All aboard with Angela

Jonathan Welch pays a visit to Southampton-based Angela Coaches and Angela Holidays in the company’s 70th anniversary year

The smartly presented coaches of Angela Holidays will be familiar to many, especially along the south coast. The Southampton-based family business has been in operation for 70 years, but can trace its history on the site it occupies today back right through to the 1940s. Current Managing Director of Angela Coaches Robert Pressley is the grandson of founder John Pressley, whilst sister Paula holds the same role in the Angela Holidays side of the business.

My visit to the company’s premises in Southampton for a chat with Robert and Paula about the company’s long history, it’s often unusual vehicle choices, and how it has survived and rebuilt from the pandemic was prompted by the delivery of a new Irizar i8. Before arriving at the office, I stopped off to see the new coach, which was being used to promote the company’s 2024 holiday programme in Fareham’s main shopping street, along with colleagues Mark and Maria who welcomed me aboard for a look around.

Mark, who joined the industry after leaving the military, will be the coach’s regular driver, and was already impressed with it. “My stepdad was a coach driver,” he explained, “but I never thought I would be. I have a passion for driving and like to meet people and travel.

“The new coach is fantastic, even though it’s still bedding in. It was quite a surprise when I found out I was getting a new coach. My previous coach was a 44-seat VDL, which was seven years old. I’m looking forward to trips to the Christmas markets in Bruges, and then I’m doing a six-day trip to Germany over Christmas. My partner’s coming with me. It’s great to be able to travel so much, especially in this new coach, but there’s so much to see in the UK too. Lots of drivers like to go to Europe but don’t see enough of the UK.

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“I’ve been lucky to visit lots of places in this job. I really enjoy working here.”

Despite rain showers, lots of people were stopping off to speak to Mark and Maria, who greeted many like old friends and had a warm welcome for others who showed interest in their latest brochure, acting as great ambassadors for the company; in an era when social media is seen as king, it was good to see a more traditional approach still succeeding.

History

The Pressley family moved to the area in the 1930s, and the name first appeared over the door of a local fishmongers shop in the 1940s, run by Robert E Pressley, but it was in the 1950s when John Pressley formed his taxi and limousine hire business, operating out of wife Lilly’s sweet shop. By 1953, the name had been changed to Angela Coaches, named after John and Lilly’s fifth child.

Expansion took place throughout the 1950s and 60s, purchasing 29, 33 and 44-seat coaches, and its first 45-seater in 1968. That same year, the success of its first trip, to Llandudno, prompted the foundation of Angela Holidays.

The early 1970s was a period of change for the company, with John passing away in 1971. Son Michael took over, supported by wife Hazel, and continued to expand the business, building it up to carrying as many as 35,000 people per year. It was at this time that the company also started to acquire some of its more unusual vehicles, a fleet of MAN SR820s allowing it to begin European operations with confidence.

Another proud achievement that decade was the transport of Southampton FC to the League Cup final at Wembley in 1979, where the local team beat Manchester United 1-0; the company had become the Southampton team coach supplier in 1977, something it continued until 1987. More run-of-the-mill was the expansion of its holiday programme and the publication of its first brochure in 1980, although the company also continued providing transport for its local team until the 1980s.

Towards the end of the decade, current Managing Director Robert joined the business in time to see the construction of its new head office premises, Oakland House. Paula joined the business in the mid-1990s, helping to build the holidays side of the company before stepping into the Managing Director role in 2014. In more recent years, Robert’s youngest daughter Georgia has also joined the company, working in the office a few days a week.

“Before Covid, I’d have said it wasn’t for my daughters. Georgia was working in a school until the pandemic, but now works here. My older daughter Holly loves travelling. She’s been all around the world.”

The company’s ties to the local area remain strong. “We’ve been on this site almost since the beginning,” Robert explained. “It was once surrounded by strawberry fields; the strawberries were shipped to London on the train. But it’s gradually been built up around us. We’d like to find an alternative site with more room. As well as what we have here, we currently have parking for five vehicles at a separate site. Ideally we’d like everything in one place.

The current head office site houses basic maintenance facilities; big jobs are outsourced to a local specialist. “We had our own mechanic until he left earlier this year. There’s been limited interest in the vacancy,” Robert explained. “We still have Steve who works in the workshop though.”

The same has been true when it comes to driver recruitment. “We had 10 people apply, and interviewed one but it turned out he didn’t have a CPC,” he added.

Speaking about his own background, Robert explained: “I left school at 16 and came to work in the workshop. I started driving when I was 17, but within six months I was in the office. By 21, I was running the business. I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else, except maybe be a professional footballer.”

Evolution

Despite the challenges of post-pandemic business, the closure of one competitor’s operations in September has meant new opportunities for Angela Holidays. “It’s an amazing opportunity to tap into,” Robert explained, “but we don’t want to over-stretch ourselves. We don’t want to get too big.”

As it stands, around 40% of the company’s work is private hire, and 60% holidays. Around five coaches are dedicated to holiday work, though Robert added that more is always possible depending on demand.

Speaking of the fleet, Robert has fond memories of the 1980s-era MANs which started the firm’s continental tour programme, and which were seen as far more advanced than their British equivalents of the period. Nonetheless, Duples and Plaxton Supremes were mainstays of the fleet during the 1960s and 70s, before being superseded by the MANs with their superior comfort for long journeys to the Mediterranean and Spain. “It was easy to find support for them across Europe, Robert said. “They were very solid and the brand was well-known wherever we went. My dad was the second largest operator of the SR820s after Parks of Hamilton.

“We don’t just look at style when we’re buying a new coach,” he explained. “We look at the back-up that’s available too, and we stick with brands that are known across Europe. We’ve slowly moved away from MAN. We have had a few Ivecos. I’d quite like some Volvos, we have very good local reps but I don’t like the style of the bodywork.

“The i8 was a special purchase to mark our anniversary, like the Neoplan Starliner 10 years ago. I don’t think we’ll have a fleet of them though. We could look at the i6, but I don’t like the limited overhead luggage racks. The i8 has full size racks, and also has a rear toilet, which I think is much better than one in the middle. Many of our clientèle are retirement age, so it’s easier for them.

“Everything we’ve bought since we went to Beulas has had rear toilets, and we specify coffee machines rather than under-sink water heaters, as we’re in a hard water area and find that it causes problems. They can be hard and expensive to replace.”

When the pandemic hit, the company had a pair of new Beulas coaches on order through Moseley South. “We paid for them over two years; we honoured our debts,” Robert explained. “We felt it was the right thing to do. Both had been designed to our specification, including being down-seated, so they wouldn’t have appealed to other operators.

“Beulas is able to offer very bespoke coaches. We’ve been to the factory many times. Their attitude is a bit like the Plaxton of the 1970s.

We felt they were able to offer us the coaches we wanted. I find some manufacturers, like VDL for example, to be very inflexible, but if I’m paying a lot of money for a coach then I want to be able to make the changes I want.

“In terms of looks and driving, the Starliner has definitely been the head-turner of our fleet.”

Picking up on Robert’s mention of the average age of passengers, I wondered what he thought could be done to encourage younger travellers. “We do try to encourage the younger market,” he said, “with trips to places like Disneyland in Paris. But it’s difficult to break the under 50s market.”

Pandemic recovery

Like many fellow operators, the pandemic had a huge effect on Angela’s business. Paula explained more: “I took over the holiday side of the business nine years ago, but I’ve been here since I was young, doing things like cleaning, running off copies of itineraries for excursions and things. It wasn’t a given that I’d join the company, and I spent some time working for another travel company. It was good to see how things are done elsewhere.

“It was up to me to steer the holiday business through Covid. It was so demoralising having to cancel trips and refund so much money. Our passengers are loyal and lots of them took credit notes. Things are looking good again now, but it’s taken until this year. The withdrawal of Touromo’s programme has driven extra business to us.

”We’ve found that European tours haven’t picked up as well since the pandemic, but UK tours are doing well. We’re trying to encourage younger people with tours focused on things like Harry Potter or Abba Voyage, which has been very popular. We couldn’t get enough tickets.

“Once people have been on board, we hope they’ll come back and travel with us again. Places like Blackpool, Eastbourne and Newquay remain popular with older passengers, but we’re always looking for something new.”

“The last few years have probably been the worst thing that anyone in the coach industry has experienced,” continued Robert. “Companies lost 50 or 60 years worth of business in 18 months. We were getting to a very good position, and then everything stopped. The value of used vehicles went down by 50%, and we lost three quarters of our revenue in a year.

“We couldn’t earn, and we couldn’t sell vehicles. We kept Angela Coaches trading right through, but Angela Holidays closed the door. Officially coaches didn’t seem to exist, they were stuck in the middle between bus and holiday companies. We did get £7,500 from the local council, which was at least something. The Holidays business received £40,000.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more companies sell out. We’re fortunate to have lots of work again, but not everyone is in such a good position. Although we have plenty of work, we can’t get drivers. Pre-2020, we were planning to expand our tour programme. That’s why we ordered the two new coaches.

The future

Looking to the future, Robert and Paula are optimistic for their company but are understandably cautious, especially when it comes to the drive to zero emissions. “I can’t see electric coaches for long distances,” Robert said. “And it’s still early days for hydrogen. Electric has a place for local buses, but for long trips it’s impossible. We couldn’t go to Lake Garda with an electric coach, and I can’t see that changing.

“It’s not just about range. We need the infrastructure to support other options than diesel, otherwise it’s still not practical for coaches. Most of ours are already Euro VI, so we can go into low emissions zones in cities like Bristol.”

He went on to raise a point echoed by many operators when it comes to upgrading to Euro VI; that coaches seem forgotten, as often the low emission zones which affect them are not in the same area as they are based, making it difficult to obtain funding.

“We need better and easier access to towns and cities,” he said. “We just want to be able to do our job, but it’s seen as an obstacle not an opportunity. We need to raise the profile of the industry. Coaches need to be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

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