London’s West End Buses in the 1980s

London’s West End Buses in the 1980s looks at London’s buses in and around the West End during a time of great change. Bus routes were put out to competitive tendering, garages closed, the Routemaster started its slow decline, Aldenham Bus Overhaul Works closed, and by 1989 the once mighty London Transport itself was being divided into separate business units, ready for eventual privatisation.

This was the decade when Grey-Green won the first tendered central London route from London Buses, and grey-and-green buses could soon be seen passing the Houses of Parliament; green or blue buses started crossing Waterloo Bridge, and minibuses appeared on new route C1 in Victoria. London sightseeing was also changing, with operators large and small operating anything from Routemasters and DMSs to the odd Bristol VRT!

Vernon Smith was working in the West End and was a regular traveller on the buses during this time, and uses his collection of photographs from within the area roughly bounded by the City, Aldwych, Westminster, Victoria, Marble Arch and Euston to show the changes, and the many colourful and varied buses to be found working in London at that time.