Chorley's Inns and Taverns: Longridge

Name: Forrest's Arms

Address: 2, Derby Road, Longridge

Rawcliffe's Forrest's Arms c.1890s (Facebook)

It appears the Forrest's Arms was built on Pitt Street (now Derby Road) in the 1850s and was almost certainly named after local landlord John Forrest who ran the Black Bull (now Corporation Arms) in the 1840s and later bought the Alston Arms in 1863. He lived at Elston Hall during this period but I suspect he was the first landlord/owner of the pub between these years and it has retained his name ever since.

1891 Map when Derby Road was known as Pitt Street

A total of twenty public houses and inns have been recorded for Longridge (Till 1993, 126). Of these the oldest are thought to be those around Market Place and the former Duke William, which was situated directly in front of the Church of St Lawrence. In order to get to the church tower the yard of the inn had to crossed, and it has been suggested that the former Duke William was eighteenth century in origin and there may have been an earlier inn on the site (Till and Till 1990, 7). The inn was relocated on the opposite side of the road on Fell Brow, and the eighteenth century building was eventually demolished in 1880 in order to extend the churchyard. The White Bull is another of Longridge’s oldest inns, dating to at least 1776, and it is where the Select Vestry of Dilworth met to discuss township matters (Till 1993, 120). The Towneley Arms on Berry Lane was built shortly after the advent of the Preston and Longridge Railway in 1840 and abutted the station building. Part of the canopy of the station still survives. Other public houses include the Quarryman’s Arms at Tootle Height, The Crown, The Spencer’s Arms, The Red Lion, The Dog Inn, The Swarbrick Arms, The Weaver’s Arms, The Wheatsheaf, The Mason’s Arms, The Old Oak, The Grey Horse, Stone Bridge Inn, The Bull and Royal, The Forrest’s Arms, The Durham Ox, The Black Bull and The White Lion. (excerpt from Longridge Historic Town Survey 2006).

Listed landlords at the pub were Richard Dilworth (1861-71), Isaac Wilkinson (1881), John Edmundson (1888-90), Richard Edmondson (1891), Edward Whiteside (1892-), Thomas Slater (1901), George William Swift (1911), Edward Eckton (1917-43), Mr C A Pickett (1959), and Alan & Christina Odix (2017).