A FAMILY-RUN coach firm is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Bakers Coaches was first set up by James and Ethel Baker from their home in Biddulph in 1936 and it now employs more than 100 people at its £1 million depot at Victoria Business Park.

The business, which also includes bakerbus and Bakers Holidays, has won work from the London 2012 Olympic Games organisers and boasts high-profile clients including JCB, AstraZeneca and Marks & Spencer.

Managing director Phil Baker, son of James and Ethel, said: "It's great to have achieved our 75th anniversary, especially in the current economic environment.

"We've invested in the new depot over the last four to five years and we're looking forward to the next 75 years.

"We've only been able to achieve this through the great staff that we have working with us, and I'd like to thank them for all their past and continuing contributions."

Bakers started life as a chauffeured car business and for the next 30 years provided funeral services as well as car hire.

Coach operations were introduced in 1967, expanding rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s – reflecting increasing tourism within the UK and the deregulation of the bus industry.

Bakers Holidays followed in 1981 and local bus service bakerbus was launched in the mid-1990s.

Tours manager Stephanie Dean said the firm has been particularly boosted by its move to Victoria Business Park in 2006, having long outgrown its former base at the Baker family home in Spring Grove.

She said: "We've got some absolutely cracking facilities here, the offices are really nice and the garages are all-singing and all-dancing.

"The bus side has expanded massively – the drivers used to have to park the buses on an absolute sixpence to fit them all in, now we've got much more capacity."

Bakers use their state-of-the-art garages to provide service and maintenance for other firms and has also introduced a training division which travels to other companies.

Stephanie said: "It means smaller firms don't have to make the investment and adds more revenue streams for us."

This year is a double celebration for Bakers as its holidays division is marking its 30th anniversary.

Stephanie said: "Bookings are 20 per cent up so far this year which is really positive.

"We gave the department an overhaul about five years ago and we now supply really good hotels – three to four-star standard rather than two-star.

"At the moment we're doing an 'as seen on TV tour' going to places like Highclere Castle, the location for Downton Abbey, which really seems to have captured people's imaginations."

Stephanie said that although the holidays division has grown considerably the company has no plans to expand its catchment area.

She said: "Our pick-up points are Stoke-on-Trent and Cheshire – we do get customers from as far away as Wolverhampton but we wouldn't want to pick up nationally. We focus on serving local people."

Stephanie added that staff keep up with the latest technology, with the launch of a dedicated Twitter feed.

She said: "It's particularly useful for our bus passengers – if there's a delay, we can send a message saying sorry."

The firm's commitment to eco-friendly technology has led to a nomination in The Sentinel Business Awards in the Environmental Business category.

Rainwater collected from the depot roof is used in an automatic coach-wash and its garage is heated by burning waste oil from the fleet.

To celebrate its birthday, Bakers is offering Sentinel readers £7.50 per person off any holiday booked before the end of March. Readers must present or quote this article for the discount.

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