HUNTS OF  ALFORD                                           

Operating then from Alford to Boston

Based in the market town of Alford at the foot of the Lincolnshire Wolds, the main Boston service was still in operation in 1978, although by then reduced to four days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).  Hunts - the Spirit of Lincolnshire continue to this day as operators of a fleet of luxury coaches, with an extensive holiday tours programme, as well as private hire work. The family firm still provides several bus services in and around the area, but the routes and services shown in the timetable below no longer operate.  The main bus route today is two-hourly from Alford to Skegness, with addiitonal journeys between Chapel St Leonards, Ingoldmells, Butlins and Skegness  to give an approximately hourly frequency.  The sector between Chapel and Skegness is duplicated by other operators services.  There are market day services to Louth, to Grimsby and to Boston (but via Skegness), as well as popular express services from the area to Sheffield and Meadowhall several times a week all year.  Additionally there are express runs to Bridlington and Scarborough (summer) and also York.

The business was started in March 1930 by Frederick Hunt with one vehicle, variously recorded as a Bedford or a Chevrolet.  Whilst Hunt's have had many Bedford over the years it is known that a 1929 Chevrolet LQ 14-seater UT5717 was bought by Hunts in 1933 from Farrow of Melton Mowbray, so perhaps that is the explanation.  (History repeats itself sometimes and in 1979 a 1968 Bedford VAM / Duple 45-seater WUY472G came from Farrow to Hunts).

The first vehicle was employed to run to and from Boston three times a day.  By 1941 there were 16 vehicles in the fleet, covering a typical mix of schools, works and local buses.  Other local operators businesses were acquired, and the business of  A H Buttery of Eastville was bought in 1951.  In the 1970s the two sons Charles and Michael (now the managing director) took over the business and the company continues to expand and prosper to this day.  The bus and coach fleet currently numbers twenty vehicles, ranging in size from 25 to 53 seats.

with many thanks to John Brogden for the loan of the timetable,

and incorporating information from articles and publications

by Roy Marshall and David Kaye found in the libraries of Lincolnshire