Historic Preston Pubs: Part 11

PART 11 FYLDE ROAD

In the latest instalment of our look back at the closed pubs of Preston, we focus on the area in the vicinity of Fylde Road. We will start our tour on Brook Street, to the north of Aqueduct Street and the COTTAGE. This was a former Tetley’s house that carried the name the NEW CATTLE MARKET until about 1992 when it was renamed. There had been a pub on this site since the mid 1800s, but the original structure had been demolished and replaced (probably in the 1960s). In later years the pub sold Burtonwood beers prior to closure in 2002.

Heading west from here, our next pub is towards the bottom of Parker Street. The BROOKHOUSE was a former Matthew Brown pub that closed in 2000 and was subsequently converted into student flats. The current picture on Google Streetview from 2018 shows the building looking rather scruffy and unloved, but the framework for the hanging sign above the entrance is still visible.

A short walk down Old Lancaster Road brings us to the LIME KILN which stood on the corner with Aqueduct Street. The pub was originally surrounded by houses, but these are long gone and this imposing building now stands alone. A one time Matthew Brown house, it had been taken over by Banks’s when it closed in 2008 and was converted into a Chinese restaurant. With red and white tiles and bright green paintwork, the colour scheme was quite striking. The name can be traced to a number of lime kilns that were situated on land opposite the pub, that owed their existence to the Preston – Kendal canal which used to run nearby. Sadly for those of us interested in industrial archaeology, the lime kilns and canal are long gone, and the pub exists only in memory.

Continuing our tour we head down onto Fylde Road and head back towards the city centre. On the corner of Carlton Street stood the curiously named DOCTOR SYNTAX. This pub opened around 1840 and prior to this another pub carried the name – situated on Molyneux Square, which is now Lancaster Road close to the Guild Hall. The pub was named, not after the fictional character but after a famous racehorse that won seven consecutive Preston Gold Cups between 1815 and 1821, the race being held on the town moor – now Moor Park. Details of brewery ownership are non existent, but during the 1980s and 90s the pub was selling Matthew Brown beers. It closed in 2009 and is now a Chinese Restaurant.

Just west of the railway bridge and on the same side of the road is our next pub which carried a number of names during its lifetime. The PRINCESS ALEXANDRA was a Thwaites pub which was nicknamed Th‘Ole In’T Wall, and the name was

later changed to this. The origin of the nickname is unclear, with various equally unlikely theories having been put forward. Perhaps the most likely explanation is that there used to be a set of stone steps that led from a hole in the wall and ran alongside the railway track down to the pavement, thus allowing railway workers to effect a short cut to the pub. The 1992 Preston Guild real ale guide records this pub as selling Boddingtons and Tetley Bitter and describes it as basic and noisy with a large projected television screen and pet parrots in cages on the bar. It is perhaps not surprising that its days were numbered.

As the pub’s fortunes declined, further name changes to Tap & Spile and Rooney’s followed, with the pub finally closing in 2000, after which it was used for student accommodation.

The last pub in this issue’s review is the WATERING TROUGH on the corner of Fylde Road and Maudland Bank. This one time Whitbread/ Chesters house was owned by Vaux when it closed in 2002 to become student accommodation.

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 12 we will be looking at the London Road area and would welcome any contributions from readers who frequented any of the closed pubs in this area.