Photo © Les Ronan (Roger Janes Collection). Please do not re-post without permission.

Southdown 812, LUF812, a Leyland PSU1/15 Harrington Wayfarer C26C was one of the first 3 delivered (in January) of the 20 tourers ordered for the 1952 season.
The rest arrived in batches each month until the May. Roger photographed it in June 1953 parked up in St.Georges Square, Portsmouth. Alongside (and more interesting to me as an exiled Brummie) is KVC169 a Maudslay Marathon III/Gurney Nutting FC37F new 5/51 to Grove Coventry. The Maudslay sports a crown on the front (The Queen's Coronation was that month) - Colin Druce's latest Southdown book tells us that several Coach Cruises were cancelled over this period being unable to compete with the attraction of the Coronation and that the Coronation Review of the Fleet took place off Portsmouth on Monday 15th June 1953 and was the largest display of warships and merchant ships since WW2 - for interest see here - I would doubt that our present day navy possesses that many rowing boats, although apparently by 2019 they had more Admirals than warships. Anyway, I have taken a punt on the 15th June as being the actual date. By the way, good luck in pinpointing exactly where in St.Georges Square the coaches were parked, looking at Google Maps the area has been redeveloped and it is now anything but square!

Photo taken by Roger Janes (Les Ronan Collection), Monday 15 June 1953, St. Georges Square, Portsmouth

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