The Demise of Greyfriars Bus Station

This video documents the loss of Northampton's landmark Greyfriars Bus Station, purpose built in 1976 at a cost of over £7 million. The building was designed to accommodate 40,000 passengers and 1,700 buses a day and included a complex brief of a bus station, with car park over, topped by a three-storey office block (Greyfriars House). The office block was supported over the clear spans below by a complex structural design based around reinforced concrete trusses. The new station was built in response to the needs in the town at the time, namely bringing visitors into the town to the Grosvenor Centre. The main operators at Greyfriars Bus Station were Stagecoach, Centrebus, Uno and Meridian Buses. There were some smaller operators who also used the facility. Buses ran from the bus station all around the town and went as far afield as Milton Keynes, Bedford, Peterborough, Leicester, Rugby and Bicester. Services included a travel centre operated by Stagecoach, as well as a newsagent and a hairdresser.
As the bus station was below both Greyfriars House and the car park, only a small amount of natural light reached the concourse, which did not help the building's reputation. Considered a prime example of brutalist architecture, the building was listed in a survey carried out by The Guardian for Channel 4's Demolition series, as the third most hated building in Britain and dubbed "the mouth of Hell". In 2009, Northampton Borough Council announced plans to redevelop the bus station along with the neighbouring Grosvenor Centre. The plan proposed moving the bus station to a new site, and then extending the Grosvenor Centre on to the cleared land.
In September 2011 it was announced that the site of the former Fish Market was the preferred site for the new bus station and that work to build the new bus station could start as soon as September 2012. The building was expected to be finished by May 2013, although the date of completion was later delayed. At the time of this announcement it was claimed by the council that the cost of refurbishing the Greyfriars building would be over £30 million, with at the time £500,000 spent on superficial maintenance.
Greyfriars closed after the final bus services on 1 March 2014, with North Gate opening the following day. Demolition work within Greyfriars House commenced in March 2013 with the commencement of works to strip the interiors of the office spaces and clearing of the overgrown landscaped courtyards within the office complex, which had lain untended since Barclaycard vacated some 16 years earlier. The bus station was demolished on Sunday 15 March 2015 in a controlled implosion by DSM Demolition. using over 2,000 separate charges. 414 properties were evacuated and the Grosvenor shopping centre was closed the night before. The demolition was scheduled to take place at an unannounced time between 08:00am and 10:00am, and occurred at approximately 09:40am.
This video is made up of 11 short videos, ten of which were filmed on 13th March 2015. The final video of the demolition aftermath was filmed just over a week later from the same viewpoint as the first short clip, on 21st March 2015. Filmed on my Sony Cybershot DSC-H55 digital camera.
PLEASE NOTE I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO. COPYRIGHT GOES TO JORGE MENDEZ FOR HIS INSTRUMENTAL TRACK "COLD". RIGHTS TO THE SECOND PIECE OF MUSIC GO TO COMPAGNIA D'OPERA ITALIANA ORCHESTRA FOR THEIR PERFORMANCE OF "I PURITANI O RENDETEMI LA SPEME". THIS VIDEO IS ONLY SHARED FOR GENERAL INTEREST AND ENTERTAINMENT.

[@lauralove00]

This bus station has so so so many memories in for me.. I was about 11 when I used to go there to get home with my family. It was always bone cold and echoey. People always drunk. Chewing gum stuck to seats and floors. Sticky hand rails.. I know it was a horrible place, but it held so much memories in it. Watching this and seeing pictures of how it used to look crushes my heart.. not that the place is gone , more that the memories it made

[@timbecile7006]

This should be more popular, it was a major historical event in Northampton!

[@sniff001]

Can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or serious 😄

[@timbecile7006]

Sarcastic lol, I can't imagine Northampton ever being in world news

[@sniff001]

@@timbecile7006 Well you are correct in saying it was a historical event in Northampton - it is history - world news however it is not. That said, never say never to anywhere being world news. After all Princess Diana was born and grew up in Northamptonshire.

[@2112SSF]

This made me cry I don't know why.

[@sniff001]

It was probably the depressing music I put to it; but thank you - it’s nice to hear that it has had a profound effect on somebody. Are you local to Northampton?

[@2112SSF]

@@sniff001 I was once. In 2011 we moved into Northampton and I remember the old bus station very well. In 2015 when the old bus station was being demiloshed, we lived in Weston Favell and the explosives that were used were s so loud that we heard it from 2 miles away. Loads of memoies related to the building. We moved to Poland In 2021 to be closer to our family.

[@Andromeda8181]

I'm sure it was actually haunted. I've heard there are flats/ student accommodation to be built 🤔😬
I used to work in the cafeteria, the whole building was foul; always smelt mouldy and of toilets 🤮

[@SAMIEWALLFORD756]

Well... Too bad, is lost it see where to find an elevator to see it is. :(