Jack Jeffs bought his first coach in June 1958. It was a 37-seater, the business started to grow when Jack purchased his second coach early in 1959.

At first Jack just did day trips and very soon he had taken on school and works contracts. The bus was kept in a barn on The Square (now a house conversion - The Old Barn, Cross Lane). Jack was the driver and was helped at weekends by his son John who had served his apprenticeship at Daimler and then worked at Self-Change Gears, Coventry. He returned to Helmdon at the weekends to help his father run the business.

The same year, 1959, Jack obtained planning approval to use the old goods shed and station yard as a coach garage. He also purchased his second coach that year.

During this period of expansion John became a partner with his father, and the name of Jeffs Coaches was born. By the end of 1961 they had a total of seven coaches and an 11-seater minibus. Business continued to expand and on 16 April 1964 the station yard was purchased from British Rail for one thousand and three pounds, seven shillings and ten pence. In June of 1964 Jack and John took the decision to purchase three brand new coaches to add to the fleet.

Throughout the sixties and seventies Jack and John developed the firm, expanding into a large variety of operations. There were the "run of the mill" school runs, work runs, day trips, weekly shopping services, theatre trips, holidays in this country and Jeffs Coaches became a familiar sight abroad operating regular trips to the South of France and other parts of Europe.

In the seventies Jack's elder son, Ken, joined John and his father as a partner in the business, although Ken did not work full time until 1988. The business continued to grow during those years until the cream and green coaches with the Impala silhouette not only became a familiar part of the village scene in Helmdon but a national and international coach firm.

Ken Jeffs continued to run the family coach business after the death of his father and younger brother John eventually selling the company to the Bowen Travel Group in December 2005.

Applebys, Bowens, Jeffs, and Yorks Holidays, Travel & Group Travel are all trading names of Bowen Travel Ltd Registered in England No. 1383986 Registered Office Derby Road Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 5AH
Applebys, Bowens, and Yorks Coaches and Days Out are all trading names of L.F. Bowen Ltd Registered in England No. 602305 Registered Office Derby Road Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 5AH
Jeffs Coaches is a trading name of Jeffs Coaches Ltd Registered in England No. 3177970 Registered Office Derby Road Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 5AH