Historic Preston Pubs: Part 9

PART 9 Deepdale

In the latest instalment of our look-back on the closed pubs of Preston in the Ribbleton Lane area heading out towards Deepdale. These pubs would have provided slim pickings for the real ale enthusiast, as most of them did not sell any real ale for a number of years before they finally closed their doors.

We start our tour this issue outside the prison and head out of town along Ribbleton Lane. In the 1950s, this road would have provided a pub crawl to challenge the most dedicated ale drinker. Before we reach the first of our featured pubs, there are 6 that closed in the early 1960s – in order the OLD OAK, FORESTERS ARMS (later known as the THIRD DUKE OF LANCASTER’S OWN), the ANCHOR’S WEIGHED INN, the ALBERT HOTEL, and finally the NEW SUN and BIRCHALLS ARMS (which were opposite each other). 4 of these pubs sold the ubiquitous Matthew Brown ales, the other choices being Tetley and Chesters. All these buildings have been swept away and replaced with modern industrial units. Despite all these missing pubs, it is only a short walk until on the right hand side we find our first featured closed pub – the FOX & GRAPES, which was situated just opposite the junction for Deepdale Mill Street. A former Chesters’ pub, it had come into the ownership of Whitbread by the time our photo was taken. There was once a bowling green behind the pub, which would have had wonderful scenic views of the old gas works that were beyond. The pub closed in 2013 and remains empty and boarded up.

At this point we will leave Ribbleton Lane and head up Deepdale Mill Street. Just before the railway bridge, on the corner of Peel Hall Street stood our next pub, the DUKE OF EDINBURGH. A completely unremarkable Matthew Brown pub of pretty standard design, this pub was serving three real ales as late as 1989. According to the branch’s Preston Real Ale Guide of that year, you could get Matthew Brown Mild and Bitter and Theakston Best Bitter on handpump. However the pub closed the following year and has subsequently been demolished (interestingly this is the only one of the 7 pubs in this issue that is no longer standing).

Further up this road at the junction with St. Georges Road was our next pub, the DEEPDALE HOTEL. A Matthew Brown pub, it was by some distance the closest

pub to to the Deepdale Stadium and used this fact heavily in its advertising. Between 1913 and 1917, the landlord was Peter McBride, who had been a goalkeeper with Preston North End, playing 443 games for the club up to his retirement in 1912. It appears he had a reputation as being ‘quite aggressive’, and it is reported that during one match, when the opposition’s striker scored his third goal, McBride raced out of his penalty area and shook him by the throat. The pub had long since ceased serving real ale when it closed in 2013. The building still stands and it is understood that it to be converted into an Islamic teaching centre.

Back on Ribbleton Lane, just a few yards further along from the Fox & Grapes and on the same side of the road was the DERBY INN. Another of our Matthew Brown pubs, it stood on the corner of Geoffrey Street. It was a small pub with a narrow frontage and nothing notable seems to have happened there. Real ale had been withdrawn by the late 1980s and there is no evidence that it was ever reinstated before final closure in 2010. On the opposite side of the road was the BOLD VENTURE, another of the casualties from the early 1960s.

Here we take a short detour and turn right down Geoffrey Street and then left into Cemetery Road. A few yards along, on the corner of Wilbraham Street stood another Lion pub, the CEMETERY ROAD HOTEL. In common with most of the pubs from this brewery, real ale had long been discontinued when it closed in 2000 and was converted into a private house.

If we head back to Ribbleton Lane and turn right, it is a short walk to the traffic lights where our next pub, the SKEFFINGTON ARMS could be found at the junction with Skeffington Road. The unusual name is thought to have been in honour of Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, a naval commander who died in 1814. (By a strange coincidence, Lutwidge lived at Holmrook in West Cumbria – which is only a few miles from the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway which features in another article in this magazine.) This was yet another Matthew Brown pub and according to our records had not served real ale for many years when it closed in 2013. The hanging sign and lettering still adorn the pub, which now has a rather dilapidated air about it.

Continuing our walk along Ribbleton Lane, we eventually come to the OLD ENGLAND HOTEL. This was a large detached building comprising a fairly basic tworoomed pub with a beer garden.

It was purpose-built in 1853 by its first licensee James Walmsley, who advertised it locally as a ‘baiting house’ for people travelling to Longridge, Chipping or Clitheroe. Baiting was a nineteenth-century word indicating the provision of food or rest for people or animals. Like many of the local pubs it had once sold beer brewed on the premises, but at some time the pub had come under the ownership of Boddingtons and in our guide to the 1992 Preston Guild it was still selling real ale in the form of their bitter. The pub closed in 1999 and sits empty, although there was at one time plans to turn the site into a car

park. ADRIAN SMITH

All the excellent photographs used to illustrate this series of articles come from the Jim Holderness collection, and we gratefully acknowledge this and being able to use them. In part 10 we will be looking at the North Road area and would welcome any contributions from readers who frequented any of the closed pubs in this area.