Taunton bus station was situated on Tower Street,

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, Somerset, England. It was opened by the Western National Omnibus Company in 1953 and closed in 2020, by which time it was operated by

The Buses of Somerset The Buses of Somerset is the trading name used by bus operator First South West for services operated in Somerset from depots in the towns of Taunton and Bridgwater since 2014. The services were formerly managed as part of First Somerset & Avon ...

. In 2015 the

Transport Trust The National Transport Trust is a British registered charity founded in 1965 as the Transport Trust, the name was changed to reflect the national remit and coverage of its activities. The Trust acts as a hub for the transport preservation movemen ...

awarded the station a Red Wheel plaque for its historic value.

Background

The National Omnibus and Transport Company started a service from Taunton to

Burnham-on-Sea Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. ...

on 21 July 1920. The following year it began to operate town services in Taunton when the town's single tram line closed due to increases in the cost of electricity. National's operations in Somerset were transferred to the new Western National Omnibus Company (WNOC) when it was set up in 1929.

History

In the 1950s the WNOC started to build town centre

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...

s; the first to be approved were at Taunton and

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

in 1949. H.A. Starkey, the architect for the

Tilling Group The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948. Tilling, together with the other conglomerate, British El ...

(of which the WNOC was part) designed the Taunton bus station and it was built by F. & E. Small, who tendered £23,041 for the contract. The station opened in 1953 at a site on Tower Street near

Taunton Castle Taunton Castle is a castle built to defend the town of Taunton, Somerset, England. It has origins in the Anglo Saxon period and was later the site of a priory. The Normans then built a stone structured castle, which belonged to the Bishops of ...

. This enabled services to terminate on a dedicated site with passenger facilities rather than at four bus stops around The Parade which was the focal point of the town. As the new bus station was WNOC property, independent operators continued to use their various terminal stops, such as outside the Kings Arms public house in Staplegrove Road beyond the Tone Bridge. The WNOC and other Tilling Group companies became part of the National Bus Company in 1969 but continued to trade as Western National. In 1983 the bus operations at Taunton passed to a new

Southern National Southern National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until 1969, and again from 1983 until 1999. History Original company (1929-1969) Southern National Omnibus Company FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Somerset & Avon and rebranded as

in 2014 before being transferred to

First South West First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. First South West includes the Kernow, Truronian, Adventures by Bus and Buses of Somerset brands. Histor ...

based in

Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove. Camborne was formerl ...

, Cornwall. The

awarded Taunton station a Red Wheel plaque in 2015, describing it as "a rare survivor of a corporate style once common in towns and cities nationwide".

Closure

The bus station was closed after services on 27 March 2020. The Buses of Somerset stated it would not be economical to perform required upgrades. Later in the year it was sold to the local council for use as a car park, although The Buses of Somerset leased back the offices as they had not found a suitable alternative in the town centre. Most bus services reverted to the stops on The Parade which had continued to be used by town services but some moved to the stop in Castle Way, a street off Tower Street. Castle Way was used by many independent operators in later years, such as Dartline, Hatch Green,

Quantock Motor Services Quantock Motor Services is a privately owned bus operator in Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, England. The company operates a substantial heritage fleet for private hire and on route 300. History Rexquote, a transport engineering business in Bishop ...

, and

South West Coaches South West Coaches is a privately owned bus company that operates services around Dorset, Somerset, and Wiltshire, in South West England. History Reggie Wake started bus services from South Barrow in February 1930. Business expanded during Worl ...

, although Berrys Coaches' express service to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

makes use of the stop at the King's Arms.

Maintenance facilities

The site in Tower Street did not have any maintenance facilities. The National company shared a depot with Thomas Motors' "Lavender Blue" buses at the end of South Street from 1920. In 1933 the WNOC bought this company and Dunn's Motor Services which had a depot in the old Bridgwater Road, now known as Hamilton Road. The new owners enlarged the latter site and it continues to be used by The Buses of Somerset.

References

External links

* {{Transport in Somerset 1953 establishments in England 2020 disestablishments in England Buildings and structures in Taunton Bus stations in England Transport infrastructure completed in 1953