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  Welcome to WHEELS / MIDLAND RED COACHES!

To see our range of Midland Red buses and coaches...
go directly to the Our Vehicles page, or
go directly to theWHEELS & MIDLAND RED COACHES - Specialist Bus and Coach Operator COACH HIRE pages.

Do have a good look around our website and enjoy some of the articles.
You can even contribute - write in with your stories, nostagic Midland Red memories, or about our Wedding Day Transport,  we might print your article too. We are looking for ex-Midland Red employees, members of the Midland Red Orchestra or Choir, and Midland Red experienced Engineers too.

For all your Charabanc, Bus and Coach Hire Enquiries 
email us anytime: buses@wheels.co.uk  or call us (see above for times) on  0845  021  4711  or   077 3388 4914  

  THE BIGGEST RANGE of  Vehicles For Hire -
  for your Special Occasions

WHEELS Museum of Transport Heritage project operates the classic buses and coaches which represent Midland Red.

We bring you the biggest range of vehicles for just about any special occasion. Anything from our most popular bus the unique vintage Charabanc, and  our very smart Midland Red D9 red double decker,  to our "Wheels Pioneer" single decker coach which is in the Red and Black traditional Midland Red coach livery too. We also have examples of traditional Leyland Leopard coaches - both with different examples of bodywork (one with Wheelchair Lift, and one the Prototype Crusader coach) which you will often see operating our Heritage Day Trip programme and Private Hire duties - both these are rapidly becoming "modern" classics.   All are available for Hire with experienced, professional and uniformed Drivers.

  Vintage Buses & Coaches for Hire !
WHEELS /  Midland Red Coaches have a number of unique buses and coaches available for Hire for Special Occasions.

A Big Red Double Decker 
FOR HIRE in the Midlands !

See the COACH HIRE pages for full details of this and other vehicles Wheelchair Accessible coaches and our unique vintage Midland Red Charabanc

  More about us....
Wheels is a transport themed specialist bus & coach company

For information on our vintage and specialist BUSES & COACHES visit out Coach Hire pages. Also see Our Vehicles for photos and details of our fleet of unique and unusual vehicles.

We are experts in our field of bus and coach operation and have many years experience in the people moving business.

Our business is inextricably linked with transport nostalgia, and our Wheels Museum of Transport looks after the vintage fleet and has a large collection of transport memorabilia which has been collected over many years and strongly reflects the history of Midland Red.  We have also just secured TWO brand new 1940 Midland Red uniforms and we now have a Mannequin model dressed as a 1940's Conductress too! We are looking for ANY Midland Red memorabilia, photo's or films. Please contact us if you can help.

  The Midland Red Concert Orchestra

We are urgently looking for any information on The Midland Red Concert Orchestra.  This part of the Midland Red history is not well documented, and while our colleague David Grayburn Hale of DAVIDEO has some clips of film, we are anxious to have details of the Orchestra make-up, and any photographs or memories that anyone may have.

The orchestra performed in various places such as Town Halls, and especially around the time of the Midland Red Tour Brochure launches. The Company would visit towns and Cities in the area, present a film show of the latest tours, and the Midland Red Concert Orchestra would provide the musical entertainment.

We would like to recreate The Midland Red Concert Orchestra - any help or ideas would be welcomed.

Please contact us by email buses@wheels.co.uk

  Midland Red Centenary Print
WHEELS / Midland Red Coaches have produced a special run of just  500 Limited Edition Centenary Prints. These special large A2 sized canvas laid 170gsm paper prints show ten famous Midland Red buses and the men who made them. The print is provided in a strong card postal tube - either collect from our shop or by post. £24.99
See our shop page for further details

  NWTA LOCAL TOURISM SUPPORT GROUP -
  Northern Warwickshire Tourism Association 




Photos: D9 bus in the Old Market Place, Bedworth / NWTA members Trip to Atherstone and Polesworth departs from Bedworth Civic Hall / Tour stopping at Middleton Hall near Tamworth.

Midland Red are among the founder members of the Northern Warwickshire Tourism Association, a group made up of local businesses including Accommodation providers, Attractions, Museums, Restaurants, Shops and specialist businesses. 

Midland Red Coaches are always pleased to help and participate in the groups aims and projects and urge anyone who does business within a 20 mile area of Nuneaton to make enquiries to join us.

We are in good company too - local members include, Bedworth Civic Hall, Brookfield Signs of Hinckley, Bosworth Battlefield, Leathermill Grange, Hoar Park shopping and craft village, Polesworth Abbey, Middleton Hall, Dobbies, Planters, George Eliot Fellowship, Sketchley Grange Hotel and a host of high quality accommodation providers, there's a Brewery, quality pubs and places to eat. We have the support of the areas mayors and Town Centre Partnerships too.

Membership of the Association costs less than a single advert in a local paper - yet you have access to and are part of the Association's very popular website, with a link to members' own website. You also have a photograph and write-up in a super biannual tourist information handbook with 30,000 copies distributed; and  there are meetings which are great for networking with other members and with occasional guest speakers. And recently we have been on mobile meetings on our buses which have enlightened our members to the delights of our area and its attractions. Our Press Officer Vince Taylor of Bedworth Parsonage project regularly promotes our attractions and special events on local radio and in the press - and all at no extra cost to members!

Membership of the Northern Warwickshire Tourism Association costs just £50, and if you are in business locally  you will know just what you can get for such a little amount of money these days.
It surely represents outstanding value.

Come to one of our meetings and join us. See the NWTA website at www.visitnorthernwarwickshire.com

 

 Check Out these Latest Updates!

Recent updates of this web site: updated: 24th January 2010
 COACH HIRE pages:
  • Midland Red TV appearance - 2nd February BBC2 6.30pm
  • Seasonal Wedding in Birmingham
  • Highway to Heaven - Double Decker on Funeral Run.
  • Santa arrives by Midland Red bus.
  • World AIDS Day with Birmingham Uni.
  • New Day Trip leaflet OUT NOW -see Excursions and Events page.
  • Corporate Visitors from Europe see Buses for Business page.
  • BBC Coventry & Warwickshire 94.8FM  use Midland Red Bus for Early Morning Show "Roads Week"
  • Midland Red Travel Club - it's growing, don't miss out!
  • New Nuneaton Booking Agent - TIC - Library
  • Advertise on our BIG Red Double-Decker Bus.
  • Arriva assist us with ex-Drivers 80th Birthday event.
  • Local Tourism Association in North Warwickshire - see article at the bottom of this page
  • Ready for Take Off - D9 at Birmingham Airport.
  • We can talk to your Group all about the fascinating history of the once empire-like Midland Red.
 BUSES FOR PLEASURE pages:
  • Double Decker into the Vale of Belvoir
    A birthday treat for Sarah and Brewery tour for Nick !
  • Seasonal Stately Home Visit for Christmas 2009 - a fantastic trip this year to Rockingham Castle on November 25th -  decorated for a traditional old fashioned family Christmas. Lunch is included, and the coach is already FULL !  
 LATEST NEWS pages:
  • Midland Red Day Trips - now from Tamworth too!  
  • NWTA Northern Warwickshire Tourism Association helping promote tourism. Join us - see bottom of this page.

  WEDDING TRANSPORT  - Our speciality !

Days to Remember.

Of course we operate a wide and diverse range of bus and coach hire work, especially Heritage and Nostalgia based,  but our Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are often taken up operating meticulously planned and timed transport for Weddings 

Fridays and Sundays are now seen as alternative days for Celebrations, sometimes more convenient, but often because its a lower cost alternative - yet still enjoying the same facilities and services as more traditional Saturday Celebrations.

See our Buses for Pleasure page for more pictures of our Wedding and Civil Partnership ceremonies. 

Email your Wedding and Civil Partnership transport enquiries together with any ideas you have which you would like to include on your special day

buses@wheels.co.uk 




  More HERITAGE DAY TRIPS!

We always ahve a new selection of destinations in our DAY TRIP leaflet.

Our current season of Tours lists some exciting new trips (plus some of the old favourites too) and covers the period from January to June 2010

Midland Red Day Trips are friendly days out by Heritage Bus or Coach, and as we have done for many a year, the Driver takes the Sweets around for each passenger on each departure.

  Britain in Bloom - The City of Birmingham!

Midland Red is a name very close to the hearts of many people in and around Birmingham - after all, Midland Red's 'proper' name was The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company.

We are proud to be involved with the Second City in the tours we operate in Birmingham, but especially at Britain in Bloom time, when our unique Charabanc is used to transport the Judges around the floral sites of this great City.

It is wonderful to see so many admirers when we bring our classic vehicles to Birmingham, and especially enjoyable to talk to the many ex-Midland Red employees who so often come to tell us a story from "the good old days" 

Photos: The Chara dressed perfectly for the occasion! / Birmingham's ambassadors check everything is ready / Two of the Judges pose by the Chara during a break from judging.



  Bye-Bye Digbeth !

Saturday 17th November 2007 was a sad day for all Midland Red enthusiasts as yet another ex Midland Red depot  disappears. Digbeth Coach Station closure was a media event with live music, speeches and fireworks, and a display of classic buses and coaches.

See our photo slideshow of this special event, and a fuller story on our Latest News page.

  Phone and Messages

TO BOOK Classic Coach Day Trips   - call us on  077 3388 4914, or on 0845 021 4711  (0930-1830hrs Monday to Saturday).

Our Fax Number is 02476  354900

To Hire one of our vintage buses and coaches for a special occasion, please email us with full details of date, times and places to buses@wheels.co.uk 

If you leave a message, please leave your name, address and telephone number and of course a message with the reason you have called us.

See our COACH HIRE pages for additional details

SPECIALIST VEHICLES for SPECIAL OCCASIONS
Antique Telephones
A range of unusual and collectable telephones -some original railway items!

COACH HIRE  AND ADVICE

Our exciting and unique vintage and specialist fleet of buses and coaches cover the Midlands and are available for selected Private Hire duties.

If you have a special occasion - a Wedding, Civil Partnership, a special Birthday, Anniversary, or want to organise a special day out or a Mystery Tour - email us.

We can help with planning itineraries, all styles of Wedding and even Funeral Transport arrangements too.  
Just  email us at  buses@wheels.co.uk

 

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