Preston

Understand

thumb | 300px | Old Docks House Preston stands at a crossing point over the River Ribble on the main route up the west coast towards Scotland. The Ribble valley together with Yorkshire's River Aire creates the "Aire Gap" where the Pennines can be crossed at low altitude, so there was an east-west route also. "Preston" means "priest town": the church held extensive tracts of land hereabouts. The land near town is fertile and lowland, well-suited to dairy farming.

There is a plausible legend that William Shakespeare was in a theatre troupe that toured this area, brandishing their wooden swords at Hoghton Tower and Old Rufford Hall. Preston's position meant that several real armies marched through, and two battles were fought here. It has street names such as Fishergate and Friargate but was never a walled city, "gate" simply meant a street. It remained a small market town until the 19th century then grew rapidly with the cotton trade. That brought wealth to a few but when Karl Marx declared in 1854 that “Our St Petersburg is at Preston!” he wasn't paying a compliment to the civic architecture, but envisaging the mass uprising of the working classes. Yet Preston sucked in labour from Ireland and Glasgow, which had even worse working and living conditions, and as well as cotton it was a metal-bashing town. Leyland a few miles south turned the metal into buses and trucks, while aircraft were made at Wharton and Samlesbury. The town already had Preston North End as its football …

Get around

Stagecoach operate the out-of-town buses and Preston Bus operate routes in town.

Some you might use are 12, 43 and 100 between the bus and railway stations, and 19, 49 and 6 to Preston North End.

Taxi operators include All Preston Taxis (), Preston City Taxis (), Millers (), AAA (), and Eagle (). Uber also operate here.

Car hire is available from Enterprise, County Rental, Thrifty and several others.

See

thumb | 300px | Harris Museum The Cenotaph is centrepiece of Market Square west side of the Harris. A block north are the Market Halls. Preston Minster (aka St John the Evangelist) is central, on Church St. It's Anglican, a confident piece of Gothic completed in 1855. Winckley Square 200 yards east of the railway station is a rare survival in town of Georgian / Regency style. It was built in 1801 as upmarket townhouses but is nowadays mostly offices. The gardens are a public park. Avenham and Miller Parks south of Winckley Square are bosky green spaces where the river carves a natural amphitheatre. St Walburge is an RC church on Weston Street, half a mile north of the railway station, and you'll see its 309-ft (94-m) spire from afar. It was opened in 1854, a product of Catholic emancipation, textile wealth and Gothic Revival design. Its architect Joseph Hansom was the fellow who created the hansom cab. The church is now in the keeping of a traditionalist society who celebrate the Tridentine Mass - the 16th century Latin form, the better to keep Preston free of modern depravity. Walburga herself (710-777 AD) was a Wessex noblewoman who became a nun in Wimborne then abbess of a German monastery. PR1 Gallery is in the Victoria Building on the UCLAN campus. It has rotating exhibitions and is open weekdays, free. The Birley is an artists' studio with rotating exhibitions. It's on Birley St 100 yards north of the Harris. Wallace and Gromit pose in a scene from "The Wrong Tr…

Do

thumb | 300px | Preston Town Hall What's on? Read Lancashire Evening Post. Watch football at Moor Park is the mile-wide park west of the football stadium, with dozens of playing pitches. Rugby: Preston Grasshoppers play rugby union in the North Premier League, England's fifth tier. Their home ground is on Lightfoot Green Lane north edge of town. Rugby League isn't played hereabouts, head south for the likes of Wigan and St Helens. Theatre: The Playhouse is on Market St West. Preston Opera use various venues. Guildhall is a multi-purpose events venue 100 yards west of the bus station. The library is re-housed here until the Harris reopens. Blitz is a live music venue on Church Row 100 yards north of the Minster. Cinemas are the Odeon in dockland, and Vue on London Road just south of the river bridge. Uclan and Light independent cinemas in town centre remain closed in 2022. Lancaster Canal starts in Preston and winds its way north through Garstang, Lancaster and Carnforth then is curtailed by the M6 at Tewitfield. It has a good towpath and is navigable throughout. There are no locks, as it detours west to avoid Longridge and sweeps over the Lune Valley by an impressive Georgian aqueduct. There are spurs to the Ribble estuary at Lytham and to the Lune estuary at Glasson Dock, but no connection to the national canal network — goods were hauled across the Ribble valley at Preston by a horse-drawn tramway. The canal south of there has been lost under modern building excep…

Buy

St George's Centre is the largest and most central, occupying the block between Fishergate and Friargate. Fishergate Shopping Centre is further west down that street, next to the railway station. Miller Arcade is a Victorian arcade south side of the Harris. St John's Shopping Centre is west side of the bus station.

Eat

Local specialities include Lancashire cheese, Goosnargh cake and butter pie. This last was also known as Friday Pie or Catholic Pie, as it's made of potatoes, onions and butter and therefore free of meat. It's made and sold in many places, and in Wigan it serves as the vegetarian option in the World Pie-eating Championships. It was traditional half-time fare at Preston North End games, whereas other clubs' fans ate pork pies: in 2007 the supplier folded, and there was an outcry from PNE fans until a new supply was established. KFC arrived in Britain in 1965, a decade ahead of other chains, and their first branch on Fishergate is still in business (open daily 11AM-10PM). Its founder Harry Latham worked with the original Colonel Sanders in the US, and went on to direct KFC's UK expansion. Late at night after KFC and the pubs closed, the life-sized cut-outs of the Colonel were wont to appear at bus stops across town. Fishergate into Church St is the main strip, with Bistro Pierre, Kimji Korean, Florianas, Turtle Bay, Angelo's and East Z East. Friargate northwest has Fino Tapas, Azuma, Greekouzina, and Coco's Soul Food. Towards dockland are Taboosh, Umberto's and Maharani.

Drink

thumb | 300px | Rufford Old Hall "At Lancashire Pricks Trial, just past, a walnut from Bacup came last." "Twere a good 'un from Wigan, twere really a big 'un, but best 'un, from Preston, were vast." - Further evidence, as if any were needed, of Shakespeare's connection to this area

Fishergate into Church St has The Old Vic, Hartley's Wine Bar, Kuckoo, Winckley Street Ale House, Niko, All Hopes No Promises, Wings & Beer, Wellington Inn, Detroit Preston, Strato's, Yates, Baluga Bar, Hogarth's, Twelve Tellers (below), Barney's and The Blue Bell. Lancaster Rd north past the Harris has Stanley Arms (below), Smashed, Review, Guild Ale House, Golden Cross and Black-a-Moor Head. Friargate northeast has Black Horse (below), Old Black Bull, The Grey Friar, Dog & Partridge, Plau Gin & Beer House and Roper Hall. Towards dockland are The Wellington and The Ribble Pilot, below. Breweries are Priest Town Brewing in Ribbleton, and Budweiser at Samlesbury. Distilleries, mostly producing gin, are Fairham Gin in the western suburb of Penwortham, Brindle towards Chorley, Stable Yard towards Kirkham, Ribble Valley at Longridge, and Goosnargh Gin and Wild Fox both in Goosnargh. Water in Preston is soft and pure from upland sources - suitable for cotton processing, whereas hard Yorkshire water will do for wool but not cotton. So raise a glass of it to Joseph Livesey (1794-1884), cheesemonger, publisher, social reformer and founder in 1833 of the Temperance movement in Britain. They advocated …

Sleep

thumb | 300px | Banned by the FA: Dick Kerr Ladies in 1923

Stay safe

thumb | 300px | Beacon Fell Preston is relatively safe, just apply the usual care with traffic, safeguarding valuables, and avoiding anti-social drunks.

Call the police on 101 for non-emergencies. The emergency number for all services is 999 or 112.

The nearest Accident & Emergency Dept is at the Royal Preston Hospital on Sharoe Green Lane Fulwood, three miles north of town centre.

Connect

As of April 2022, Preston has 5G from EE and Three, and 4G from O2 and Vodafone. Wifi is widely available in public places.