Chorley's Inns and Taverns: Longridge

Name: The Crown Hotel

Address: Higher Road, Tootle Heights, Longridge

Beacon Villa previously the Crown Hotel c.1930/40s

The Preston and Longridge Railway Company was set up in 1836 to build a tramway from the newly opened Tootle Heights Quarry in Longridge to Preston. The 6½-mile (10½ km) single-track line was opened on 1 May 1840, with crude passenger facilities at Longridge, Grimsargh and Deepdale Street in Preston. Wagons were horse-drawn from Preston uphill to Longridge. Wagons ran by gravity in the opposite direction as far as Ribbleton, which was then a village just outside Preston. Horses were used for the final two miles (3 km) to Deepdale. Longridge ashlar sandstone was widely used in the region, for example in the building of Lancaster Town Hall, Bolton Town Hall, Preston railway station and Liverpool Docks.

1844 Map

The Crown was built c.1860s and listed landlords were Thomas Watson (-1867), William Sharples (1881), Thomas Mercer (1889-), William Shorrock (1900-) and John Walsh (1903-).

Preston Herald - Saturday 18 May 1867

Preston Herald - Saturday 11 July 1868

Preston Herald - Saturday 03 July 1869

1871 Census - Crown Inn Unoccupied

1881 Census William Sharples

Lancashire Evening Post - Wednesday 31 July 1889

1889-90 Poll Records - Thomas Mercer

Preston Herald - Saturday 07 June 1890

1891 Map

1891 Census - Thomas Mercer

Preston Herald - Saturday 14 November 1891

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 21 January 1893

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 09 September 1893

Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 22 December 1900

Lancashire Evening Post - Monday 14 January 1901

1901 Census - William Shorrock

Lancashire Evening Post - Friday 27 September 1901

Lancashire Evening Post - Thursday 04 June 1903

Lancashire Evening Post - Wednesday 29 July 1903

Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 02 June 1906

Preston Herald - Saturday 20 July 1907

Preston Herald - Wednesday 16 December 1908

Lancashire Evening Post - Thursday 23 July 1908

Lancashire Evening Post - Monday 18 July 1910

1910 Map

1911 Census - John Walsh

1911 Census Summary - Walsh

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Tuesday 30 May 1911

The above press article from 1911 signalled the end of the Crown Hotel's life as a licensed public house serving the community on Higher Road and the sad news also included several other of the smaller pubs in the region including the Dog Inn (Alston) and Queen's Arms and Dog & Partridge in Goosnargh.

The 1904 Licensing Act was to have a significant effect on the pub scene in rural Lancashire, reducing the number of licensed premises, in particular the beer houses over the next few decades. Supported by a surge in the Temperance movement the Act introduced a national scheme where Licensing Magistrates could refuse to renew a pub’s license if it was considered there were too many pubs in an area or they were not of sufficient quality.

The Great War also added weight to the argument for the sake of national security…

'Drink is doing more damage in the War than all the German submarines put together'
(Lloyd George speech 28 February 1915)

Compensation was paid both to the owner of the premises and the licensee, although typically only about 10% went to the licensee! In the first two decades of the 20th century hundreds of pubs were to close in Lancashire as a result of the new act.

By 1915 the Crown still served the public in the form of a café but was no longer licensed and had predominantly changed to residential use and was now called Beacon Villa.