Submitted by Bill
Who remembers the distinctive apple green and cream buses of Southdown Motor Services, (SMS) which ran through Seaford on their way between Eastbourne and Brighton and connected Seaford with the download villages and the Wealden towns to the North? Their livery always seemed to be at one with the downland landscape.
Memories were rekindled at the recent Eastbourne Classic Bus running day a couple of weekends ago when vintage buses ran a free service around Eastbourne.
The photograph below taken at the running day is of a Southdown Motor Services Guy Motors double decker bus purchased by the company in the 1950s. It is similar to double deckers employed on the prestigious route 12 that ran from Eastbourne to Brighton.
These were later replaced in the 1960s by larger double deckers, Leyland “Titans” that were often referred to as ‘Queen Marys’ probably relating to their larger size and reference to the Cunard liner. The ‘Queen Marys’ were however rather stately and slow climbing our downland hills as they employed the same size of diesel engine as the smaller buses which they replaced. There are stories soon after the second world war of heavily laden double deckers climbing out of Eastbourne on the 12 route towards the golf club struggling to a halt half way up the hill. The passengers would then have to get out and walk up to the top of the hill where they would re-join their bus! See below a photograph of a typical ‘Queen Mary’.
Also photographed at the Eastbourne running day was a Leyland “Leopard” single decker similar to those which would have been employed on Southdown’s Seaford town service and service 126 that took the back road between Seaford and Eastbourne negotiating High and Over and the narrow streets of Alfriston.
Seaford was always an important staging post between Brighton and Eastbourne. The predecessor to Southdown, Worthing Motor Services started a stage carriage service between the Royal Mews Brighton and Eastbourne, via Seaford in May 1915 and they opened a booking office on the Esplanade Seaford. This was replaced in 1923 by an office at 5 Clinton Place. The first bus garage in Seaford was located in Richmond Road, but as traffic increased it was replaced by a purpose-built garage in Dane Road. Below is a photograph, courtesy of Seaford Museum, showing the garage, the site of which is now the Seaford health centre. The photograph also shows the “Ritz” cinema opposite which was demolished and is now the site of Morrisons supermarket. A larger more modern bus garage was then built in 1957 in Claremont Road as a replacement. This was later found to be in excess of requirements and was leased to an antique shop as a store, Southdown buses then using the concrete apron in front of the building for open-air stabling.
It is recognised that the heyday of Southdown Motor Services was in the 1950s and early 60s. The rise of private motoring led to a decline in custom and in 1969 Southdown with its parent company was nationalised and incorporated in the new National Bus Company. This led to the demise of the traditional green and cream livery and replacement by the rather dull National green colour. Another photograph taken at the Eastbourne classic bus running day is of an immaculately preserved Leyland “National” in Southdown NBC livery. Similar buses would have been based at Seaford and its now difficult to believe but these buses would have been driven through the narrow main street of Alfriston on
service 126 exhibiting a high degree of skill on the part of their drivers. At Christmas time, people may recall that one of these buses from Seaford depot was decorated inside with paper chains and Christmas decorations and was driven by Father Christmas!
In the 1980s Southdown Motor Services was divided into several different divisions and privatised as part of the break-up of the National Bus company. The services around Brighton were run by the Brighton and Hove bus company, buses being painted in a red and cream livery and were acquired by the ‘Go Ahead’ group. The remainder of the Southdown empire was acquired by the ‘Stagecoach’ group. These buses were painted in a rather garish white livery with multi-coloured stripes. The prestigious route 12 running through Seaford had by this time been renumbered 712 and was jointly operated by the Brighton and Hove bus company and Stagecoach. Stagecoach eventually closed the Seaford depot and withdrew from the 712 route, leaving Brighton and Hove in sole charge. History has repeated itself and the 712 route was renumbered back to the 12 series of routes. The Brighton and Hove bus company then invested in a new fleet of buses for the route, labelled as ‘Coasters’. This route has become increasingly popular and provides a valuable and frequent link between Seaford, Eastbourne and Brighton. These buses are painted in a colourful livery of blue, representing the sea and green representing the South Downs. The shade of green deliberately echoes the green of the original Southdown vintage buses, so you could say that history has gone in a complete circle.
That was the past, now what about the present? The ‘Go Ahead’ group has invested in a brand new fleet of buses which have just entered service on the 12 series of routes to make this one of the most attractive routes in southern England. Below is one of the new buses on route 12 at Seaford Library.
Stagecoach have now re-entered the picture introducing a new 701 route in May of this year. This runs hourly through Seaford on its route between Eastbourne and Brighton, duplicating the existing route 12 from Eastbourne to Newhaven. From Newhaven, instead of running along the A259 coast road it instead takes the A26 and A27 past the Amex stadium at Falmer and the universities to enter Brighton from an alternative direction. What better way to view the lower River Ouse valley and adjoining South Downs than from the upper deck of a 701 bus? The last photo shows one of these buses entering Seaford.
Celebrating Seaford 