Book Review: Western National to First Kernow

Sunday 21st June 2026 It’s another splendid book from Keith Shayshutt about buses in his beloved Cornwall. This one is highly topical charting the ups and downs, of which there were many, of Western National and First Kernow but in particular concentrates on recent times, especially the last 18 months leading up to First Kernow’s final day of operation on Saturday 14th February 2026. It’s an insightful account across nine chapters over 60 pages in which Keith sets the scene for that final demise. Keith begins with a brief historic scene setting starting with the nationalised Western National in the 1970s, followed by privatisation and the sale to Badgerline in the 1980s, then through the early First Bus years and the emergence of Truronian and Western Greyhound as competitors in the 1990s and 2000s, to the sudden demise of the latter and the consequential revitalisation of First Bus in the 2010s. There’s an eye catching series of 15 colour coded network maps across eight pages…