Imber | Imberbus

This year, the Imberbus service to the lost village of Imber will be running on Saturday 19th August and it is already promising to be a popular event with the only access to Imber being on one of our buses.

We have approximately 30 old and new Routemaster buses lined up to provide this year’s service which will run every 15 minutes from Warminster Station to Imber from 9.45am onwards. However, to add a bit of variety, this year there will also be a few “guest” vehicles that have probably never operated anywhere near the Capital!

As in previous years, when the buses arrive at Imber, some buses will then carry on to our interchange point at Gore Cross, from where they will continue twice an hour throughout the day either to Tilshead and Chitterne, New Zealand Farm Camp or Brazen Bottom and Market Lavington.

In addition to the 16th century St.Giles’ Church at Imber that will be open that weekend, there will again be the opportunity for our passengers to visit the Market Lavington Museum, which is located in the Old School House along side Market Lavington Church and is opening specially for our event. In addition to exhibiting local artefacts, the museum will also be serving cream teas which have proved to be a popular attraction in previous years. Light refreshments will also be available at Imber Church, at Casper’s Cafe at Warminster Station and in the village halls in both Tilshead and Chitterne.

Further details about this year’s Imberbus event can now be found on our website at www.imberbus.org, including maps, timetables, fares and details of how to get to Warminster Station and where to park if travelling by car. If this is your first visit to Imber, we strongly recommend that you take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions page, which provides important information on where you can and cannot go, where you can get something to eat and also the location of public toilets (which are few and far between on the Salisbury Plain!).

IMPORTANT – If you are planning on bringing a group of people to Warminster in a bus or coach, please contact us immediately as there are very few coach parking facilities available in Warminster and we may be able to help you publicise your trip!

We look forward to seeing you all on 19th August.

We are pleased to announce that this year, we are planning to run the Imberbus service on

Saturday 19th August 2023

when several vintage former London Transport Routemaster buses (plus a few newer ones) will again provide a bus service from Warminster Station to Imber and other isolated locations on the Salisbury Plain between 10am and 6pm.

Once again our event will be a Car Free Day, with the only access to Imber on 19th August being on the buses operating the Imberbus service. These special arrangements successfully eliminated the severe traffic congestion that we experienced around Imber in 2019, but they do mean that there are some restrictions on what you can and cannot do when you get there, details of which will be confirmed during the summer.

IMG_1116-001 (1568 x 1045) The timetable for this year’s service will also be published during the summer and is expected to be very similar to the one used in 2022. Buses will run from Warminster Station to Imber every 15 minutes, with the first bus departing at approximately 9.45am and the last bus returning at around 6pm. Please note that you cannot book in advance to travel on the Imberbus service – just turn up and pay the conductor on the bus, or purchase a ticket from our ticket booth outside Warminster Station on the day.

If you have not travelled on the Imberbus service before and would like to know more about it, please visit our website at www.imberbus.org which contains details about the history of Imber and the background to the service. We have also retained on there, details of the arrangements that applied for Imberbus 2022 plus our popular Frequently Asked Questions page, to give you an idea of what to expect and we will update this information during July, once the final arrangements for this year have been confirmed.

Last year the Imberbus service raised more than £16,000, which was donated to St. Giles Church, the Royal British Legion, Guide Dogs for the Blind, The Garrison Artillery Volunteers, Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust, The London Transport Museum and the Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living. We would obviously like to be able to improve on this figure in 2023 and so we do hope that you will be able to join us in August.

However if you cannot wait until the summer to visit Imber, we understand that St. Giles Church and the road through Imber may be open to everyone over part of the Easter weekend in April (although you will obviously need your own transport to get there on those dates). Further details of those openings are expected to be published on the Imber Church website events page in a few weeks time, but please remember to check this again shortly before you travel as there is always the chance that access to the road through Imber may have to change at short notice if required for military training.