Open top buses in the United Kingdom

Open top buses are used in the United Kingdom for sightseeing and seasonal summer services.

The first open top buses in the United Kingdom were regular double deck buses, but these were later replaced by buses with enclosed top decks.

One of the first operators to provide open top buses for its seaside routes was Brighton, Hove & District in 1936. While most operators rebuilt old vehicles for such services, Maidstone & District Motor Services purchased six new Leyland Tiran TD5s with open top bodies built by Weymann in 1939.World War II saw an end to leisure services for a while, for example it was 1949 before open top services resumed at Southend-on-Sea. As new buses became available for regular services more companies introduced new open top services using old buses with their roofs cut off, such as at the Bristol Omnibus Company at Weston-super-Mare in 1950 and Devon General at Torquay in 1955.

Longer-established routes were by now using convertible buses. These were buses that had detachable roofs so they could be operated as open top during the summer but as conventional buses at other times. By 1951 Brighton was operating ten permanent open top buses and eight convertibles. At Torquay nine Leyland Atlanteans with convertible Metro-Cammell bodies were placed into service in 1961. These were named after historic seafarers and known as 'Sea Dogs'. Weston-super-Mare received four Bristol FSs with convetible Eastern Coach Works (ECW) bodies in 1961.

The National Bus Company ordered a new generation of convertibles for most of its seaside fleets in 1978. These were Bristol VRTs with ECW bodies. Unlike older buses they did not need a conductor as the driver could collect fares and issue tickets. They were initially allocated to Devon General, Western National, Southdown and Hants & Dorset, although they were later spread across a larger number of operators. Bristol Omnibus kept its older crew-operated buses at Weston-super-Mare until 1982. Various second-hand buses had their roofs removed to replace them in 1982 but two years later six new Leyland Olympians with convertible Charles H. Roe bodywork were purchased as replacements.

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