David Jordan reports from Norwich, where the city’s open-top tour has taken on a new form under a new operator for the 2024 season
Open-top bus tours in locations outside of major tourist centres have often had mixed fortunes. In this, Norwich is no exception, although over the last 42 years there have been no less than four versions plying their trade, offering a broadly similar route around the major sights and aiming to showcase some of the fascinating history and stories of the fine city.
The fact that Norwich is undeniably a walkers’ city, with most parts of the historic centre being largely pedestrianised, certainly makes the proposition of an open top tour more challenging. Indeed, London Street was the first pedestrianised shopping street in the country, being closed to vehicular traffic as far back as 1967, whilst by the mid 1980s the major thoroughfare of Gentleman’s Walk had also had all motor vehicles removed, much to the chagrin of many city dwellers, some of whom amazingly still voice their disapproval to this day! Unlike larger historic cities such as Edinburgh or London, one could comfortably visit all of the major sights on foot in a day, although in doing so they would certainly achieve and exceed their advocated 10,000 steps relatively easily.
Adding to these challenges is the fact that many of the most interesting and historical locations are accessible exclusively on foot, leaving a bus-based tour to focus on telling the stories of the city whilst viewing it from a uniquely elevated perspective, as well as the added bonus of being able to transport visitors with ease from one area of interest to another. And it is on this basis that over 40 years of open-top touring (albeit not unbroken) has existed.
A first attempt
The first incarnation of such a service came back in 1982 when local coach operator Pullman Travel acquired an ex-Devon General open-top Leyland Atlantean to operate a circular service from the city’s coach station which, now long gone, was conveniently sited a few feet away from the Norman castle sitting atop its mound in the centre of the city. However, this only lasted for one summer, after which open-toppers were absent from the city’s streets until 1997 when the established and expanding open-top tour experts Guide Friday partnered with Eastern Counties Omnibus Company (at that time already part of the relatively newly established First Group) to bring their highly successful style of city tours to Norfolk.
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