Wallace Arnold
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Coach tour operator |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Founder | Wallace Cunningham and Arnold Crowe |
| Defunct | 2007 |
| Fate | Merged with Shearings in 2005; brand discontinued in 2007 |
| Headquarters | Wortley, Leeds , United Kingdom |
Area served | United Kingdom, Continental Europe |
| Owner | 3i (from 1997) |
Wallace Arnold ranked among the leading holiday coach tour companies in the United Kingdom.
History
Established in 1912 by Wallace Cunningham alongside Arnold Crowe, the company was overseen from 1926 for a span of 76 years by the Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust, which was founded by Robert Barr.
In 1968, Wallace Arnold divested its Kippax Motors and Farsley Omnibus stage carriage operations to Leeds Corporation. The following year, it expanded by acquiring the Evan Evans tour enterprise based in London. During the late 1970s, the company operated express coach routes across Continental Europe under the Euroways brand.
By the time of deregulation in October 1980, Wallace Arnold managed a fleet of 290 coaches from its headquarters in Wortley, Leeds, and maintained a subsidiary located in Devon. It was an initial participant in the British Coachways consortium, which competed against National Express; however, after one year it withdrew and briefly operated its own London to Torbay route.
In 1997, ownership of Wallace Arnold transferred to the international private equity firm 3i. Subsequently, in April 2005, it merged with Shearings through a £200 million transaction, creating WA Shearings that commanded approximately 14% of the UK coach holiday market share. The Wallace Arnold brand was discontinued in 2007 when the company adopted the Shearings Holidays name. This merger also involved eight Yorkshire-based travel outlets that were rebranded from Wallace Arnold Travel to WA Shearings; these shops reverted to using the Wallace Arnold Travel branding in 2010.
Fleet
Wallace Arnold was recognized as the primary operator of the Bedford VAL three-axle coach model. After broadening its vehicle lineup with Leyland Leopard and Volvo B58 coaches, it subsequently standardized on Volvo B10M and Volvo B12M chassis, predominantly outfitted with bodies manufactured by Jonckheere and Plaxton.