Bath bus station serves as part of an integrated transport interchange for the city of

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

, England. The Manvers Street

bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...

opened in 1958 and operated until 2009, when it was replaced by a new bus station, in Dorchester Street, as part of the Southgate regeneration programme. The bus station is managed by

First West of England First West of EnglandCompanies House extract company no 25088
...

. There are 16 bays. Bays 1 and 2 are for

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

coach services; bays 3 to 16 are for local bus services.

History

The old Bath Bus Station, on Manvers Street, opened in 1958 under the control of the

Bristol Omnibus Company The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History Early ...

. The Southgate area of the city, between Manvers Street to the east and St James' Parade to the west, was the area worst affected by the

Baedeker Blitz The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids by the ''Luftwaffe'' on the United Kingdom during World War II in April and May 1942. Towns and cities in England were targeted for their cultural value as part of a demoralisat ...

of April 1942. The bus station was built as part of a project to replace this area of the city, where the city's main railway station, connecting Bath with

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

was already situated. The bus station was located next to the city's red brick

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

, which showed lasting evidence of shell damage from the bombings. In this process, many of the city's older buildings and streets were destroyed to make way for not just the bus station, but also the Southgate Shopping Centre and accompanying Ham Gardens car park. The demolition of this maze of historical buildings was known as the Rape of Bath and was finally halted in the early 1960s due to public outcry. The city has since been designated a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

and 95% of the buildings in the centre are protected by

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

status. The new development was seen as being a threat to the city's World Heritage Status. The bus station operated a range of services during its 49-year history – including local city buses, country buses,

coach services and

open-top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and ...

tours. It has seen the Labour

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

and the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of public transport, and the morphing of Bristol Omnibus into

Badgerline Badgerline was a bus operator in and around Bristol from 1985 until 2003. Its headquarters were in Weston-super-Mare. Initially a part of the Bristol Omnibus Company, it was privatised in September 1986 and sold to Badgerline Holdings in a man ...

, which was acquired by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Somerset & Avon.

New bus station

The Manvers Street Bus Station was scheduled to be demolished as part of the next Southgate regeneration programme for nearly 20 years. During this time, the building was owned by the local council and leased to First. Neither party was prepared to improve or repair the fabric of the building, as it was expected to be demolished. However, the redevelopment was plagued with controversy and continual demands for reviews, so the project did not get under way until early 2007, with the appointment of new contractors. The bus station was finally demolished in July 2007. Operations for First Somerset & Avon moved to a temporary site constructed on the Avon Street Car Park on 16 June 2007. This was provided by contractors

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educ ...

as part of a move to speed up completion of the entire Southgate project by one year. A new location for the bus station was chosen on the site of Churchill House – an abandoned 1920s electricity company building, the demolition of which sparked the most recent controversy to delay the whole project. Campaigners fighting for the preservation of the building argued that the frontage from Churchill House should be retained and incorporated into the design of the new bus station, but the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s maintained that this was not practical. Revised plans for a glass and metal rotunda – nicknamed derisively by local people as the "Busometer" – on the site close to

Bath Spa railway station Bath Spa railway station is the principal station serving the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath in Somerset, England. It is on the Great Western Main Line, down the line from the zero point at between to the east and to the west. It is the busies ...

and on the edge of the River Avon were given council approval in early 2007 and work begun to construct this part of the transport interchange for the city. The new Bath Bus Station opened on 7 June 2009, at a cost of £14 million, as part of the £360 million SouthGate development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bath Bus Station 1958 establishments in England 2007 disestablishments in England 2009 establishments in England Bus stations in England Buildings and structures in Bath, Somerset History of Bath, Somerset Transport in Bath, Somerset