Private company

Bowers Coaches

Bus company based in Derbyshire, England

Bowers Coaches was a bus company based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England. The company operated bus and coach services in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester from 1952 until 2012. In its later years, it was a subsidiary of Centrebus and in 2012 it was merged with the Dove Holes depot of Trent Barton to form High Peak Buses.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1952Founded1
Bus stop - geograph.org.uk - 510662
Photo: Tom Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

Bowers Coaches was a bus company based in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England. The company operated bus and coach services in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester from 1952 until 2012. In its later years, it was a subsidiary of Centrebus and in 2012 it was merged with the Dove Holes depot of Trent Barton to form High Peak Buses.2

Corporate structure

Bowers Coaches is part of a group headed by Centrebus. 3 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Centrebus
    • Bowers Coaches Chapel-en-le-Frith
    • D&G Bus Subsidiary · Stoke-On-Trent, United Kingdom

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Bowers Coaches was founded in 1952 by Eric Bower as a coach operator. In 1957, the charter operations of Park Hire Garages & Motors were acquired. It later expanded into local bus operation, particularly after the deregulation of local bus services in 1986. Based in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, it operated services centred on the towns of Buxton, Glossop and New Mills extending to some surrounding areas such as the town of Marple in Stockport and Ashbourne in the Derbyshire Dales.

In June 2007, the business was purchased by Centrebus who introduced its corporate orange and blue livery, but retained the Bowers trading name. Bowers ceased trading on 31 March 2012 when Centrebus entered a 50/50 joint venture with Wellglade Group that saw the latter's Trent Barton subsidiary combine its Dove Holes operations with those of Bowers to form High Peak Buses.

Although the trading name has ceased to be used, services are still operated using Bowers Coaches operating licence.

From Wikipedia’s article on Bowers Coaches, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

As at August 2011, Bowers operated a fleet of 29 buses.

From Wikipedia’s article on Bowers Coaches, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by High Peak1

Timeline

  1. 1952Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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