Covered Bus Stations

[Pyewipecarshed]

Talbot Road in Blackpool was under cover, and firmly in the fume-filled hell hole category!

 

[Simon75]

Market Gates in Great Yarmouth has a number of stands that are fully undercover, as does Worcester Crowngate, though both have some outside too. Think Rotherham is also in that category. However, Belper is fully undercover, as is Aylesbury! Possibly Maidstone?

Fully undercover ones are, thankfully, now very rare as they tended to be fume filled hellholes. Ones that are no longer around but were undercover...

• Darlington
• Sunderland Central
• Newcastle Worswick Street
• Blackpool Talbot Road
• Kendal
• Chelmsford
• Wetherby
• Northampton x 2
• Bristol
• Weston super Mare
• Bradford Interchange
• Chatham Pentagon
• Colchester
• Swansea Singleton Street
• Eastbourne
• Whitehaven

There are some old Glasgow ones but before my time

Chelmsford had some buses on the front, which wasn't covered

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Market Gates in Great Yarmouth has a number of stands that are fully undercover, as does Worcester Crowngate, though both have some outside too. Think Rotherham is also in that category. However, Belper is fully undercover, as is Aylesbury! Possibly Maidstone?

Fully undercover ones are, thankfully, now very rare as they tended to be fume filled hellholes. Ones that are no longer around but were undercover...

• Darlington
• Sunderland Central
• Newcastle Worswick Street
• Blackpool Talbot Road
• Kendal
• Chelmsford
• Wetherby
• Northampton x 2
• Bristol
• Weston super Mare
• Bradford Interchange
• Chatham Pentagon
• Colchester
• Swansea Singleton Street
• Eastbourne
• Whitehaven

There are some old Glasgow ones but before my time

Ahem!

Northampton was fully under cover but was demolished around 10 years ago.

Part of the previous Warrington Golden Square Bus Station was under cover as well, and then there was a couple in Newcastle-on-Tyne, which I cant remember the names of sadly.

Talbot Road in Blackpool was under cover, and firmly in the fume-filled hell hole category!

I seem to remember in the 1970s when I lived near Rotherham it had a town centre bus station in the undercroft of a town centre car park. Pretty grim tbh.

The original Bradford Interchange bus station had a full roof.

I'd mentioned quite a few in #4. For clarity, there were two undercover Northampton ones. The one that went in 2015 was itself a replacement for the one in Derngate.

The Eastbourne one was in Pevensey Road (rather than the Cavendish Place coach station). Central SMT did have one in Waterloo Street in Glasgow in the 1960s. Luton was another hellhole that I'd forgotten about. Not many in Wales but Ammanford was one.

 

[Devon Sunset]

Livingston and Dalkeith were both combined depots and bus stations.

 

[Buzby]

I believe Buchanan Street was under cover

There’s only been one called that-and it’s still there today. You either mean Killermont Street Bus Station or Waterloo Street Bus Station, both stand alone buildings with an upper floor and the buses in platforms at ground level, driving in from the rear and driving out the front like a Fire Station once passengers boarded.

 

[ian1944]

Is Bristol not undercover? It was when I passed through about 25 years ago while taking advantage(?) of a NatEx £10 anywhere to do Edinburgh/Penzance return.

Re. Yelloway Rochdale, it was the garage and completely undercover, but at/below river level and prone to flooding, so wet feet if not heads were possible.

 

[MedwayValiant]

Most of the ones I remember have been mentioned already, but Luton (Bute Street) was another in the cavernous category. That place was scarey!

It doesn't any more, but am I right in thinking that Turnpike Lane Bus Station in Wood Green used to have a full lid?

 

[158756]

Stretching the definition of bus station, but the main stops at Lancaster University are underneath the central square.

 

[High Dyke]

The current Doncaster Interchange, under the Frenchgate centre, is the site of the old North bus station.

At Lincoln, some of the end stands at the Corporation bus station (City) were uncovered. They were beyond the multistorey car park. However, St Marks was properly undercover. The old Nottingham Victoria was similar. Strange to realise that all three of those locations were replaced by uncovered facilities. And yes I did drive in/out of them all.

 

[Open top 80]

Workington bus station

 

[GusB]

I was of the impression we were covering bus stations where the buses were undercover. Not the passenger area.

It's a trivia thread. No matter what rules are set in the opening post, people will do their utmost to interpret it in their own way

 

[Robertj21a]

Bogmor Regis, some years ago.
Brighton, Steine St Coach Stn

 

[Dai Corner]

Is Bristol not undercover? It was when I passed through about 25 years ago while taking advantage(?) of a NatEx £10 anywhere to do Edinburgh/Penzance return.

It was a combined depot and bus station under one roof but since your visit the maintenance work has been relocated to other depots and the site redeveloped with only the passenger area under cover.

 

[Statto]

Doncaster South Bus Station is still there, although hoardings & shutters block off access to the Bus Station itself, i think the car park section above the Bus Station is still open.

Manchester Arndale was a weird one, i think only open for 15 years, but it was very grim even on a baking hot day, the 1996 IRA bomb damaged it beyond repair, i do remember the greasy spoon cafe at the Arndale Bus Station.

 

[mjc]

Longton (PMT)

Lots of happy memories of trips through Longton bus station as a kid in the 80s as my grandparents lived that end of the city and they’d often take me to Longton for a day out (no, I was a good kid, honest!).
Is Longton the only one in this list that can claim to be underneath a nightclub?

 

[Leyland Bus]

Manchester Arndale was a weird one, i think only open for 15 years, but it was very grim even on a baking hot day, the 1996 IRA bomb damaged it beyond repair, i do remember the greasy spoon cafe at the Arndale Bus Station.

Not wishing to be pedantic (or indeed drift slightly O/T) but it's complete myth that the bomb damaged the bus station and caused its closure. Under the bus station was the delivery bay for all the shops. The ceiling of which was the floor of the bus station and rather large (albeit thin) bits of concrete were starting to come away and drop off. It was reckoned at the time that that happened because the floor had to be skimmed when it was built as there wasn't enough clearance to lift a bus in the need to replace a tyre etc. The PTE was faced with either closure or having to replace the floor and the bomb was a convenient excuse. In the end, that whole side of the Arndale was found to be sinking due to subsidence and was eventually demolished anyway...

But I'm one of the few who rather liked and still misses the Arndale and all the buses whizzing round it (and they did fair motor at times!)

 

[Ken H]

Worcester. Its under a shopping centre. Some stops outside with bus shelters, but mostly under cover.

the old Cheltenham coach station was largely under cover. Many 'through' express services needed a change there, so a busy place.

 

[M60lad]

Regarding Manchester Arndale Bus Station from what I remember at the time all PTE Bus Stations were under refurbishment and I'm not to sure how true this is but I do believe and was told at the time that if the Bomb hadn't have happened Manchester Arndale Bus Station was going to be refurbished.

Was the whole of that side of Arndale demolished only from what I'm led to believe the part of the current loading bay is all what's left of that side of the original Arndale from what I can gather?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Is Bristol not undercover? It was when I passed through about 25 years ago while taking advantage(?) of a NatEx £10 anywhere to do Edinburgh/Penzance return.

See post #4

Workington bus station

Literally one of the first examples cited by @Andyh82

Worcester. It’s under a shopping centre. Some stops outside with bus shelters, but mostly under cover.

See post #4

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 May 2025 ==

Is Longton the only one in this list that can claim to be underneath a nightclub?

Is that something for another thread?

 

[Leyland Bus]

1) Regarding Manchester Arndale Bus Station from what I remember at the time all PTE Bus Stations were under refurbishment and I'm not to sure how true this is but I do believe and was told at the time that if the Bomb hadn't have happened Manchester Arndale Bus Station was going to be refurbished.

2) Was the whole of that side of Arndale demolished only from what I'm led to believe the part of the current loading bay is all what's left of that side of the original Arndale from what I can gather?

1) See post #44

2) As per post #44 the loading bay was underground, physically beneath the Arndale, so the whole of that side of the Arndale was demolished (bar the multi storey car park) the delivery bay was modified/improved and the entry/exit is where the Bus Stations rear entrance was.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I should also have remembered Birmingham Bull Ring which was absolutely appalling

Was that the really weirdly designed one with entrance and exit on a shallow angle from the road, that was used predominantly by Midland Red rather than the corporation / WMPTE?

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

There were a couple in Scarborough historically; Newham's Garage used by Hardwicks Services and West Yorkshire's Northway garage/bus station.

It's a trivia thread. No matter what rules are set in the opening post, people will do their utmost to interpret it in their own way

Most of us are guilty of that lol, as I believe the OP's original question was about bus stations that are still in use!
But in fairness they were all covered (no pun intended!) quite quickly, and as mentioned up thread most covered facilities have been abolished due to their habit of filling up with fumes. However I wonder if they will come back into fashion as more electric buses enter service? New speculative thread perhaps.

 

[Llandudno]

Northampton was fully under cover but was demolished around 10 years ago.

Thank goodness, the fumes in there were dreadful…!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Was that the really weirdly designed one with entrance and exit on a shallow angle from the road, that was used predominantly by Midland Red rather than the corporation / WMPTE?

That's the one. If you know where to look, you can still see the entrance. It was mainly Midland Red - I recall using in during the summer of 1996 for services out to Kidderminster and Worcester.

Eldon Square in Newcastle and the Central Bus Station in Sunderland were even worse.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The old Eldon Square bus concourse

Worswick Street too

 

[SuspectUsual]

That's the one. If you know where to look, you can still see the entrance

As if. I won't have been there since about 1985, all I can remember is loads of big concrete columns on the inside and the entrance sort of on a corner

 

[cool110]

Coach stand A at Preston is fully under the car park, while everything else is open.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Bootle

 

[Statto]

Bootle

Bootle New Strand is a weird one, were all the stands & roadway are undercover, but the layover is in a separate area that isn't covered.

 

[Trainman40083]

Bootle New Strand is a weird one, were all the stands & roadway are undercover, but the layover is in a separate area that isn't covered.

Last time I went there, CMT were running Leyland Nationals.