Grindles Coaches
4 Dockham Road
Cinderford
Gloucestershire
GL14 2AQ
T:01594 822110
F:01594 824575
E:admin@grindles
coaches.co.uk
4 Dockham Road
Cinderford
Gloucestershire
GL14 2AQ
T:01594 822110
F:01594 824575
E:admin@grindles
coaches.co.uk
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You are here...Grindles...Company History
The Grindles name has long been associated with Coaching in the Forest of Dean.
Roy Grindle and Sons of Cinderford was a coaching pioneer of the 1950s and 1960s, summed up by its slogan 'carefree travelling.' Harry Grindle took over the family business when his father Roy died in 1962. It is now run by his own son Philip as Grindles Coaches.
Roy Grindle introduced charabancs in 1925 and had bought his first Moms Commercial coach by the turn of the decade although the Grindle family had been involved in making deliveries using pony and trap for at least two generations before that. Carrying passengers had been a logical development for weekend and market day trips when it became fashionable to fit seated bodies to lorries.
Roy had a brother called Percy. Both men set up in business on either side of Woodside Street in Cinderford during the early 1930s. Percy ran furniture vans and three coaches while Roy operated his own vehicles. The rivalry was friendly, but it ensured Roy was competitive in his outlook.
In 1936 when most family-owned operators were using small normal control coaches, Roy bought his first new vehicle, a Willowbrook-bodied Dennis Lancet for £1,400.
During the war Grindles was awarded the contracts for taking workers to the Hurricane factory at Brockworth near Gloucester and this enabled the fleet to grow to around 15 vehicles. Because of its contribution to the war effort, Grindles was allocated six utility Bedfords. Two of these were later rebuilt by Bristol-based Longwell Green. A Duple-bodied Dennis Lancet was bought new in 1947 and this was the vehicle on which Harry passed his test two years later. A Bedford OB followed in 1948.
Roy Grindle and Sons of Cinderford was a coaching pioneer of the 1950s and 1960s, summed up by its slogan 'carefree travelling.' Harry Grindle took over the family business when his father Roy died in 1962. It is now run by his own son Philip as Grindles Coaches.
Roy Grindle introduced charabancs in 1925 and had bought his first Moms Commercial coach by the turn of the decade although the Grindle family had been involved in making deliveries using pony and trap for at least two generations before that. Carrying passengers had been a logical development for weekend and market day trips when it became fashionable to fit seated bodies to lorries.
Roy had a brother called Percy. Both men set up in business on either side of Woodside Street in Cinderford during the early 1930s. Percy ran furniture vans and three coaches while Roy operated his own vehicles. The rivalry was friendly, but it ensured Roy was competitive in his outlook.
In 1936 when most family-
During the war Grindles was awarded the contracts for taking workers to the Hurricane factory at Brockworth near Gloucester and this enabled the fleet to grow to around 15 vehicles. Because of its contribution to the war effort, Grindles was allocated six utility Bedfords. Two of these were later rebuilt by Bristol-
With thanks to...
and Alan O. Watkins
© Grindles Coaches Ltd • Page last updated 03/02/08 • Links last checked 03/02/08 • Site Design © SAM
'Coaching was what I always wanted to do,' explains Harry. 'I use to really love it. We had a wonderful touring business before people started to fly. We bought a new Crossley in 1949 and had a full load on our first Scotland trip. It cost 14 guineas for eight days. We could fill a Scotland tour every week from the beginning of June to the end of September. Our first continental was a private tour to Spain in 1953. We used our first Bedford SB and we had to keep poring water on to the carburettor and pump, it was that hot. Our first own continental tour was in 1956.
Initially we did Switzerland. It took three or four years to get people to go abroad, but if a tour had only eight on, it still went ahead. Dad wouldn't cancel. By 1963-4 the business started to really take off.
Initially we did Switzerland. It took three or four years to get people to go abroad, but if a tour had only eight on, it still went ahead. Dad wouldn't cancel. By 1963-
By the late 1960s we were going flat out and we were buying a new coach every year. We did that right up to the end and we never used higher purchase.'
In 1976 Harry decided to sell the business to Warner's Motors of Tewkesbury but they were only interested in making money. “It really upset me. They carried on with the Grindles name in Cinderford for five or six years. Then they changed it to Warner's. When they brought out the new brochure that year, they got few bookings. Six months later they closed the garage and took the coaches away."
In 1976 Harry decided to sell the business to Warner's Motors of Tewkesbury but they were only interested in making money. “It really upset me. They carried on with the Grindles name in Cinderford for five or six years. Then they changed it to Warner's. When they brought out the new brochure that year, they got few bookings. Six months later they closed the garage and took the coaches away."
After selling Roy Grindle and Sons Ltd, Harry and his son, Philip started a car servicing and repair business that later moved to a small garage in Drybrook, but Philip, like his father, had coaching in the blood. Percy Grindle's children, Norma, Gerald and Michael had continued to operate coaches in Cinderford under the Forest Greyhound name and by 1989, wanted to sell their three vehicle business. Philip persuaded his father to buy it and five years later they moved operations to spacious premises on the Forest Vale Industrial Estate. Grindles Coaches had been reborn and today it still operates from the Estate with an office in the town.
Click on the images to enlarge. Further scans of old Grindles brochures and photos will be available soon on the gallery page.
