A First Pub Guide

CAMRA CENTRAL LANCS BRANCH AND ... A FIRST PUB GUIDE

With the appearance of this Ale Cry, CAMRA Central Lancashire branch enters its 50th year as an organisation.

Looking back to the formative years of the branch in the 1970s things were very different. A pub was usually tied to one brewery, and it would exclusively sell the beers produced by that particular brewery. Handpumps were quite rare, with most real ale in this area being dispensed from an electric pump. There were no fancy beer names, with customers usually being given a straightforward choice – you either drank mild or you drank bitter.

CAMRA West Lancashire branch (as we were then known) produced its first pub guide in 1975. Titled the Preston & District Real Ale Guide, it was priced at 20p and listed 116 pubs that were known to be selling real ale. The Introduction to the guide acknowledged that it may not have included every pub in the area that was selling real ale, but it was claimed ‘that each of the pubs listed generally serve an acceptable pint’.

The Preston & District Real Ale Guide contained only the most basic pub information, but what does soon become apparent is that local real ale drinkers were then largely reliant on the products of just four breweries – Matthew Brown, Thwaites, Boddingtons, and Greenall Whitley. Between them these brewing companies were supplying their beers to over 90% of the real ale outlets listed in the guide.

MATTHEW BROWN

With 39 pubs selling beers from Matthew Brown (or Lions as it was more commonly known) this was the brewery with the most real ale outlets in the branch area. Located in Blackburn, but originally a Preston brewery, the legacy of this was that over half the pubs in the branch area were Matthew Brown houses, many of them not selling any real ale. Having acquired Theakstons in 1984, everything was looking rosy for Matthew Brown until Scottish & Newcastle came along with a hostile takeover bid. In 1987 the take-over was completed, and within a matter of years it was almost as if Matthew Brown had never existed.

THWAITES

There were 25 pubs selling beers from Thwaites, another brewery located in Blackburn. All Thwaites pubs were selling real ale, and they were spread throughout the branch area, with as many as 11 pubs listed under Preston. Now based at Mellor Brook, Thwaites is still in existence, although certainly not with the presence in numbers that it had in the 1970s – most tellingly the Sun is now the last remaining Thwaites pub in Preston.

BODDINGTONS

There were 23 pubs selling beers from Manchester-based Boddingtons, this being a brewery whose beers people either loved or hated. All Boddingtons pubs were selling real ale, with several of them being among the biggest beer sellers in the area – notably the Old Black Bull in Preston, the Sumners at Fulwood, and the Lane Ends at Ashton. Boddingtons was to be acquired by Whitbread in 1989, and in the 1990s Boddingtons Bitter was for a time the most commonly found beer in the branch area. You can have too much of a good thing – the brewery closed in 2005, and Boddingtons Bitter is now only available as a keg beer.

GREENALL WHITLEY

Completing the quartet of leading real ale suppliers was Greenall Whitley with 18 pubs selling their beers. Greenalls had breweries at both St Helens and Warrington. Their pubs were spread throughout the branch area, with a concentration between Preston and Southport due to them having acquired many of the pubs that had once belonged to Wilkins of Longton. Never that popular with real ale drinkers, Greenalls gave up brewing their own beers in 1991 and eight years later sold off their last remaining pubs to Scottish & Newcastle.

In addition to the above four brewing companies, there were six others who played a lesser role, supplying their beers to the few remaining real ale outlets listed in the guide.

BURTONWOOD

Located at the village of that name near Warrington, Burtonwood had six pubs listed in the guide, all in the southern half of the branch area. In subsequent years the number of Burtonwood houses was to increase, but in 2004 they chose to cease brewing to become a pub-owning company, which was then acquired by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries the following year.

HIGSONS

Based in Liverpool, Higsons was represented with two pubs in the branch area, the Lord Nelson at Croston, and the Legh Arms at Mere Brow (the latter now a part of CAMRA Southport & West Lancashire branch). Higsons was acquired by Boddingtons in 1985, and later as part of Boddingtons it was swallowed up by Whitbread with the Liverpool brewery being closed down.

ROBINSONS

Still in existence, and still represented in the branch area with the flagship Black Horse pub in Preston. In 1975 this Stockport-based brewery also had the Myerscough at Balderstone, a pub which closed in 2016 and which has since been demolished.

BASS CHARRINGTON

The big six brewing company with the greatest presence in the branch area in 1975, due to them having acquired a number of Lancashire breweries in the 1960s. Most of their pubs were at this time keg only, but the guide listed the Royal Oak at Riley Green, a rare free house which was then selling Draught Bass. This beer continues to be very popular, although you will probably struggle to find it anywhere in the Central Lancashire branch area.

SCOTTISH & NEWCASTLE

Another member of the so-called ‘big six’ brewing companies, two of their beers McEwans Bitter and Youngers Bitter were also available at the above mentioned Royal Oak.

TETLEY

Based at Warrington, Tetley was a part of Allied Breweries, the third of the ‘big six’ brewing companies to be represented with an entry in the guide. There was one pub listed as selling Tetley Bitter as a real ale in our branch area, the Towneley Arms at Longridge.

There were four more brewing companies whose beers could be found in the branch area in 1975, but these were breweries which were not supplying any real ale at this time. Big six brewers JOHN SMITH and WHITBREAD both had a number of pubs in central Lancashire that were selling only keg beers, while Sunderland-based brewers VAUX were then keg-only at their two Preston pubs, the Meadow Arms and the Mitre Tavern. Finally there was SAMUEL SMITH, the Tadcaster-based brewery which prided itself on its traditional brewing methods, but which at this time was supplying only keg beers to the Olde Blue Bell in Preston.

It would not be too long before things began to change, with all these brewing companies eventually making a move to put some real ale into their pubs. GORDON SMALL