The Routemaster will forever be a London bus - for many the London bus - but in its decades of public service it also graced several other UK cities, albeit in far smaller numbers, including Newcastle, Southampton and Blackpool. Glasgow is another city that enjoyed a strong Routemaster presence for a spell starting in the mid 1980s…

Emma Lonsdale has done pretty much everything at The Red Bus, except get behind the wheel. It may only be a matter of time for our multi-talented Operations & Events Manager…

In the second of our series, Martin Denman tells us how buses – and choirs – have been central to his life in England and Scotland and why the sound of a good AEC engine is still music to his ears…

In a new series, we get to hear from some of the drivers and conductors who play such a crucial role at The Red Bus. Our first interview is with Gordon Stirling, who joined us more than 10 years ago. Also a keen piper, Gordon was apparently interested in buses before he was even born…

This business has taken us to many places where you would not normally expect to spot a red double-decker bus, 400 miles from its old haunts. But over the last 15 years we have brought guests to some of these venues so often that a Routemaster looks right at home these days. We don’t like to brag but we’d say it enhances the surroundings, ancient or modern!

So, what are our favourites? Too many to list but here – in no particular order – are some of the hotels, castles, houses, churches and other places that it’s always a pleasure to visit, either for a wedding or other event, and whatever the weather…

The last time one of our buses was used in a feature film, I had to avoid running over James Norton. He crossed the road in front of a slow-moving RM737 for multiple takes. Early that morning pop-up barbers on the Polish-Scottish production trimmed my hair on the street. Costume kitted me out with a heavy overcoat. Extras stood around freezing in the May haar of Edinburgh, with blankets draped around their shoulders…

Swathes of our clients have postponed their weddings to 2021. However, some have crafted a special, smaller-scale celebration and we have been delighted to play a vital part in this with our vintage buses.

A preserved Routemaster is a repository of social and personal history on wheels. It may have been built at a fixed point in time and worked on certain verifiable routes long, long ago but then it will loom out of the past – a big red, benign friend – and move us in unexpected ways.

In what turned out to be our final trip before lockdown, what could be better than Ben & Neil’s wedding on the bus on March 14 in Holyrood Park?

They brought their magic to Edinburgh from the other side of the world and now, three weeks and 42 shows later, Java Dance Theatre are on their way back to New Zealand. From the cab it was wonderful to see blank, wary or even grumpy punters board the bus then get off an hour later with smiles on their faces, dancing in the cobbled street…

It’s always interesting hearing the stories of people who worked on Routemasters as drivers or conductors in London, decades ago. Andrew Johnstone did both.

He chanced upon our base in the north of Edinburgh while looking to buy a car from the nearby dealer. The next thing he knew, he was back in the cab for the first time in about 30 years, driving around the yard. “The doorway feels a lot narrower now,” he said. “How do I get down? I think I used to just jump out!”

Surprise parties don’t always turn out enjoyably for that lucky person. It can be a bit of a freakout to find yourself surrounded by lots of family and friends without warning, even if you like or love them. So how would Megan react when her husband Tim Vincent-Smith fixed a mystery bus trip for her and their small children to celebrate her 40th birthday on the last Sunday in April?

Ah, destination blinds, now there’s something to really set the vintage bus enthusiast’s pulse racing. Not destination signs, note – in the old bus game it has to be blinds.

The other day someone pointed at the open platform of RM1353 and asked me: did you take the doors off this bus? “No, it was built that way.” She looked amazed, and pleased.

This weekend is looking busy but kind of conventional after the supercharged diversity of last Saturday and Sunday. Then we had to deal with everyone from fishwives to film stars and birthday queens, as well as the usual brides and grooms. It was action packed, there were loads of happy faces and I managed not to run over James Norton in 1930s London, aka a heavily costumed Moray Place, Edinburgh…

This Saturday (April 21st) you can come aboard The Red Bus at Chamber Street, Edinburgh and experience it in full wedding mode all they way to the Scottish National Mining Museum at Newtongrange. For free! We'll even bring you back again afterwards.