History of Robinsons

FROM CH A R A B A N C S TO LUX U RY CO A CHE S

A HISTORY OF RO B IN S ON S HO L I DAYS FROM 1 9 23 TO TO DAY

A COACH JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

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tood here on a sunny summers day in Great Harwood, looking out over a hive of activity and a modern fleet of 15 coaches, all resplendent in their logo emblazoned blue livery it is hard to imagine how the same yard would have looked over 91 years ago on a similar summers day.

Go back in time to 1923 and try to imagine the scene confronting holidaymakers it would have been somewhat different than it is today. In the place of today’s office and garages passengers would have been confronted with a working farm with all of its accompanying sounds and aromas and its barn which doubled as a garage.

Thank goodness for progress, passengers no longer have to endure a trip “down to the farm” in order to board their coach and embark on their holiday. Today’s Robinsons Holidays passengers can either be picked up from one of over 180 departure points or have the option to be collected from their front door by taking advantage of Robinsons Holidays door-to-door home collection service which can be booked for a small supplement. Today’s travellers need not to worry about having to man-handle their luggage from pillar to post as Robinsons Holidays operates an ‘integrated luggage handling service’. Neither do passengers have to endure riding in the back of open-sided Lorries, with solid tyres, wooden bench seats, no toilets or air-conditioning - if that is you discount the breeze from the open sides of the lorry. Today’s holidaymakers’ thankfully enjoy a far more gentile, relaxing and civilized journey cocooned in their Robinsons Holidays

air-conditioned comfort class coaches.

In 1948, ownership of Robinsons transferred to the family-owned Holdsworth Group and it still remains part of the Holdsworth Group today with the Holdsworth family still taking a keen and active interest in the day to day operation of the business. The company expanded in 1982 with the acquisition of another local coach operator Ribblesdale Coachways.

One of contracts taken over when Robinsons acquired Ribblesdale and which is still operated by the company today is providing transport for the pupils of Westholme School.

Over the years Robinsons Holidays have been extremely fortunate and lucky in having a fiercely loyal and faithful core of followers, many of whom travel several times a year, with the company often returning to one of Robinsons Holidays sister companies hotels in Eastbourne, Torquay or on the Isle of Wight. Indeed so popular are these hotels and destinations many passengers return to the same hotel year after year. The reasons for this wonderful and much appreciated and valued show of loyalty and support could be that customers relate to the companies ethos and traditional family values and history or that they equate this much respected brand name with affordability, quality, comfortable surroundings, trustworthiness and customer care.

Other reasons often cited by clients are the feeling of safety and camaraderie with many new friendships being formed along the way some of which become long term and life changing, many new travel companions have met on Robinsons Holidays and many more friendships have blossomed into romance.

Passengers travel by feeder coach to one of the companies interchange points in order to join their respective tour

A COACH JOURNEY THROUGH TIME As well as enjoying a loyal passenger following, Robinsons also have been incredibly fortunate in having a loyal and committed workforce passionate about the company and its products so much so that many of the companies’ employees remain with the company for all of their working careers.

coaches. Increasing numbers of passengers are taking advantage of the door-to-door service which takes them directly to their respective interchanges and main tour coach.

Continual investment by the owners ensures that the fleet of coaches is regularly updated and the company are continually searching for and introducing new and exciting holiday destinations and short breaks. Private groups are also catered for and the company welcomes enquiries from both group travel organisers’ and coach hire enquiries.

Many of Robinsons Holidays staff have over the years provided photos and memories of tours of former decades to add to the company’s historical archives, some of which are shown in this article. One of Robinsons dedicated engineers is also a passionate collector of old Robinsons vehicles and has a collection of vehicles. Photos of some of these can be seen in this article.

Cover (front): Group photographs like this were typical of tours of the 1950’s and 60’s- this one shows the party, the driver (Frank Kemp - front row far right - seated), and the coach - a 1950’s Bedford SB. Page 1 Top left: Frank Kemp stands proudly in front of his 1950’s Bedford SB coach. Top Right: Advertisement for a pre-war Charabanc tour to Aberystwyth - with the promise of 'all weather equipment and rugs' but 'only a small amount of luggage allowed'! Right: An inside view of a typical 1950’s Robinsons coach - taken from the 1951 brochure - absolute luxury for its time. Below Left: 1985 Holiday Fair -members of Robinsons Holidays promotions team showing interested passengers the British and European Tour Brochures - The board features a 14 day tour to Yugoslavia and incorporates several other countries. Below Right: A Robinsons coach of the 1950’s - it has a Moseley engine with a Plaxton body.

Page 2 Top Left: Two typical Robinsons coaches of the 1980’s - both Leyland Tigers in the then familiar green and black livery- picking up passengers. Left: A picture of how the original Bedford SB of the 1950’s with a butterfly front, would have looked in its green and black Robinsons livery. Bottom: Retired but not too old for restoring to its former glory! - The 1956 Bedford SB XTB 91 on its way home again to Robinsons. It was tracked down by Robinsons employee William Brayford, an enthusiast and collector.

Som e l a t e r a d d i ti o n s to the Ro b i n s o n s fa mi l y

Bob Ellis with a 2000 scania with irizar century body (48 Seats)

2004 Volvo B12B jonckheere mistral (48 Seats)

2009 Volvo B9R sunsundegui (49 Seats)

Volvo B11R 2014 jonckheere body with (53 seats)

Est.1923

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