Names on the buses

 916 Ben Sherman

Connections with Brighton and Hove : The young Alfred Sugarman did not want to go into his family’s business, running a gift shop called Rocko’s in Brighton. So after the Second World War when he was 20, he went to Canada and found himself in the USA undertaking jobs such as selling jewellery and picking tobacco. After two failed marriages, Alfred met a girl called Ruth whose father owned a shirt company called Lancia. He put Alfred in charge but the young man became bored with the staid designs. When he failed to bring in his own ideas, Sugarman moved back to Brighton in 1962. He changed his name to Ben Sherman and opened up his own factory at Bedford Square the following year. Sherman’s shirts with their distinctive button down collars and a button in the centre back were an instant success. Soon he opened a showroom in Carnaby Street, London, and a shop in Duke Street, Brighton. Another two London shops followed. Sherman’s success overwhelmed the Brighton factory and he moved production to Northern Ireland in 1969. But he sold the company in the early Seventies. Sherman, now with his fourth wife, moved to Australia to start new ventures. He died aged 62 in 1987 after a heart bypass operation. But the business lives on and is particularly associated with Mods. The stylish and popular shirts are unique in design and high in quality.

916 Scania Omnidekka - carried name since delivery in September 2006 in Metro 25 livery. Changed to Coaster 12 livery in January 2008. Repainted into revised Coaster livery November 2011. Coaster branding removed December 2014. Bus transferred to Go-Ahead Oxford in August 2020.