Yeates '1928–63

William Stanley Yeates spent some time as Gilford’s sales manager before establishing his own business as the company’s Midlands agent at Hallowstone, Nottingham, in October 1928. Business clearly went well, as by 1931 W. S. Yeates & Co. was able to move into larger premises, buying a site next to the Willowbrook works on Derby Road in Loughborough. A year later, it took on agencies for Bedford and Dennis chassis as well. By 1934, Yeates had also begun to overhaul and repaint PS Vs and goods vehicles. The company expanded further over the next five years and during the 1939-45 war became a repair and reconditioning centre for military vehicles. Though W. S. Yeates himself died in an accident in 1943, the company had sufficient depth in its management to carry on and in 1944 it restarted its coachbuild-ing activities. Free to build Commercially again by 1946, Yeates began with a fire engine for the local Corporation and then rebodied an earlier Thornycroft Cygnet chassis as a coach. In October 1946, the company opened a new coachbuilding department on Byron Street, which began by refurbishing pre-war buses and soon moved on to building its own bodies as well. There were bodies on Bedford OB, Crossley and Dennis Lancet chassis; around 1949 there were some rebodies on ex-military Commer Q4s as well. The three styles offered in the late 1940s all had a strong resemblance to pre-war Duple products, but Yeates also created full-front versions, some of which were used on pre-war chassis lengthened to take advantage of the latest regulations. In 1963, the company stopped building coaches and concentrated on selling vehicles.