A young man named Jack arrives in Campbeltown after serving as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the first world war. Taken with the wide, open landscapes, fresh sea air and the Campbeltonian people, he decides to set up shop in the town. Jack Craig is soon joined by his brothers William and David Craig, and their shop is called Craig Brothers Automobile Engineers, set up on 95 and 97 Longrow, Campbeltown.

Jack Craig paints ‘West Coast Motor Service Company’ on the side of a bus. The brothers start operating a regular bus service between Campbeltown and Tarbert. It’s 1921. This is where our journey properly begins.

Operating two regular routes, the Craig Brothers Motor Engineers, now West Coast Motors Service Company were needing a bit more room to grow. Jack purchased Benmore Distillery in 1936 to move into — under one condition: not to use the name Benmore, restricted as a whisky brand. Jack and William changed the spelling to Benmhor, which remains the address of the heart and head offices Craig of Campbeltown Limited to this day.

Through the years, the brothers have continued to mindfully expand the business, acquiring Dickies of Tarbert, connecting West and East Loch Tarbert piers to the steamers.

They have reached a milestone moment: they officially incorporate the business as Craig of Campbeltown Limited. Though still trading as West Coast Motors, this cements the origins of the business into its projected legacy: that of a business rooted in family, and in a sense of place.

William, then Campbeltown Provost, dies at the young age of 69. It is now up to his sons, William G. Craig and Robert H. Craig, to take up the mantle and steer the business into a new era.

Each season brings its own challenges, and the brothers had to contend with the massive deregulation of the Scottish bus industry, launched in 1986. Instead of pulling back their services, they adapted, partnering with Scottish Citylink to operate the 926 service on their behalf. It ran between Campbeltown and Glasgow, thus continuing to serve the route that marked the first long-distance milestone expansion of the business, under the first generation. Craig of Campbeltown Limited continues to serve this route on behalf of Scottish Citylink today.

CCL acquires Citybus, operating local services in Glasgow and Dunbartonshire. They still operate these services, now simply West Coast Motor’s services 15 and 17.

They acquire City Sightseeing’s Glasgow franchise, branching out from transport into tourism.

Not content with the serving Argyll and Glasgow, they expand into maritime transit with Kintyre Express, reestablishing a ferry route between Campbeltown and Ballycastle in Northern Ireland.

West Coast Tours, operating from Oban to the Inner Hebrides, began in June 2013 when its parent company, West Coast Motors, purchased the Isle of Mull-based Bowman’s Tours.

Massive regional expansion into the Scottish Borders and Northumbria. It began in February 2016, when West Coast Motors acquired Perryman’s Buses, bringing depots at Berwick-upon-Tweed and St Boswells into the fold. The following year, the company took on the remainder of First Scotland East’s Borders operation, including the depot at Galashiels and outstations at Hawick, Kelso and Peebles. In July 2017, these services were brought together and rebranded as Borders Buses, now connecting Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders with Cumbria and Northumberland in England.

The last in Craig of Campbeltown Limited’s ventures is in boutique eco-tourism: acquiring The Majestic Line in 2024, the family-owned small-ship cruise operator sailing the Scottish Hebrides. The fleet of four — Glen Etive, Glen Shiel, Glen Massan and Glen Tarsan, each carrying just 11-12 guests — has since undergone a careful refurbishment, heightening the onboard luxury while staying true to the line’s small-scale character and traditional charm. New fixtures, furniture, upholstery and carpeting were fitted by a small team in Inverness, with each cabin given its own colour palette and named after a Scottish bird or island. Guests joining us in the 2025 season are the first to experience these improvements, with no change to the way the line is run day to day.