leeds bus termini in the old days

i remember in the 60's
Central Bus Station. Leeds City Transport (LCT), West Riding and Kippax Motors (to Garforth).
Vicar Lane (West Yorkshire Road Car, United and the odd East Yorkshire)
Wellington Street - mostly long distance coaches and the services to the Yorkshire coast.
small bus station corner of New York St and Cross York St where the red West Ridings to Kettlethorpe went from. pic - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cliffordstead/5397824747/
Rockingham St (Where the Merrion Centre is now), LCT buses to Tinshill and Cookridge.

and street termini
Cookridge St, for the executors of Samuel Ledgard services to Otley and Ilkley
Queen St or sovereign St, for Yorkshire Wollen and Yorkshire Traction services towards Huddersfield. Think the LCT 55 to Bruntcliffe went from Sovereign St too. was near the Queens Hall, a venue converted from old tram sheds. More info on these stops would be welcome
The Halifax service 8 to Rochdale used to go from somewhere odd before it was diverted to the bus station.

Have I missed any?

Goodness, that sounds even more confusing for plannning a bus journey from Leeds than today !

yorksrob said:

Goodness, that sounds even more confusing for plannning a bus journey from Leeds than today !

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Yes. as a kid it was loads of fun getting a bus to the central bus station then having to walk through town to find your next bus.

fortunately we lived close to Harrogate road for buses to the North, and there was the 44 bus (now the 91) to Headingley for buses towards Otley and Ilkley.

Ken H said:

The Halifax service 8 to Rochdale used to go from somewhere odd before it was diverted to the bus station.

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The late 1960s timetables I have show it as King Street.

Sammy Ledgard's ran from places in Leeds other than Cookridge Street but I am blowed if I can remember where.

They ran to Hawksworth near Horsforth, Rawdon, Pudsey (I think) and to Ilkley via Guiseley as well as Ilkley via Otley. Something makes me think that the Rawdons went from Vicar Lane but I wouldn't bet my house on it.

EDIT - Having consulted 'The Prestige Series' Samuel Ledgard - A Remininisce it would appear that Hawksworth and Ilkley via Guiseley services departed from King Street.

Glenmutchkin said:

Sammy Ledgard's ran from places in Leeds other than Cookridge Street but I am blowed if I can remember where.

They ran to Hawksworth near Horsforth, Rawdon, Pudsey (I think) and to Ilkley via Guiseley as well as Ilkley via Otley. Something makes me think that the Rawdons went from Vicar Lane but I wouldn't bet my house on it.

EDIT - Having consulted 'The Prestige Series' Samuel Ledgard - A Remininisce it would appear that Hawksworth and Ilkley via Guiseley services departed from King Street.

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I dont remember anything that wasn't West Yorkshore Road car using Vicar Lane, except for the buses on the Costliner joint services to brid, Scarborough and Whitby via York, and the odd 36 to Ripon that was a United.

Where to begin?? I think the bus stations are well covered, but there were any number of on-street termini.

Anyone lucky enough to live on a well-frequented East-West corridor passing the Central Bus Station, the commercial hub of Corn Exchange/Briggate, through City Square and past the old Central station would not realise it, but provision for bus stations in Leeds were poor to put it mildly - CBS was inadequate, Vicar Lane cramped and sloping and Rockingham Street a barren bomb site, though I don't remember it - Rockingham Street and the small bus station for the West Riding service to Kettlethorpe closed in my childhood. Anyone arriving at the Central train station and assuming the Central Bus Station was in close proximity would be in for a disappointment!

There were of course plenty of other terminal points in the city centre, especially for short workings of through routes. Those aside, City Square was the terminal point for the service 69 to Gledhow, with the 29 Middleton terminating nearby in Infirmary Street (I think the 72 Bradford also went from there at one time). I think the 57-60 Hyde Park Circulars terminated in Eastgate, and Corn Exchange was a popular short working destination at peak, however by 1974 service 2 from Moortown to Dewsbury Road was truncated and only worked the northern section, so Corn Exchange was the all-day destination for buses inbound from Moortown. Sovereign Street was also used for the peak period service 5 to Beeston, which was discontinued some time in the 1960s, although I think it was actually classed as Swinegate (this was the old tram destination). The services 12 and 18 from Middleton terminated in Vicar Lane, across the Headrow from the WYRCC bus station, as this was a better place to wait out standing time than Briggate or Corn Exchange.

When the Fastaway services were introduced in the late 1960s, this was all thrown into confusion. Central Bus Station couldn't cope with a flood of extra LCT buses at peak periods, so terminal points for these services sprung up all over, including the Headrow, Park Row and Kirkgate. These didn't AFAIK show up on the destinations of inbound services and were often nowhere near where the regular stopping services to the same destinations departed from, so passengers had to choose one or the other for their journey home. Also lots of odd side streets were used during the Bus Station remodelling but these weren't displayed. Some stops classed as Corn Exchange or City Square were technically in Kirkgate or Boar Lane.

Hope this helps from my memories of the time!

Ken H said:

I dont remember anything that wasn't West Yorkshore Road car using Vicar Lane, except for the buses on the Costliner joint services to brid, Scarborough and Whitby via York, and the odd 36 to Ripon that was a United.

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There is a photo and comment on this site

http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/wp-...s/some_samuel_ledgard_gems/samuel_ledgard.php

that suggests that Ledgard's were operating services to Rawdon out of Vicar Lane quite late in their day.

Vehicle concerned is GWY 157. I have tried several times to copy and paste the commentary to comply with forum rules but failed badly. Sorry.

Glenmutchkin said:

There is a photo and comment on this site

http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/wp-...s/some_samuel_ledgard_gems/samuel_ledgard.php

that suggests that Ledgard's were operating services to Rawdon out of Vicar Lane quite late in their day.

Vehicle concerned is GWY 157. I have tried several times to copy and paste the commentary to comply with forum rules but failed badly. Sorry.

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i cant copy the caption either!
Not sure that shows the SL bus had come our of the vicar lane bus station TBH Thin the red buses went in down templar st and came out of Lady Lane
sadly the photo isnt dated - I think once WYRCC(1) took over SL (2) they quickly changed the routes to use vicar lane. They also ran blue buses with west yorkshire on the side until they replaced the SL boneshakers with more modern vehicles. Maybe someone can identify the green Leeds City Transport bus from the glimpse of the upstairs windows!

1 WRCCC West Yorkshire Road Car Company
2 SL - Samuel Ledgard

(The bus tickets said the executors of Samuel Ledgard. he died in 1952 but his company carried on till 1967)

Glenmutchkin said:

There is a photo and comment on this site

http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/wp-...s/some_samuel_ledgard_gems/samuel_ledgard.php

that suggests that Ledgard's were operating services to Rawdon out of Vicar Lane quite late in their day.

Vehicle concerned is GWY 157. I have tried several times to copy and paste the commentary to comply with forum rules but failed badly. Sorry.

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A lovely unique and fine vehicle in the Ledgard fleet was ex Felix, Hatfield was AEC Regent III/Roberts GWY 157, bodywork built to fascinating and unashamed prewar standards. Pulling out of Templar Street Leeds into Vicar Lane on the way to Rawdon on one of the former G.F.Tate routes. WYRCC and LCT buses show contrasting colours.

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I suspect that the site owner has some javascript widgety thing to disable the right-click function. Highlighting the text and doing a CTRL-C works (for me at least).

Slightly o/t, but I do love that shade of blue that Ledgard used.

GusB said:

I suspect that the site owner has some javascript widgety thing to disable the right-click function. Highlighting the text and doing a CTRL-C works (for me at least).

Slightly o/t, but I do love that shade of blue that Ledgard used.

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Thanks. I now realise that photo is probably older than I thought. The vehicle I remember from near the end was HLX 157.

Glenmutchkin said:

Thanks. I now realise that photo is probably older than I thought. The vehicle I remember from near the end was HLX 157.

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I could swear that was a number I remember from my London buspotting days - could I be right?

Wellington Street was the coach station I used when I first visited Leeds in 1979, to see Rockpile at the University

Busaholic said:

I could swear that was a number I remember from my London buspotting days - could I be right?

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Very possibly. Sam Ledgard's had a good number of previously enjoyed RTs and HLX 157 was one of them.

BVW said:

The late 1960s timetables I have show it as King Street.

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When I was a child [late 1950s- early 1960s], my parents used to take me from Halifax to Leeds by bus regularly.

The Hebble services [No.15 from/to Burnley; No. 28 from/to Rochdale], approached Leeds by Wellington St, then turned left up Queen St, right on to Park Lane and right again to its terminus at the top of King St [these streets were all two-way at the time]. It then departed down King St, turned right on to Wellington St, and resumed its return journey. This route was also followed by Halifax Corporation's No. 8 service, which it took over from Hebble in 1971. Incidentally, there were always some blue double-deckers standing opposite the Hebble stop on King St - these I later learned belonged to Samuel Ledgard, but I did not pay much attention at the time.

If we chose the Yorkshire Woollen District services [No.23 Halifax-Leeds direct via the A58; or No. 24 via Clecheaton], then another terminus was used. These approached the centre via Whitehall Rd, dropped-off just before Thirsk Row, then turned, using Thirsk Row, then right on to Wellington St, round City Square and back to Aire St, where they picked-up returning passengers.

Certainly, as has been commented, there was much traversing the streets of Leeds from one bus stop to another, added to which was also the short trek from Leeds Central to Leeds City stations, before the former was closed in 1967.

I hope my rambling memories have been useful.

gordonthemoron said:

Wellington Street was the coach station I used when I first visited Leeds in 1979, to see Rockpile at the University

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Wellington St coach station was very cramped, and I remember that during holiday times, use was made of some of what was then spare land opposite, following the demolition of Leeds Central station.

Glenmutchkin said:

Very possibly. Sam Ledgard's had a good number of previously enjoyed RTs and HLX 157 was one of them.

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I may well have enjoyed it then, or at least seeing it!