summer weekends and as coaches increased in length and motorways opened up new faster more frequent services. Then National Express took charge and the crunch really came when the Severn Bridge opened and a connecting hub of services moved up from the famous Black & White Coach Station in Cheltenham to Digbeth. A case of trying to get the proverbial pint into a half pint pot if ever thre was one and things nosedived from then on. Hopefully the gleaming new reincarnation will be better - don't hold your breath!
 
Thanks for that info Mike - I only knew that the traffic had increased terribly but not why. I recall using Cheltenham when going to St Ives with my late wife (then wife to be) and her Ma and Pa. Good Midland Red Coach down so far and tatty coach to St Ives though I think that we may have had another change of coach near to Exeter.

I do have some [more recent] fond memories as I used to occasionally use Digbeth to travel to Glasgow (now there is a Coach and Bus station) before the future Mrs D'Boult moved down here. One time some absent minded professor type picked up my travel bag not his. They looked the same but mine was 2 1/2 times the weight which he had not noticed. Caught up with him in the waiting room.
 
Did you travel up to Glasgow or back overnight Bernie? On the Midland Red I sometimes used to drive the overnight National Express service between Coventry and Glasgow, try to get some day sleep at digs near the Thornlie Bank Western Scottish Bus Depot, and drive back the following night. Didn't do me sleep patterns a lot of good - going up was OK but it was the coming back that wasn't so clever!
That was the impressive Buchanan Street Bus Station you used in Glasgow. (Bet Lloyds got a pic of it somewhere).
Mike
 
My brother worked for Hardings Coaches in the 70s, and sometimes did this overnight Glasgow from Digbeth, on hire to the Midland Red, I went with him a couple of times,and as Mike said it was hard to keep awake on the return trip after usually a bad days sleep. If I remember correctly, we had 2 stops, one at Fortnum on the M6, and one at Lockerbie.
 
John,
Hired on duplicates usually picked their own breaks if we could give them a full load for Glasgow. On the service we went in to Manchester Chorlton St. Coach Station, Charnock Richards services, Southwaite services, Carlisle Bus Station then the long punch to Hamilton and finally Glasgow. Overnight parking was at Western Scottish Thornleigh Bank Depot which was surrounded by barbed wire and local shops had drop down windowshutters long before we saw them in Brum. Your brother duped me up from London one Saturday, him with a Bedford or Ford, me in a CM6T. Show me the way back to the Motorway he said, then leave me to it as this only does 55 mph. We got to the M1 and off I went at 70+. I got to Digbeth and was still unloading luggage when he pulled in. For all the difference in speed he was still only 10 minutes behind me.
 
Somebody said on an earlier post

What has taken the place of the Midland Red? The answer, nothing could or ever will!

I am proud to say I went to school and to work on the RED!
 
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