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Steine Street

A Southdown Leyland coach about to leave for London, summer 1967

From the private collection of Martin Nimmo

Southdown Motor Services buses

By Martin Nimmo

No 5 Steine Street was the legal address displayed on all Southdown Motor Services buses and coaches from 1916 till they moved the headquarters to Freshfield Road in the 1960's. The offices were adjacent to the coach station, which was very busy during the summer. The main routes from there were the London and then the South Coast Express services. The site of both the old Head Office and the coach station are now covered by flats.

Added to the site on 05-01-05

This page was added on 22/03/2006.

Comments:

Each summer an aunt and uncle would come to stay with us from London via Southdown coach. We would go and meet them in the coach station, I was about 3 to 6 at the time. At that age I would identify different buses and coaches by their wheels and I would even give them my own made-up names. Most of them (the Leylands) made a 'kind' noise, but there was one type which made an 'angry' noise, these had more chrome in the centre of the wheel. If I saw one of these come in I would stand back as it seemed to be the practice in those days, to rev up just before cutting off the engine. I later discovered that these angry coaches were different, made by Commers and had two stroke oil engines. Many years later I came to use a two stroke oil engine, it would sometimes start up backwards giving three reverse gears and one forwards! Therefore these types of engine were feared by man and boy alike. What a shame the coach station has gone.

By Chris Young (05/08/2005)

I worked in the Southdown head office in Steine Street from 1957 till 1960, in the audit section. The head of that section was Mr Sellers, the chairman was Mr Turner and the head of my office was Norman Killick. Peter Rees (whose uncle was resident organist at the Domeand a similar age to me) was in the same office.

By Glenys Roberts (nee Dyson) (21/02/2006)

Does anyone have any information on Peter Hornblow or a mechanic named Clensy. This will go back a long way?

By John Wall (27/02/2006)

Has anybody got any photos or video footage they're willing to share of the last day of Stagecoach Lewes & Seaford on the 24th September 2005? I was the clippie on Southdown No. 347 on the 12. If Jim Still is reading this, I'm George Nunn's nephew, I took you down to the depot. Anyway, it was a great day (until 347 brokedown).

By 'Inspector Blakey' (23/04/2006)

I have many times gone to London as a kid on a Southdown coach from Steine Street. I also met relations from London at the same depot. Does anybody remember where the "halfway house" was where the coaches stopped so we could all stretch our legs? I think that it was somewhere in Crawley.

By Mick Peirson (17/11/2006)

The half-way stop on the London to Brighton run was just north of Crawley Town at a place known as County Oak, which is now an out of town retail outlet.

By Pete Brown (15/12/2006)

Can anyone tell me exactly where the Southdown coach station was in Steine Street? Was it where the flats at No. 3 are now, or opposite? I have vague recollections of the inside of the building. Any other information would be most welcome.

By Michael Walter (22/01/2007)

As far as I remember the coaches would go up St. James Street, take the second right which was Manchester Street, then turn right about halfway down Manchester Street directly into the coach station. The coaches would exit the station into Steine Street, and then into Marine Drive. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

By Mick Peirson (03/02/2007)

In my photograph you can see the entrance to the Coach Station behind the Southdown coach; that was in Manchester Street. Space was, to say the least, limited, with room for one or two coaches to load and for perhaps three more to be parked up on the left. All coaches left by Steine Street, which was (and still is!) narrow and rather unsuited to the 8' wide and 36' long monsters of the Sixties! There was a small coach garage in Manchester Street, which held about four more vehicles, and then there was usually a traffic jam in St James's Street resulting from all the express services arriving at once! Not only was there a London service, but the "South Coast Express" which linked Eastbourne, Brighton and, ultimately, Bournemouth, plus seasonal express services run by other companies in the BET group (to which Southdown belonged) such as East Kent, Maidstone and District and Aldershot and District. The main coach garage was in Kemp Town at Park Street, a mecca for bus and coach spotters at weekends when many excursion coaches were stationed there during the day.

By Martin Nimmo (06/03/2007)

To John Wall: You asked about Peter Hornblow. Well, my father, Frank Price, worked for Southdown in the 1940s/50s - first in Brighton, then Bognor, then Portsmouth. Then in 1958 we moved to Zimbabwe (or Southern Rhodesia as it was then!) where Dad worked at Salisbury United bus company (don't know what that's called now?!). I remember Mr Hornblow coming out a few years later with his family (I think he was the Engineer?). As well as working for Salisbury United, he also ended up with a chinchilla farm. I was pretty young at the time so don't remember the why's or wherefore's, but do remember the chinchillas! In 1963 we moved to Johannesburg and I am almost certain that the Hornblows went to Perth, Australia. Don't know what happened after that, I'm afraid.

By Anne Morrison (nee Price) (27/04/2007)

Thank you Martin Nimmo for your information. Do you or anyone else, have photographs of any Southdown premises in Kemp Town. I am particularly interested in Steine Street, Manchester Street; either interior or exterior shots.

By Michael Walter (22/07/2007)

Re the Southdown coach station at CountyOak (Crawley). Has anyone any photos or other info about its opening and closing dates please?
I have some background and history to pass on about the County Oak Southdown coach station, their exclusive refreshment stop north of Crawley, on the London to Brighton express route. I lived close by as a child, during the war for a time and later in the 1950s to 1970s. tonee12@talk21.com

By Tony Scutt (26/08/2007)

I remember catching the coach to Maidstone from here on Sundays in the 1950s. My late father was in Preston Hall Sanitorium, and we used to go visit him there. The driver always stopped at a fruit stall in Paddock Wood, where we could buy fresh fruit to take to my dad. Does anyone know the model of the coach used? I have just started collecting bus & coach memoribillia and would welcome any information. Please contact me at nico123@btinternet.com Many Thanks.

By Nola Wilson (24/12/2007)

Does anyone remember the coachworks in Victoria Road, Portslade? I worked there in the bodyshop from 1954 to 1956 and then from 1958 to about 1960.

By Brian Gage (28/01/2008)

I remember travelling from Brighton to London, firstly on the Tiger PS1/ECW's, usually 1243, then PSU Royal Tigers / Leyland bodies. The worst trip I had was on one of the new Rootes TS3 / Beadles which was very noisy, and had none of the smoothness of the Royal Tigers. But my all time favourites were the PS1's. Magic! We used to alight at Brixton, and then get a tram to Kennington. Usually an E/1. Brilliant!

By John Boxell (24/07/2008)

There was a pub in Steine Street known as the King's Head. Its landlord in the 1920s was Henry Caleb Hiller who was the foster father of my wife's mother. I have a lot of information on Henry Caleb Hiller and his wife Edith Sarah Drew who was sister of Edmund Jury Drew who was successively landlord of the Russell Arms and the Hare & Hounds.

By Dudley Procter (04/09/2008)