Glenton Tours …… the coach company that was the luxury motor holiday

Our dad worked for Glenton Tours for over half a century and the story of his part in that company and its part in the modern holiday industry is fascinating.*

Dad and Elizabeth recieving awards, date unknown

It started with an estate agent settling a debt and acquiring five motor coaches which became the core of a business which ran sight seeing tours across Britain and into Europe from 1929.

Elizabeth and Dad, date unknown

The company was in the right place at the right time, as rising disposable income allowed midddle class families the opportunity to go on a new type of coach holiday.

Not that these were run of the mill excursions, but carefully planned tours which lasted for seven, twelve and fourteen days and guaranteed the customers first class hotels, three good meals a day and an itinerary which provided the travellers with all they might want to do about the places of interest.

Added to which there were commentaries which offered up instant historical information along the way.  

These were provided by the driver on home tours and by a courier on the Continental journeys.

Father did both, starting with trips across Britain at the start of the season but slipping in to the Continental tours in late Spring and through to autumn.

Elizabeth, Dad, Frank and unknown courier, date unknown

We still have many of the notebooks and pictures he used for the home tours, and these are now a wonderful insight into the Britain of the 1930s and 40s.

He was pretty there from the start, and so we also have photographs which record the different coaches the company used from the beginning and the differing style of uniforms, from the peaked hat and white long coat to the fitted and style uniforms of the 1950s and 1960s.

And because father kept everything we also have some of the brochures which advertised the individual tours, prices and helpful information.

So from the 1951 brochure came the reassuring comments that “You do not have to bother about luggage, frontier, monetary or language difficulties” and the cost included “the inclusive charge provided for all food and accommodation, the sea crossing and gratuities to hotel staff."

Dad and unknown courier, date unknown

But given that this was soon after the war passengers were informed that “Ration Books are not necessary on any of our tours” but that passengers are advised take "a towel and soap in case some hotels are still unable to supply them.”**

All of which has reignited my interest in the company after receiving a collection of photographs from the grandson of the founder of Glenton Tours.  

Some of the pictures are of a Brighton Coach Rally which I can date to sometime in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 

 In his covering note he  wrote  “If your Father went to Brighton Coach Rallies there is a good chance that there is a picture of him”.

And there are heaps of him, mostly holding trophies he had won for successfully competing against other drivers in demonstrating driving skills before the public.***

Interior of one of the 1950s fleet, date unknown

What makes the pictures even more significant is that in the group pictures I can identify not only Dad but also his fellow Continental driver who was called Frank and who lived very close to us on Queens Road, and one of the couriers who we knew as Elizabeth.

One of the Glenton fleet, date unknown

All of which is a nice Sunday afternoon trip back through the story of Glenton Tours and our dad.

Pictures; Brighton Coach Rally, date unknown, courtesy of Peregrine Smith

*Glenton Tours, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Glenton%20Tours

*Motor Coach Holiday Tours, 1951

** UK Coach Rally, https://coachdisplays.co.uk/history/

Buying a holiday and shopping at Liptons in 1981

It is one of those pictures which you recognise instantly and then reflect on just how different it is today.

It is sometime in the early 1980s and I have to say I remember going to most of the shops in the parade.

My favourite was the Travel Agents, two doors down from Liptons.  This was the age before internet booking, and the cutting edge of arranging a holiday was the telephone.

So my trip to Paris was arranged over the phone, first the chap behind the counter phoned the hotel, checking availability, and then I bought the railway tickets from Manchester to London, London to Dover and lastly from the French coast to Paris, booked the ferry crossing and lastly confirmed the hotel.

And while I waited, I stared at posters advertising train excursions to Scarborough, a mystery coach trip to somewhere in the Midlands and two nights in Blackpool, "bed and breakfast for the weekend and the wonderfully romantic Illuminations".

I suppose I could have flown but it never even crossed my mind.  I do know that with the money I thought I had saved by not flying I ate in the restaurant next door.

A decade earlier as a student it would have been the three course business meal offered for the staggering price of six shillings. It was a good deal and an instant introduction to the variety of Chinese and Asian food.


So leaving aside my cheap student meals, I think I will close by reflecting on holidays.  For many they were still a thing you did in Britain and if like me you didn’t have a car then it was the train. Just a few decades earlier it would have been how most of us went off to the seaside.

The bus ride from home to the station, the wait on the platform and if you were posh or just sensible flopping down in reserved seats and watching as people walked up and down looking for somewhere to sit.

Usually we were part of that scramble.  The kids sent on a head to grab enough places, and once we were all settled and the row about who had the window seat were sorted, it was time to open the sandwiches and begin the campaign to persuade the grownups that a jam filled choc roll bought from the local supermarket was no substitute for the delights that were offered in the buffet car.  All of which was made easier on those trains where the trolley of food and drinks was brought down the corridor.

Still all of that is a long way from Liptons, and the old fashioned travel agents.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; from the Lloyd collection, Wilbraham Road and Chorlton station

Holiday snaps ....... I keep coming back to nu 3 ... the end of the road

We had become grown up and hired a car and this pretty much was the end of the road

Location:; Greece

Tomorrow ............... Rome

Picture, Greece, 2012, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Holiday snaps ....... I keep coming back to nu 2 ... a Greek windmill and some olives

It was one of those places you find by accident.

It had long ceased grinding corn but the enterprising owner had turned it in to a bar and the olives were good.

But the display by four big cargo planes of the Greek air force practising flights over the bay rather spoilt the peace and tranquillity.



Location: Greece


Picture, Greece, 2009, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Holiday snaps ....... I keep coming back to nu 4 ... beside the Pantheon

We were looking for somewhere to eat and found the Pantheon.

Nothing to say really.

Location: Rome










Picture, Rome, 2011, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Holiday snaps ....... I keep coming back to nu 1 ... doing the Roman thing

Yes it’s Bath or Aquae Sulis as we fans of all things Roman say.

I have to say the museum was well worth it.

And that is all I am going to say.

Tomorrow ............... Greece

Location: Bath





Picture, Bath, 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Ten minutes in the life of a holiday jet

We were waiting at Alghero airport for a flight home to Milan, and with little else to do I tracked the first ten minutes after this holiday jet landed

Pictures from the collection of Andrew Simpson