Eleven miles south of Preston on the Manchester rail line lies the town of Chorley. The train passes through Leyland and the new station of Buckshaw Parkway prior to its arrival. I have always had a soft spot for Chorley and had numerous forays out there in my youth.
Prior to the extension of the licencing laws, we would arrive there at 7pm on a Friday evening, a sally round the town would follow before a 10pm train back into Preston, flier in the Olde Black Bull before jumping on the last bus at 11pm, sometimes via Zagros for a cheeky pizza!
When I was 18 in 1986, PNE seem to regularly play on Friday nights necessitating the requirement of a transistor radio whilst walking back to the station to check the result on Radio 2’s 9.55pm sports bulletin.
Remarkably, the following year, non-league Chorley beat the once mighty Wolves in a FA Cup 1st Round second replay before drawing PNE at home in the 2nd Round. It was a huge game locally and they decided to play at Blackburn’s Ewood Park ground, which much to our amusement produced the biggest crowd in years at the stadium and the home team weren’t even playing! Also, it was memorably where Uncle George got stuck in a yellow box at a junction and was summarily rollicked by the local polis when driving back from the match in his yellow Vauxhall Cavalier, with us buffoons chortling unhelpfully on the back seat of the motor! The match was drawn, and we won the replay.
34 years on, in 2021, Chorley surpassed that achievement by reaching the 4th round and bizarrely ran into Wolves again, now a Premier league side and lost narrowly. The crying shame was that due to the pandemic there were no crowds, denying them the opportunity of a rocking Victory Park that evening!
So, on arrival at Chorley train station back in the 80’s you could initially backpedal to the real ale house Malt and Hops (wrong side of the tracks?!) before heading back and taking a circular route around the town centre. This would take you past the Queens down to the main drag where Yates Wine Lodge resided.
Yates was a strange establishment in those days with a pool table located in virtually the centre of the pub. I was a decent player then so used to put my 10p down and take my chances, but it felt a little like a Wild West viewing audience around you when you were participating!
A right turn then took you to the Swan with Two Necks which was down in a dip next to the main road. I recall staying at a mate’s house on a balmy summer’s night and the last port of call was the pub’s large beer garden. Before we departed, I nipped to the loo, and much to my horror while I was in lavatory somebody had locked the door. Door banging and hollering ensued with visions forming of me camping down there for the night before thankfully after a tortuous five minutes the door was unlocked. I informed them politely (not!) that it might be beneficial in future to check the area before turning the key.
A return route past a Walkers brewery pub near the market, I cannot recall the name, took you to the hostelry which was opposite the station. This was known at one point as the Weird Arms and used to be a Burtonwood brewery establishment, so a pint of Top Hat was always the beer of choice before the train journey home.
I had not been out in Chorley for nigh on 20 years before we convened a lads Christmas gathering on 20/12/19. Understandably the place looked different with a suite of new ale bars near the station, one we visited was called the Gallery. As we were being served, there was a creak preceding the total collapse of the shelf behind the bar containing all the spirit bottles which landed in an almighty thud with splintered glass everywhere. We returned there again in Christmas 2021 where an errant child came perilously close to toppling a huge Christmas Tree, an accident book might be a worthy present next year!
Another venue near the station was Sam’s Bar where on the 2019 outing we encountered a terrific noisy energetic punk/new wave/ska covers band called The Stories. The band are Chorley residents so unsurprisingly they played in front of a large boisterous crowd.
You may justifiably ask why Chorley is classed under the banner of Preston venues, the answer would be that the town has a Preston postcode, so I am applying the same principle of Salford venues with Manchester postcodes.
Brought back some good memories. Here’s to our next visit to Chorley
My boyfriends first experience of Chorley was playing with his band Ward Corner back in the day! He was living in Warrington at the time.
Not sure if it was always called that but I think the pub near the market is the Prince of Wales. The white bull , the rose and crown and Chorley cricket club are also recommended 🍺