Four miles south-west of Preston lies the small village of Longton. It is an ancient place and during the Middle Ages was known as ‘a sort of Holy Land’ as a result of the monks from nearby Penwortham Priory tending the lands in the vicinity.
The Brickwork nature reserve and a little-known nuclear observation bunker are nearby to Longton and Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep was brought up in the neighbouring village of Walmer Bridge. Due to the proximity to the police HQ at Hutton, they once filmed an episode of Z Cars in the village in the 1960’s, the theme tune for which is still used as a pitch entry tune by Everton football club.
Driving in from Preston city centre down the A59 takes you past the infamous Koh I Noor Indian restaurant (now called Cumin) and the Anchor pub nearby. I have spent several Christmas days in this restaurant enjoying an alternate cheeky Jalfrezi Xmas lunch. The road then bends round a few curves to drop you into the main street of the village which contains the Rams Head, Black Bull, Golden Lion public houses and the most recent micro pub Wilkins and Pye. There is also the obligatory local Booths supermarket located there.
If you then spin off down the very thin tributary of Marsh Lane you reach the Dolphin, which is close to the River Ribble. As with many other pubs up and down the country it has an alternative name and is known locally as the Flying Fish. There is a function room attached where weddings can be held, and they serve humongous plates of food in the main room where we have partaken many family meals.
Back on the main drag you would also find the Longton Red Lion which is a grand old building and has been an active concern since the 1800’s. It stands as one of the first community-owner public houses in the country from when the co-operative bought the establishment from Whitbread’s brewery back in the 1980’s. There is a beer garden at the side, and they have live music on there every Friday and Saturday night. On one such weekend evening in 2006 I saw a noisy garage rock band called Landslide in the corner of the pub.
Across town resides the housing area of Walton Park which was built in the mid-1980’s and can be accessed from the town centre via London Road and the retail park or by walking across the old tram bridge at the foot of Avenham Park and following the track opposite for around a mile.
On New Year’s Eve 2013 we returned from a short city break in Glasgow which will be covered in a future blog. On arrival back into Preston, we immediately headed round to some friends who lived on the estate and wandered down to the local pub Preston Welcome Tavern, nearby on Hennel Lane, which in 2015 went through an extensive refurbishment and changed its name to Hunters.
It is a large pub with an extensive beer garden at the front and since the conversion to Hunters has concentrated more on the food side of the business. Somewhat worryingly alcohol is served from 10am most days, but I guess the old adage that it is always 5 o clock somewhere rings true!
Our drinking partners son Stephen is gradually ensconcing himself into the music world as a sound producer in Leeds. That night, some of his pals were playing an impromptu gig in the front room under the name of Black Stone.