Grey-Green can trace its origins back over a century to the foundation of George Ewer's horse carriage business in 1885.

The 1930s started with the introduction of a London to Harwich service, and operations continued to expand rapidly through East Anglia and to the coast, interrupted only by World War II.

Several of the companies taken over retained their separate identities and distinctive liveries in order to maintain goodwill, but in 1966 it was decided to concentrate the group's operations on two trading names: Grey-Green and Orange.

[2] By 1972 it operated out of garages in Stamford Hill, Edmonton, Lea Bridge, Mile End and Brixton in London, and Walton-on-the-Naze, Ipswich, Felixstowe and Great Yarmouth in East Anglia.

[4] In 1980 Grey-Green was a founding member of the British Coachways consortium which competed with National Express, but pulled out after a year.