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Chaloner's of Wrexham: End of an Era
Upon the retirement of Eddie Chaloner and his sister Iris Williams, Saturday 29 March 2003 marked the last day of operation of D Chaloner & Son of Moss, Wrexham.
With their retirement came the last service to be operated in Wrexham by a conductress and the loss of the oldest name associated with King Street.
 Until relatively recently, Chaloner's operated a lunch time extension from Summerhill to Moss Well. Seen at Moss in 1990 is this 42 seat Willowbrook bodied Bedford SB5, purchased new in 1976. Proprietor Eddie Chaloner is on the right. The bus replaced a 1964 SB5 purchased from Williams, Ponciau in 1971 and sold to Jones, Ruabon which, in turn, replaced an older SB5 which was ex Johnson, Southsea |
Chaloner's is one of Wrexham's longest established bus service providers, having provided a service for over 70 years. Founded by Eddie Chaloner's father Tim, the service passed to wife Doris before son Eddie took over.
Chaloner's was among the first independent operators to use King Street in 1938, terminating there ever since and the name was in fact the oldest in continuous operation in Wrexham.
The firm is understood to have purchased its first bus in 1932. Before that, it is believed that cars were operated.
The firm has provided a bus service between Wrexham and Summerhill for many years and at one point this was at half-hourly intervals. In latter years, an hourly service has changed little. For example, last last major change came after the Crosville Wales strike of 1990 when Chaloner began operating on Wednesday afternoons, his traditional half-day off. Chaloner's out lasted a similar service operated by a rival smaller operator, which was sold to Crosville Motor Services in the sixties.
Competition since deregulation has been restrained but it did see some increased activity when the Wright Company began on the Summerhill service in the early 1990s.
Travelling on Chaloner's, it becomes clear just how much part of the Summerhill community the firm was. Many passengers were known personally by Christian name to driver Eddie and conductress Iris and the pair proudly state that they have carried passengers' children and grand children, watching entire families grow up. It seems that Chaloner was able to wave to and smile at almost everyone on the Summerhill streets.
 Purchased new in 1990 was this Mercedes which has been used by Chaloner's every day ever since. The vehicle was maintained by the proprietor's brother on Sundays |
Service 23 has been taken over in its entirety by Hanmer's Coaches, itself part of GHA.
March 2003
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