Andrew Simpson: False dawns…. promising leads ……. the search for Glenton Tours goes on

Tuesday 29 August 2023

False dawns…. promising leads ……. the search for Glenton Tours goes on

Glenton Tours was a coach company at the luxury end of the market offering high class trips across Britain and the Continent from the 1920s into the late part of the 20th century.*

Luggage label, undated

And I have gone looking for their story, partly because they were the backdrop to my life in Peckham and later Eltham and because Dad worked for them for 50 years from 1932 till he retired.

Dad and the courier, Elizabeth, undated

In the summer he drove their coaches to the Lakes and into Scotland as well as France, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and Italy.

In the winter he worked in the garage off Brabham Grove, and later in Charlton. So linked were they with Peckham that when the garage was demolished and replaced by a housing development it was called Glenton Mews.

Their head office was 397 Queens Road and as well as the offices in New Cross they had a West End office at 109 Jermyn Street.

From the 1965 brochure

I have written about them over the years but recently I have also become aware of just what a presence they had on our family.**

Last week I came across a newspaper account of the company from 1983 which had been reissued in Commercial Motor Archive and my interest was reignited.

Undated

Glenton’s had been owned by an estate agent in New Cross called Saxton, and today I went looking for them.

The good news was that the firm still exists, but the bad news is that they were bought out leaving me to wonder where next to go.

One lead is an employee of the old company who may get back to me tomorrow, and there are always other routes which I am convinced will yield results.

And on the way I will reveal a bit more about the people dad worked for, from Elizabeth a courier, Frank, Taffy and Wishy Washy who worked in the garage and the Saxton family.

We shall see.

Location southeast London