Leicester Bus Depot

The Leicester Bus Depot was located on Abbey Park Road in Leicester, Leicestershire. It was demolished in March 2010 but the sites future is still unknown. The Metropolitan Housing Trust had planned to build 755 homes on the land, but pulled out in 2009.

The Depot was formally the Leicester Tramways Company which started in 1874 with horse drawn trams. Their first route was from the Clock Tower to Belgrave but more routes were added quickly so that by 1878 the tramways were thriving through out the city.

The Leicester Corporation took over the company in 1901 via the Leicester Corporation Act and began the conversion to electric trams. This was completed by 1904 but not all areas were electrified. This was expanded in 1915 and continued well into 1927.

It was in the 1920's that the company started to run a limited motor bus service but these early buses were problematic. It wasn't until 1933 that motor buses started to replace the trams as the buses were becoming more reliable. The last tram ran in 1949 on the Humberstone Road line.

The company changed to the Lincoln City Transport Co. run by the Leicester City Council. When the municipal bus operations were deregulated in 1986, a private company called the Leicester Citybus Ltd took control even though it was still owned by the Leicester Council. This ran until 1993 when they sold out to a private bus group called the GRT which soon became the FirstGroup and the branch in Leicester called the First Leicester.

A major fire in 1999 sealed the fate of the Abbey Park Depot for in 2007 a new depot was finished on Abbey Lane. The depot fell into ruin and has now been demolished.