Blue Belle of South London
Thomas Boon was born in 1879 in Hove, Sussex and after an apprenticeship with a Brighton cabinet maker and a spell in the army, set up in business in the Brixton area of South London as a cabinet maker and later as a house furnisher and furniture dealer. By 1917 the business had expanded to include the buying and selling of motor vehicles, and later to the operation of charabanc tours and excursions which soon became known as “Blue Belle Coaches”. Thus started a rapidly expanding business involving the supply of new and secondhand commercial vehicles and the operation of coaching services as far as the South Coast. By the mid-1930s the business was suffering financially and the coaching operation was purchased by the Red & White company of Chepstow. The second world war brought an end to the operation but the Blue Belle name was resurrected after the war and the company sold to United Service Transport which reinstated some of the prewar coach services. The end came in 1965 when the coaching interests of U.S.T were sold to the George Ewer Group (Grey-Green) and the Blue Belle name was dropped. Please click or tap on the cover illustration below for a detailed history of Blue Belle including information not previously published (PDF format).
© Richard Smith 2019-20. All rights reserved.
Blue Belle of South London
Thomas Boon was born in 1879 in Hove, Sussex and after an apprenticeship with a Brighton cabinet maker and a spell in the army, set up in business in the Brixton area of South London as a cabinet maker and later as a house furnisher and furniture dealer. By 1917 the business had expanded to include the buying and selling of motor vehicles, and later to the operation of charabanc tours and excursions which soon became known as “Blue Belle Coaches”. Thus started a rapidly expanding business involving the supply of new and secondhand commercial vehicles and the operation of coaching services as far as the South Coast. By the mid-1930s the business was suffering financially and the coaching operation was purchased by the Red & White company of Chepstow. The second world war brought an end to the operation but the Blue Belle name was resurrected after the war and the company sold to United Service Transport which reinstated some of the prewar coach services. The end came in 1965 when the coaching interests of U.S.T were sold to the George Ewer Group (Grey-Green) and the Blue Belle name was dropped. Please click or tap on the cover illustration below for a detailed history of Blue Belle including information not previously published (PDF format).
© Richard Smith 2019-20. All rights reserved.