National Express Coventry marked the end of 2016, by celebrating 30 years of operation for its depot at Pool Meadow. It employs 450 people in Coventry, running 139 buses on 19 routes, plus school services.
Cllr Phil Bateman was Chair of the old West Midlands County Council Passenger Transport Committee and laid the foundation stone at the start of the grand project in March 1985.
He says the garage was a big deal for the city and for the bus company: “Coventry was the first modern purpose-built depot in the West Midlands.
“Buses in Coventry had been based at Sandy Lane and Harnall Lane garages, in old, dilapidated buildings where the rain came in. It was state-of-the art – so exciting – with a purpose-built canteen and social club, which are still there.
“We called it Wheatley Street garage, after the street where the grain warehouse was – that’s disappeared off the map now.”
