Salisbury bus station was a bus station in the city of
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
, Wiltshire, England. The station had five stands underneath a red brick building which was built in 1939 as the headquarters of the
bus company.
It was closed in 2014 on the grounds of high maintenance costs.
Services
The only operator at the station in its later years was the
Salisbury Reds brand of Wilts & Dorset, by then a subsidiary of the
Go-Ahead Group
Go-Ahead Group Limited is a Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapo ...
. The station was mainly a hub for local services, including Salisbury's
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...
scheme serving five sites around the city. Longer distance services, known as 'X' services, ran between the city and other surrounding areas, such as
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
(X7),
Pewsey
Pewsey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and i ...
(X4) and
Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
(X3).
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 have always called at the Millstream coach park in the northwest of the city centre.
Closure
Only a third of Salisbury Reds' services called at the station by the time it closed in January 2014. It was also expensive to run, with services later making use of street stops and the city's park and ride sites instead.
Despite being described as outdated and underused by Salisbury Reds, the station's closure, announced in November 2012,
was unpopular with Salisbury residents as it provided a focal point for services.
A spokesperson from Salisbury Reds also said that the station was originally opened for the much larger
Wilts and Dorset bus company and the present company didn't need all of the space available. Even though the main reason for closing the station was to cut the costs of maintaining the ageing building, Salisbury Reds had been awarded £400,000 in March that year to improve the station and its services. The station was closed at the same time as
Amesbury
Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settl ...
bus station.
Present day
Shortly after closure, the bus station was demolished. The construction of retirement homes, branded as 'Sarum Lodge', on the site was completed in February 2018.
Despite the closure of the station, Salisbury retains its Park and Ride services which terminate at various street stops in the city centre.
References
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Former bus stations
Transport in Wiltshire
Bus stations in England
Buildings and structures in Salisbury