Longridge - Grey Horse

Name: The Grey Horse

Address: Newtown (Preston Road), Alston, Longridge

Old Postcard of New Town, Longridge

The Grey Horse was a beer house located in the middle of the row of eleven cottages that were part of New Town (now Preston Road) just to the north of the Old Oak Inn.

By 1835, building of the cottages was substantially complete. The Trust sold the plot of land on the corner of the “High road to Chipping” and the “High road to Longridge” to John Clayton of Preston, who built The Old Oak Inn, stabling and a brewhouse there. On the 1847 OS map, a bowling green is shown between the Inn and the cottages of Newtown. (from Longridge Past & Present).

1845 Map

On the census enumerator's route the Grey Horse was the eighth or ninth property along from the Old Oak and as such would have been at or around what is now no.83 Preston Road.

Listed landlords were John Lawrenson (-1870), John Fox Keighley (1870-1881), George Petty (1891-1901) and John Higgins (-1906).

1892 Map

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 10 September 1870

1871 Census John Fox Keighley

1910 25 inch Map

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 11 November 1871

1881 Census John Fox Keighley

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 06 September 1884

Preston Herald - Wednesday 30 May 1888

It was often the case that beer houses such this one were bought by local breweries and became "tied-houses" and the owners in 1889 were John Tillotson & Son, Duck/Waterloo Brewery, Waterloo Street, Clitheroe, Lancashire.

Preston Herald - Wednesday 18 September 1889

The above press cutting appears to have followed John Fox Keighley's departure from the beer house, moving his family down the road to run the Old Oak Inn.

1891 Census George Petty

1901 Census George Petty

The following press cuttings herald the end of the line for the Grey Horse beer house having been referred for compensation and closure following the refusal of the licence earlier in 1906, changes brought about by the 1904 Licensing Act, which reduced 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 licence if it was considered there were too many pubs in an area or they were not of sufficient quality.

Lancashire Evening Post - Monday 05 March 1906

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Tuesday 06 March 1906

Lancashire Evening Post - Friday 24 August 1906

Following closure, the stone carving of a horse, once the pub sign of the Grey Horse was sold to Joseph Fletcher the landlord of the Swarbrick's Arms in town who placed it above an entrance door to the Palace Theatre where it remains to this day.

1910 Map