From Crosville to Oblivion: The South Cheshire Depots

Cliff Beeton looks at the fortunes of the South Cheshire depots at Macclesfield, Congleton, Crewe, Etruria and Northwich and how they fared under separate Drawlane companies, wearing a multitude of different liveries before being reunited under the Arriva brand which would ultimately pull the plug and leave the area in April 2023.

In the early 1980s Crosville was one of the largest subsidiaries of the National Bus Company, but this was to change from 1986 as the government of the day declared that Crosville would be split into separate English and Welsh subsidiaries as a prelude to privatisation and deregulation. In 1988 Crosville passed to ATL Holdings who quickly sold off all the newer coaches and some prime estate properties before reselling the company on to Drawlane Holdings in 1989. Drawlane soon divided the bulk of Crosville up piecemeal to neighbouring Drawlane subsidiaries Midland Red, North Western and Bee Line before selling the remaining part on the Wirral and Chester to PMT in 1990.