Lifetime prices rise on 19 October →
Phox Elements
BIRKETT BROTHERS COACHES · 1958 TO 2026

Sixty-eight years on the road from one yard.

Two brothers started with a pair of second-hand coaches and a shed off the Keighley road. Their grandsons still park the fleet in the same yard. Three eras, measured the way the family always has: in coaches and in miles.
01
1958 to 1982

Two brothers, two coaches

Frank and Walter Birkett ran mill workers to the dye works at six every morning. Saturdays were for football specials and the seaside.
2

coaches on the first day

Both second-hand, bought for £400 the pair.

31

school and works runs by 1982

Still the backbone of the timetable.

02
1983 to 2007

Tours and a second yard

Walter’s daughter Joan took over bookings and started the tours: the Lakes, the Highlands and, from 1991, the Rhine by overnight ferry.
1,940

tours run at home and abroad

Joan kept every itinerary in a card index.

14

coaches at the busiest point

Across the old yard and the new one in Silsden.

03
2008 to now

The third generation

Joan’s sons run the firm now. Half of the school runs are electric, charged overnight from panels on the garage roof.
6of 22

coaches now fully electric

Two more arrive before next September.

412

children carried every school day

On nine routes across the valley.

Figures from the family’s own records. Private hire quotes within one working day.