Barry's Coaches Ltd
Barry’s Coaches was founded by Barry and Margaret Newsam, evolving out of a black taxi cab in the early 1960s. The first coach was purchased when Barry was offered a contract to transport filming crew and extras while they were on location in Dorset for Thomas Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd”. Further contracts followed providing transport from home to school routes. The fleet continued to grow through the 1970s.
Barry’s Coaches took over from Western National all the bus routes in the County Town of Dorchester under the name of “Interbus”.
It increased its operation to include Bovington, Wool, Lulworth Cove and Crossways. In the mid 1980’s on the deregulation of bus services these routes were no longer able to survive on a commercial basis.
The demand for day excursions and short break coach holiday grew rapidly. Barry’s opened a booking office on Weymouth seafront to meet this demand, providing excursions for the locals and visitor of Weymouth and Portland. This market grew through the 1980s and 90s with tour operators offering cheap European breaks.
Today group travel remains the main operation of Barry’s Coaches. Private hire bookings are on the increase. We can arrange UK and Continental trips to your specification. We work closely with leading tour and educational operators. We are proud of our flexibility and happy to discuss any requirements you might have.