star funds founded 1919 headquarters wigan service type coach holidays escorted tours etc fleet 240 april 2016 chief executive denis wormwell website www.shearings.com shearings is europe s largest coach tour operator specialising in holidays for the over 55s including escorted tours short breaks river cruises and ocean cruises . the company s head office is in wigan with its hotel division s headquarters in torquay . contents 1 company overview 2 history 2.1 origins 2.2 recent history 3 coach fleet 4 references 5 external links company overview edit shearings comprises shearings holidays bay hotels coast & country hotels value brand national holidays scottish tour operator caledonian holidays and wallace arnold travel . shearings hotels division is based in torquay . as at october 2013 shearings owns 49 properties across england scotland and wales operated under the bay hotels and coast & country brands . 1 bay hotels are focused around the communal holiday experience often with cabaret entertainment . coast & country have all been upgraded to at least three star standard and offer a more relaxed atmosphere often with additional facilities such as swimming pools saunas fitness rooms and jacuzzis . shearings also work with a wide variety of hoteliers across the uk and europe from small family run hotels to large chains . the company has a particularly close relationship with the hotel britannia excelsior in lake como with whom shearings has worked for many years . shearings offers all inclusive holidays into this hotel all year round . citation needed over the past few years shearings has grown its river cruise programme . as of 2013 the company exclusively charters five river cruise vessels the mps rotterdam the mps da vinci the mv virginia the mv esmeralda and the ms alegria . shearings also sells onto other operators river cruises . history edit plaxton panther bodied volvo b12m on the isle of wight in may 2009 in wa shearings livery plaxton paragon bodied volvo b12m in blackpool in june 2013 in national holidays livery in its present form shearings is an amalgamation of four separate companies smiths happiways shearings national holidays and wallace arnold . 2 origins edit shearings which was founded in 1919 merged with smiths happiways in 1984 which can trace its history back to 1903 . smiths happiways in 1903 william webster commenced trading as a haulage and removals contractor and passenger carrier offering coach transport and by 1931 webster bros wigan 3 offered excursions and tours to north wales and manchester . 4 in 1914 james smith began operating coach tours from wigan and southport . the first tour was to john o groats . webster bros purchased james smith s coach business in 1931 and a new company james smith & co wigan limited was formed . by 1935 webster bros wigan marketed webster s tours operated by james smith & co. 4 the first tours to continental europe were offered in 1938 continuing up until the outbreak of world war ii . smiths claimed to be the first company to operate coach tours to europe after the war with a sell out 14 day tour to switzerland in may 1946 . in 1947 the company carried 6 000 passengers of which more than 10 % travelled to mainland europe . 5 in 1958 smiths was purchased by les gleave and renamed smith s tours wigan . 5 6 wilf blundell of southport purchased smith s tours from gleave in 1964 . 7 blundell began his coach operation with just one coach in 1950 later purchasing blundells coaches southport limited 8 in 1952 enterprise coaches in 1955 poole s coaches in 1958 and tootle s tours in 1960 . this portfolio of companies formed blundell holiday group . 7 9 blundell purchased spencer s tours and happiway tours from edwin holden in 1968 merging both companies to form happiway spencers . 10 by 1975 blundell s coaches were branded as smiths happiway spencers and in 1980 the company smiths happiway spencers was formed consolidating blundell s coach operations . 10 11 the blundell group including smiths happiways spencers was in turn acquired in march 1982 by associated leisure limited 12 after which the spencer name was dropped with the company becoming smiths happiways . shearings shearings was founded in 1919 in oldham by herbert shearing who then took over eniway motor tours in 1935 a company offering express coach transport between manchester and london . 13 on herbert shearing s retirement in 1949 two new companies were formed shearings tours manchester limited and shearings tours oldham limited which were sold to james robinson then owner of happiway tours in 1953 . robinson sold happiway tours to edwin holden who owned spencers tours in 1957 but kept the shearings tours companies consolidating them as shearings holidays in 1963 before selling the company to the jackson family of altrincham in 1964 . 14 13 jackson had purchased pleasureways in 1955 . following an agreement to share resources and pick up points with ribblesdale of blackburn the coaches were branded as shearings pleasureways ribblesdale shortened to shearings ribblesdale in 1979 and then to shearings holidays in 1982 . 13 associated leisure who had acquired the blundell group including smiths happiways spencers in 1982 purchased shearings holidays in january 1984 . associated leisure was in turn bought by pleasurama 15 16 after which pleasurama s coaches were first rebranded and then formally merged as smiths shearings . 16 preserved plaxton paramount bodied leyland tiger in original national holidays livery in october 2010 national holidays which had been formed in 1976 to co ordinate the coach activities of the state owned national bus company 17 was purchased by pleasurama in july 1986 as part of the privatisation of the national bus company 18 who then also purchased the business of jenkins skewen in 1988 . 19 rebranding the national holidays coaches as shearings national the next year . 16 in 1989 mecca leisure group purchased pleasurama dropping the smiths name and subsequently merging national holidays with shearings . 20 the rank organisation took over mecca in 1990 21 adding the business of eagle coaches tunbridge wells 22 and gwalia coaches llandudno junction the same year . 23 rank then sold shearings holidays to a management buyout in 1996 backed by bridgepoint capital . 24 recent history edit 3i a venture capital firm that owned wallace arnold purchased a controlling stake in shearings in 2005 25 26 merging the former competitors first under the wa shearings brand 27 28 and then as shearings holidays . 29 eight wallace arnold travel travel shops in yorkshire were also briefly branded as wa shearings before having their former name reinstated . 30 3i and indigo capital sold the business to a management team in 2014 for an undisclosed figure but which was less than 10 % of business s 200m valuation back in 2005 . at this time the company owned over 200 coaches 52 hotels and offered coach air rail cruise and hotels breaks to more than 170 destinations worldwide . 31 in april 2016 the business was purchased by lone star funds . 32 33 34 coach fleet edit as of april 2016 the fleet consisted of approximately 240 coaches . 33 until 1991 shearings fleet purchases were leyland tigers 35 36 after which it switched to volvo b10ms and later volvo b12ms . since 2009 it has purchased setras and since 2015 mercedes tourismo coaches in both twin and tri axle variants . for its own fleet and for national holidays . references edit our hotels shearings holidays about us . shearings holidays . retrieved 17 september 2013 . companies house extract company no 307990 webster bros wigan limited a b ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 9 . isbn 0863171575 . a b ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 10 . isbn 0863171575 . companies house extract company no 254416 rank nemo sh limited formerly smith s tours wigan limited a b ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 11 . isbn 0863171575 . companies house extract company no 398082 blundells coaches southport limited companies house extract company no 1091617 the blundell holiday group limited a b companies house extract company no 516906 happiway spencers limited ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 12 . isbn 0863171575 . companies house extract company no 803826 associated leisure holdings limited a b c ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 16 . isbn 0863171575 . companies house extract company no 753110 shearings limited formerly jackson of altrincham limited companies house extract company no 282590 mecca leisure holidays limited formerly pleasurama limited a b c ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 19 . isbn 0863171575 . the national archives . retrieved 17 september 2013 . holidays leads nbc sell off commercial motor 19 july 1986 shearings bus sale continues commercial motor 3 january 1992 ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 20 . isbn 0863171575 . ogden eric 1990 . shearings . glossop transport publishing company . p. 22 . isbn 0863171575 . shearings grows in the south east commercial motor 12 april 1990 shearings moves into north wales commercial news 7 june 1990 shearings coached in 100m aim float . the sunday times . 23 may 2004 . retrieved 17 september 2013 . bridgepoint exits shearings bridgepoint capital 1 february 2005 decline and write down of a coach empire the independent 13 january 2013 uk coach groups geared for merger . bbc news . 1 february 2005 . retrieved 17 september 2013 . merger clearance for wa shearings busandcoach.com 1 april 2005 coach operator rebrands as shearings holidays . travel weekly . 13 september 2007 . retrieved 17 september 2013 . ttg digital . retrieved 17 september 2013 . 3i steps off the shearings coach . financial times . 3 june 2014 . us buyout giant takes the wheel at shearings sky news 17 april 2016 a b shearngs revs up record profits manchester evening news 18 april 2016 shearings management sells shares to us group to fund expansion plans bus & coach professional 20 april 2016 peerless wigan order for leyland commercial motor 11 february 1988 smith s tiger double commercial motor 14 april 1988 external links edit media related to shearings at wikimedia commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title shearings & oldid 726545530 categories coach operators in englandformer bus operators in englandtravel and holiday companies of the united kingdom1919 establishments in englandhidden categories use british english from february 2014use dmy dates from december 2013all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2015commons category without a link on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view 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