At the bottom end of Friargate lies the Lamb and Packet which has been in situ since the early 1800’s. I remember it having a main room and a very small vault before it morphed into a one room pub. It is a traditional Thwaites house and for 20 odd years I thought it was a fine boozer and I frequented regularly before it started to go downhill about 10 years ago.
It was not a pub that ever embraced any musical content apart from a jukebox in the corner. However, when a Half Man Half Biscuit gig was cancelled at 53 Degrees at short notice on 02/10/10 we wandered past the pub and there was a racket emanating from the establishment.
We wandered in and the place was packed and what I surmised to be a local band were on a makeshift stage on the small elevated area by the door. I think they were called Section 7 Spell 7 and they were highly energetic with a rather drunk crowd in attendance. I can only think the gig was a one-off event as I never heard of any other bands playing there. The last I heard was that the pub had now closed.
Nearby on Marsh Lane was the Fighting Cock pub (previously the Boatman Arms). I never saw a band, but I witnessed a local landmark sporting event there. In 1991 for their first time in their history PNE were chosen for a live game on Sky away at Mansfield in the FA Cup, our first national live TV game since the 1964 Cup Final.
The slightly wide boy landlord in residence at that point set up the function room for about 30 of us upstairs for the Saturday evening kick off. An exciting start had the game locked at 1-1 after 22 minutes before unprecedented fog caused an early postponement. Sky, to their credit honoured their arrangement and we all gathered again to watch the replayed game 11 days later. It was a double celebration as we won 1-0 with a last-minute John Thomas goal and I also had him in the sweepstake!
The pub closed its doors for the last time in 2004 and turned into student accommodation and then into the International Hotel.
Located a couple of hundred yards away on Heatley Street is the New Britannia. Before my time, there used to be an Old Britannia on Friargate but that was demolished in the mid 60’s to build the Ring Road.
I used to love the New Brit and had many lively nights in there, they had a lounge on the right and a games room on the left with a fine noisy jukebox in the middle. They had an arcade driving machine we used to play regularly, and they had some of the best beer in town with Castle Eden and my favourite Hartley’s on tap, the latter brewed in Ulverston at that stage.
We used to catch the 6.50 No 180 bus from Woodplumpton and land at the pub door for 7pm opening on a Friday. One night when I was about 18 my brother and I wanted to achieve a jolly status prior to a meet up with another group at 8pm. A personal best of 6 pints in 57 minutes were supped and a jolly status was summarily achieved!
There were very rare gigs there and I only attended one catching local band Mog Stanley on 04/02/12.
