Oddfellows' Arms

Name: Oddfellows' Arms

Address: 42, Brooke Street, Chorley, Lancashire

Potters' Arms 2016

The Oddfellows' Arms is better known these days as the Potters' Arms and is located on Brooke Street next to the railway bridge.  

This whole area changed in the mid-1980's when much of Brooke Street and Lyons Lane were demolished to make way for the Chorley by-pass and a new supermarket (Morrison's) was also developed.  The picture below shows how the pub looked back in 1985 prior to the redevelopment.

Oddfellows' Arms c.1985

It is recorded as a licensed premises in Chorley from the 1880's with listed landlords being Thomas McLanefy (1881), Margaret Callaghan (1891), John Watley (1901), John William Nelson (1911-21), Job Johnson (1924), Richard Rhoden (1936-) and Stephen and Denise Potter (1989 -2024).

1881 Census

1891 Census

Lancashire Evening Post 08 September 1891

1901 Census

1911 Census

1921 Census John William Nelson

Lancashire Evening Post 15 July 1924

Lancashire Evening Post 20 December 1937

DAILY MAIL REPORTER  29 July 2011

Pub landlords Stephen and Denise Potter were stunned when they returned home from a Caribbean holiday to discover regulars had given the exterior a 'Mr Blobby' style makeover. The Potters Arms, on Brooke Street, Chorley, Lancashire, was an unremarkable magnolia, with brown window frames when they left for their break. However when they got back, it was to a pub which had had its entire front painted a garish purple, dotted with bright pink spots - giving it a look similar to that of the TV character catapulted to brief stardom by Noel Edmonds.

The colourful stunt was a good-natured practical joke by a group of regulars, who came up with the idea after a few drinks one night. They were aided and abetted by the couple's daughter Zoe, 27, who was running the local in their absence, and the whole job was done in a couple of hours.