Bamber Bridge - School Lane Hotel (Peter's Bar)

Name: School Lane Hotel

Address: 52, School Lane, Bamber Bridge

c.1903 The School Lane Hotel with a horse and cart delivery taking place outside

The School Lane Hotel was originally called Ashworth House and the residence of James & Mary Ashworth in the early 1800s who were grocers by trade. These days it is known as Peters Bar. Located on School Lane near the junction with Ashworth Street it has also been known as "Tommy Tucker's Bar" in the early 2000s and is located next door to the old School Lane Cooperative Society, now the home of two food outlets; Gusto Italian and Spice Fusion.

The name "Tommy Tucker's" came from a past landlord who was a professional boxer before taking his place behind the bar.

PRESTON CRASH

Former Bamber Bridge Boxer Thomas Fletcher (34), of the School Lane Hotel, Bamber Bridge who fought under the professional name of Tommy Tucker, was fined 10s. at Preston Borough Magistrates.

21 April 1937 - Lancashire Evening Post - Preston, Lancashire, England

Tom Tucker (Bamber Bridge) was a professional boxer who was active between 1918 and 1933 He boxed at light-heavyweight; heavyweight and took part in 98 professional contests. In the 1930s he hung up his gloves and turned professional wrestler before becoming a landlord.

Listed landlords at the School Lane Hotel were Jane Sparling (1881-93), Thomas Kirkham (1898-1901),Thomas Smith (1911), James Fowler (-1934), Thomas Fletcher (Tucker) (1934-56), Mark Seel Neville (2000) and Peter Mullen (-2020).

1881 Census

1891 Census

1893 Probate Record - Jane Sparling

Baptism: 10 Apr 1898 St Aidan, Bamber Bridge, Lancs.

Charlotte Ann Kirkham - [Child] of Thomas Kirkham & Mary Ellen

    Born: 8 Mar 1898

    Abode: Hotel, School Lane

    Occupation: Jacquard Setter

    Notes: [Out of date order]

    Baptised by: P. A. Lillie

    Register: Baptisms 1895 - 1913, Page 8, Entry 59

    Source: Original Register at Lancashire Archives

Whilst Thomas Kirkham was shown as living at School Lane Hotel in 1898 his occupation recorded as Jacquard Setter on the Baptismal record of his daughter Charlotte I suspect he was running the Inn at that time and certainly was by the time of the 1901 census below.

1901 Census

1909 Map

Photo courtesy of Gordon Small

1911 Census

Chairman, Councillor R. Evans, at Bamber Bridge, today, granting the transfer of the licence of the School Lane Hotel, Bamber Bridge, to Thomas Fletcher (Tom Tucker, the boxer) from James Fowler.

04 May 1934 - Lancashire Evening Post - Preston, Lancashire, England

Tommy Tucker's At St. Saviour’s Church. Bamber Bridge

Yesterday Thomas Fletcher R.N. son of Tommy Tucker, the boxer and and wrestler (Mr. Thomas Fletcher, of the School-lane Hotel. Bamber Bridge), was married to Miss Lena Parr, at Tardy Oats. The bridegroom has been in the Navy years.  

09 December 1944 - Lancashire Evening Post - Preston, Lancashire, England

Tommy Tucker, heavyweight boxer of the twenties and thirties Is recovering from bronchitis at the School Lane Hotel. Bamber Bridge, where he is the licensee.  

02 April 1957 - Lancashire Evening Post - Preston, Lancashire, England

Boxer Tommy Tucker (left) shaking hands with former LEP sportswriter JA Brierley, alias Perseus

26-year jail term from drug smuggling mastermind Mark Seel Neville, 43, formerly of Bamber Bridge, who has been jailed for 26 years 

A haulier who helped mastermind a “sophisticated” £14m cocaine smuggling operation – while on day release from prison – is today starting a 26-year jail term. The Evening Post can reveal Mark Seel Neville, 43, bought and ran Brig Bargain Centre – a second hand appliance business – as a cover for his activities while allowed out of Kirkham open prison, where he was serving an eight-year sentence for his involvement in Lancashire’s biggest ever heroin haul. The facade gave him access to warehouses and vehicles and a ready explanation for his phone use, dealings with others and his movements. An undercover probe found how, in a three-month conspiracy, Neville and others posed as fictitious military families who wanted furniture transported from Germany. Giving themselves the names of Sergeants Brodie and Bickerstaff, they used their intimate knowledge of the removal of soldiers’ belongings from Germany back to the UK to transport a dummy load of furniture to the continent, where they stashed cocaine inside furniture and imported it back to Britain via a legitimate firm. But on May 3, 2008, Cumbria Police seized 105 kg of cocaine, worth £14m, from two lorries at Harwich docks in Essex. Neville, the former landlord of the Tommy Tucker pub in Bamber Bridge, and seven co-defendants were tried at Manchester Crown Court, and were found guilty of conspiracy to import Class A and Class B drugs yesterday. Neville, whose address was given as HMP Kirkham, was found guilty of conspiracy to import Class A drugs and guilty of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs. He was sentenced to 26 years for conspiracy to import Class A drugs and four years for conspiracy to import Class B drugs, to run concurrently.

Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 13 November 2010 

Read more at: www.lep.co.uk

Ex-pro boxer's Bamber Bridge pub is counted out after more than a century pulling pints

A pub once run by a former heavyweight boxer seems destined for a new life as an apartment block.

By Brian Ellis

Thursday, 14th October 2021, 10:08 am Lancashire Post

The Peter's Bar, in School Lane, Bamber Bridge looks to have pulled its last pint after owners revealed it couldn't make ends meet.

The alehouse, previously known as Tommy Tucker's Bar after the boxer who used to be landlord, closed its doors to drinkers in summer 2020 and has fallen into a poor state of disrepair.

Plans have gone in for six apartments in the old pub.

Now a planning application has gone in to turn the three-storey Georgian building into six apartments.

The bar shut down after the untimely death of its popular landlord Peter Mullen in April last year. A report by an investment consultancy says the business is no longer viable as a pub.

Attempts to get a new tenant failed in December. It was then offered for sale at £195,000, but no-one came forward wanting to operate it as a pub.

The report by Manchester-based Jenics says: "We can demonstrate that Peter's Bar is not sustainable as a wet-led community public house. Over several years Peter's Bar has been unable to achieve sustainability."