Lostock Hall, a small village three miles south of Preston city centre, has its origins dating way back to 1212 when James de Lostock built the original Lostock’s Hall, the settlement which then subsequently expanded to create the village of today.
It contains its own train station which resides on the Preston to Blackburn line, I have travelled the line many times and embarked at every station. The first stop returning from Blackburn is Mill Hill, which is handy on away football trips as it is within walking distance of Ewood Park, Blackburn’s stadium. The next alighting point is Pleasington, a leafy suburb with a couple of nearby pubs.
The train then trundles on to Cherrytree, with again a couple of decent boozers very near to the station. I recall one evening residing in one of the establishments where there was a huge group of inebriated young lads waiting for a coach to Manchester Airport for a very late flight to Ibiza, I remember thinking I was glad I wasn’t booked on that aeroplane!
I remember also on a Christmas night out one year there was a huge carpet on snow deposited from the sky in the afternoon, resulting in the bizarre situation of having a clear snow lit view out of the window when returning on the midnight express. The train then runs through Lostock Hall and Bamber Bridge, the latter stop I have visited once, and it has a level crossing across the main drag.
My first train foray to Lostock Hall was in 1993 when a huge group of us from work attended our colleague Louise Mariner’s 21st party at the Royal British Legion club on Brownedge Road. We gathered in the back room of the Railway pub in Preston, where I recall watching Colin Jackson break the 110m hurdles world record in the World Athletics championship taking place in Stuttgart.
En arrival in Lostock Hall we visited the Railway pub (long since gone), the Pleasant Retreat (now Lostock Ale), Tardy Gate (rebadged as the Wishing Well), all of which were within easy walking distance of the Legion. After the shindig had finished, we headed over in a fleet of taxis to the Poachers pub and my one and only visit to the Whisper’s nightclub in Bamber Bridge, twas a very good night!
I have visited the Anchor inn down Croston Road and the legendary but very small Sangam Indian restaurant. I also used to play a few frames at the Elite Snooker Club down Coote Lane.
The village’s musical heritage has incorporated an annual festival called LostFest. The other public house in the district is the Victoria Inn, a large boozer located a handy three-minute walk to the station. The pub was subject to a £250k revamp in 2017 and reopened with a shortened name of the Vic. They have a small stage to the right of the front entrance where bands play.
As my friend Jez Catlow is a lifelong resident, living five minutes from the Vic, I have visited a couple of times to see him play in a couple of different bands. There were a large group of us who attended to watch the local punk legends Pike on 26/04/14. On that very day local football team Chorley FC were promoted back to Conference level. They played a long set and were still on stage when we had to depart to catch the 00.01 train back into Preston.
A year later another posse headed to the Vic to see his other more soothing alter ego combo Deadwood Dog supported that evening by Maelor Hughes, a folk singer from Accrington.
A topical postscript is that today (12/11/22) I am over in the fair city of Preston to watch the match and then off to the New Continental to watch 999 supported by the aforementioned Pike!
