Yelloway coaches parked at Rochdale – Mar 1986 (35-)

March 1986 – A view of the outside parking area used by Yelloway Motor Services Limited at their operating base in Rochdale town centre. The stone building beyond the coaches was originally a textile mill and warehouse occupied by Kelsall and Kemp Limited which was stone cleaned and renovated to become the Yelloway offices during the late 1970s . The coach station, garage and workshops were located behind the camera.

The company address was Weir Street, a small thoroughfare running alongside the wall of the River Roch on the left of the photograph – it wasn't even on the A to Z maps. The whole area now houses the Municipal Offices known as One Riverside.

The background too has all been redeveloped. The tall black building (the old municipal offices) and the multi-storey car park (set above the bus station) which dated from the late 1970s have all gone having been demolished circa 2014. A new bus interchange stands on the opposite bank of the River Roch (far left).

In July 1985 the Yelloway business, which had been managed by the Allen family for more than 50 years, was sold to a new owner but within a relatively short time the decline of Yelloway began and not just with the application of ‘self advertising’ posters on the rear boot doors which covered the once proud Yelloway garter scroll.

The company had purchased Plaxton bodied AEC Reliance coaches for many years, usually six vehicles each Spring. The vehicles in this view show a good representation of the fleet as it was with the three closest to the camera dating from the late 1970s. [Registrations WDK-T (1979); SBU-R (1977); XNE-S (1978)]