Mayne's of Manchester was a rare beast in the years of road service licensing, especially the last 36 of them from 1950 to 1986: a family-owned independent operating frequent stage carriage services into the heart of a major city. All the more special was its use of double-deckers, most of them bought new and often in small batches, AEC Regents for as long as they were available, then Daimler Fleetlines and Bristol VRTs, and its use of route numbers like those of the major operators. Unlike many pre-deregulation independents, it survived the seismic change that began in October 1986 and expanded its bus operations, appearing to prosper for the next 20 years before selling them to Stagecoach. The coach business survived for another 15 years, its demise hastened by the pandemic. Mark Hughes's updated history of the company - his first marked its 75th anniversary in 1995 - shows that it survived by dogged determination, turning down several takeover approaches that others in a similar position might have accepted.
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