History

In 1983, the state owned London Transport

London Regional Transport

London Regional Transport was the organisation responsible for the public transport network in Greater London, UK from 1984-2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.The organisation was...

 ceased operating their Round London Sightseeing Tour operation as the market was opened up to competition by the government. This had been run since March 1973.

A number of companies established private tour bus companies in London. In 1984, Emmerheath Ltd., one such private operator, established the Grand Guided Tour of London as London Pride Sightseeing, with a white/pink/orange livery, a small operation with 10 buses and operating from one stop.

In 1985 London Pride merged with Ensignbus

Ensignbus

Ensignbus is a Purfleet-based bus and coach dealer, open top bus tour operator and bus service operator. Ensignbus has amassed 20 ex-London vehicles of various ages and conditions in a ....

, who had also started their own tour operation, with Emmerheath buses being repainted into Ensignbus standard blue/silver, with London Pride markings.

Ensign had a competivive advantage with its ready supply of Fleetlines

Daimler Fleetline

The Daimler Fleetline is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis built between 1960 and 1973 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, and from 1973 until 1980 in Farington, Lancashire, England. However, the last complete vehicle did not enter service until 1983...

 being disposed of early by London Transport into its sales business. As part of this Ensign and had developed expertise in half and full open top conversion of these vehicles. Ensignbus had ironically earlier operated brand new DMS-class Fleetlines under contract on the Round London Sightseeing Tour.

Ensign went on to develop London Pride with the open top vehicles, multiple stops, 24-hour operation and tickets, shuttle buses, different routes and attraction tie-ins. It also introduced the use of high capacity tri-axle coach vehicle on open top operation, such as the MCW Metroliner

MCW Metroliner

The MCW Metroliner was a coach built by Metro Cammell Weymann in the 1980s. The Metroliner was available as a standard single-deck coach, or the more numerous and striking multi-axle double-deck coach....

.

After sale of the Ensign's London tendered routes to Capital Citybus

Capital Citybus

Capital Citybus was a major bus operator for London Buses in North and East London. The company was eventually sold to First in 1998. Capital Citybus is not to be confused with the other former London bus and coach operator Capital Logistics, for whom in 1999 it provided amongst others relief buses...

, London Pride gained a dedicated plum/silver version of Ensignbus livery, and prominent This is an official London Sightseeing bus markings.

From 1985 and into the 1990s most of the other tour operators in London either ceased trading, or sold out to Ensign (Culture Bus, Ebdon's, London Tour Co, London Hop on Hop off Ltd and Cityrama), leaving only London Pride and The Big Bus Company

The Big Bus Company

Big Bus Tours is a London-based open-top bus sightseeing company.The Big Bus Company is a family-owned company, founded by Richard, Eleanor and Desmond Maybury. It started in central London in June 1991 with 4 buses and now operates over 150 buses worldwide...

 in the market.

In 1998 the expanded London Pride operation was sold by Ensign to a private consortium. Following London Pride, Ensign went on to produce the City Sightseeing

City Sightseeing

City Sightseeing is a global sightseeing bus brand, started by Ensignbus and the Spanish , which operates tour bus rides worldwide.Typically the tours consist of an open top double-decker bus. As the bus travels around the town or city, pre-recorded or live commentary is provided. City Sightseeing...

 global franchise model, starting tours around the world. After London Pride's new owners failed to grow the business, it was sold back to Ensignbus in November 2000. Ensign proceeded to transform London Pride into a City Sightseeing operation. In March 2001 Ensign sold this London City Sightseeing operation to Arriva

Arriva

Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...

 along the franchise operator model, with Ensign retaining vehicles, property and engineering staff to further develop the brand elsewhere. Arriva merged it into their London tour operator The Original Tour.