Before Southdown became part of the National Bus Company, it was a well respected organisation. It became a byword for efficiency and comfort over the large area it operated in – from Portsmouth in the west to Eastbourne in the east, as well as inland to the Surrey border. They operated local bus services, express coach services and excursions. It is said that when touting for business on seafronts with other companies, their drivers did not have to approach the public – due to their reputation, the public approached them.

Published here for the first time, this book collects 200 previously unseen photographs of Southdown buses during the 1950s and acts as an invaluable document of an iconic aspect of British transport history.