White Rose Motor Services A-Type Straker-Squire.
Handily this old bus photograph has some handwritten notes on the reverse side. They advise that this Straker-Squire, operated by White Rose Motor Services (vehicle fleet no.71) was photographed on the promenade at Rhyl, North Wales, circa 1928. The vehicle itself, an A-Type Straker Squire, dates to the early 1920s. This is confirmed by the motorbus' registration number, ME 9624, a London series that ran from November 1921 to May 1923. The bus ran on solid rubber tyres, and offered minimal weather protection to it's driver.
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In addition to signwriting advertising White Rose Motor Services, there is a large advertisement for E.B. Jones & Co. Ltd - "The North Wales Grocers". They had branches on Water Street, High Street and Abbey Street. The bus offered a direct service to the Marine Lake and Pleasure Park, where you'd find attractions such as the Alhambra Ballroom, the Floral Cafe, and also the Putting Greens.
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In the early 1900s, the Straker-Squire firm produced a large number of steam wagons from their Bristol factory. By 1907 they were also producing commercial vehicles, motor-cars and also buses. The first cars were actually French, but assembled by the British firm. In 1907 they introduced their own design of car, namely the 16/20 and the 12/14 Shamrock. During WW1 the firm concentrated on producing staff cars and other military vehicles. After the war, in 1919, they re-located to North London.
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In the early 1900s Straker-Squire produced a number of buses, initially for the Great Western Railway (GWR), and then in large numbers for the London bus market. The A-Type chassis was introduced in the post-war era (1919) and it sold well, in both lorry and bus form. As the Rhyl bus shown above has a London registration, it is quite possible that it started life pounding the streets of the Capital, before re-locating to the seaside resort.
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