56 www.busesmag.com January 2016

N ational Welsh was the headline casualty of the upheavals of nearly 30 years ago when bus services outside London were

deregulated and the National Bus Company’s subsidiaries were privatised by being sold in 60 separate lots between July 1986 and March 1988.

NBC had created the company in 1978 when it merged Western Welsh and Red & White into a single business with depots stretching across the English border into the Forest of Dean.

The management team saw off two rival bids to acquire the business in May 1987 for £2.6million, which was £400,000 more than the net value of its assets, and continued with an aggressive expansion campaign that saw a large fleet of Bustler-branded minibuses introduced on high-frequency routes within and beyond its operating area.

It acquired the council-owned Inter-Valley Link and Taff Ely undertakings in the valleys and contributed towards the demise of their equivalent in Merthyr Tydfil, but a series of factors — among them the high cost of maintaining some of its less reliable minibuses — caused it to run into financial difficulties, selling the eastern part of the business in 1990 to Western Travel, the

management buyout of NBC’s Cheltenham & Gloucester company, which branded it once again as Red & White.

Administrative receivers were called in on 3 January 1992. Red & White, Cardiff Bus and South Wales Transport-owned Brewers registered replacements for most National Welsh routes, while a new Rhondda Buses acquired Porth depot with an unusual share structure that eventually saw Arriva, First and Stagecoach all with a stake in the business.

When imagining how to reinvent the National Welsh brand had it survived into the second half of the 2010s, The MHD Partnership says it approached the challenge with caution and due reverence.

‘Rebranding a national company is quite a challenge and one that required a design to be bold, simple and intrinsically Welsh,’ it says. ‘Our original design scribblings took inspiration from the dragon but we felt that tampering with, or updating, such a well-known national treasure may cause negative feeling towards the brand.

It decided that a strong identity device would act as the basis for this new livery, so it worked the ‘N’ and ‘W’ of National Welsh together to form a cohesive framing. ‘We did, however, soften them by rounding some corners and using a little shadow rendering to

give the look of a folded ribbon, giving what is a stark shape more fluidity. The typeface was chosen specifically because its mix of rounded and sharp corners works in harmony with the logo, while also being easily readable and user-friendly.

‘We have naturally gone with the red, white and green national colours, which used correctly (dominant use of red rather than an equal balance of three colours) automatically say Welsh. Getting it slightly wrong can end up looking more Roma than Rhondda, so finding the balance in tone was paramount.

‘The patriotic strapline supports the national brand and, more subtly, the words “through and through” are a reinforcement of this Celtic patriotism.

‘Overall, both the identity and livery are a great representation of the company’s Welsh heritage and would quite easily provide that smooth transition into elements of the marketing mix. The work delivers branding that would make National Welsh not only a highly recognisable company, but one that could proudly stand tall against its competition.’

Incidentally, MHD says the WeAreWelsh domain name is currently available. Surely there must be some patriotic companies who could benefit from such a website address. ■■ www.mhdpartnership.co.uk

IDENTITY PARADENational Welsh was the only ex-National Bus Company subsidiary to go bust. Creative agency The MHD Partnership imagines a livery it might have been given had it still been thriving today.

A NATIONAL TREASURE

The privatised National Welsh company’s livery on DS497 (A37 XBO), an East Lancs-bodied Dennis Lancet acquired with the Taff Ely undertaking. OMNIBUS SOCIETY / ROY MARSHALL