Category: Pubs, Clubs & Beer

Blackburn’s former Grapes pub looks like it could be available as a pub again, following the end of Liz ‘n’ Lil’s café.

Re-opening as a pub is just one of many options for this former Thwaites house, where Northgate meets King William Street and Sudell Cross

This was one pub I never really took to.  As a teenager going in here, what used to put me off this place was the number of police officers who used to frequent this establishment.  They were easy to spot, coming in the pub in their blue shirts, darker blue ties and regulation footwear.  Being coppers, they were usually big blokes and they watched everybody like hawks.  After all, coppers are never off-duty, like some of the characters they had their eyes on.  This was enough to put off any teenager in the 1970s, gaining this pub its nickname the Sour Grapes.

For some reason police officers seemed to stop going in the Grapes in the 1980s.  No doubt this went down very well with many young people and most of the criminal fraternity.  But on the other side of the coin, the pub seemed to become very seedy, gradually deteriorating as time moved on.  Eventually it closed down and became Liz ‘n’ Lil’s.  Now this latest chapter in its history is also coming to an end.

Unfortunately this building is still owned by Thwaites.  It does not inspire many of Blackburn’s pub-going community to expect the Grapes to become a public house again.  A lot of drinkers say Thwaites have done for Blackburn’s nightlife what Venky’s have done for Rovers.

But our former town centre brewery is open to offers and the Grapes becoming a pub again is not out of the question.  Perhaps Daniel Thwaites’ Scottish owners may even be rethinking their practice of sticking restrictive covenants on some of their licensed premises.  This has been very anti-competitive over the years, depriving many of us of our locals and favourite watering holes, while the brewery seems to be less interested in brewing beer and more interested in estate management and trying to conjure up phoenixes from burnt down buildings. 

But we have proved in Blackburn we don’t need Thwaites anymore.  Microbrewers are the future of brewing.  Though at the same time, it would be nice to see some of our old pubs return.  Wouldn’t it be great if we were able to go for a pint in the Grapes as a pub again?  If this could happen; how about the Borough next?

Blackburn town centre has another new pub.  Andy and Karen Joss have opened up the Rock Box on King William Street.

Andy’s first foray into the pub trade was nearly a decade ago.  His local, the Lion Hotel on Wensley Road, found itself without a landlord.  No temporary manager was available at that time, so he stepped into the breach and kept his local open until a new licensee was found.  Andy subsequently had spells running the Stop and Rest up Brandy House Brow and the Moorgate Arms on Livesey Branch Road.

This micro pub used to be cocktail bar, Tiki Monkey, conveniently located straight across from our old town hall and next door to the Drummer’s Arms.  It is a cosy setting with dimmed light and intimate without being claustrophobic.  This helps create a perfect atmosphere for watching classic rock and blues music on their big screens.  Real ale is also on sale in the Rock Box.  Their opening cask was appropriately Blackburn’s own Three B’s beer and they had two of this local brewery’s ales available when the pub made its debut in early December.  Other local real ales are also regularly on sale.

Andy says he wants to help improve Blackburn’s town centre pub culture.  The Napier has proved there is a demand for rock music in town.  This pub mainly attracts a younger clientele, whereas Andy saw a niche market and his pub focusses on Classic Rock and Blues.  Andy enjoys working in the pub trade and hopes to carry on this for as long as he can.  He would also like to register his appreciation of the help and support he has received from next door neighbours James and Katy Quayle in the Drummer’s Arms and the team from Shh Bar on Northgate.

The Rock Box is another piece in a jigsaw expanding the north side of Blackburn town centre’s pub availability.  Its opening is a very welcome addition to this area, giving even more choice for punters.  Interestingly, apart from Livesey Branch Road, King William Street is now the only road in Blackburn where three seven day a week pubs can be found open. 

Andy and Karen have put a lot of time, effort and their own money into opening the Rock Box.  Let’s hope this good work continues and it leads to even more pubs opening up in our town centre in the future.

One of  Blackburn town centre’s most popular pubs was the Borough on Exchange Street, beside the old town hall.  It was often frequented by councillors and even had its own scaly reptile – an iguana.

This pub was known for having the smartest toilets in our town centre, a bit like walking into the hall of mirrors.  Unfortunately it also had its ups and downs over the years, leading to its inevitable closure.

Meanwhile one of the Vietnamese boat people ended up in Blackburn and saw an opportunity to make some dodgy money.  Ho Chi Kokee (not her real name) turned the pub into a restaurant called Saigon Buffet.  Their slogan in here was:  ‘You love Rovers, now you have chance to eat them’.

In Vietnam they joke about eating anything with four legs, apart from their tables and chairs.  This wasn’t the case in Saigon Buffet.  In here nobody seemed to eat anything as you could never find a soul in the restaurant.  One joke about this place at the time was its staff were former Vietcong guerrillas secretly hiding in tunnels when the restaurant was open.

In reality it was a den of criminality, hosting such activities as human trafficking.  This all came to an end in 2017 when over a dozen police and immigration officers raided the place.  A 43 year old woman was arrested on suspicion of modern slavery offences.

Since then these premises seem to have carried on where they left off and once again, nothing seems to be going on.  This is a big shame because it is a really nice building in a prime location, right in the centre of Blackburn and contrasts differently to this side of our town centre which has made great strides in rejuvenating itself.

We have seen the re-opening of Blackburn’s rock pub, Sir Charles Napier and former Molloy’s, now renamed the Squire pub.  There is the nearby Drummer’s Arms continuing its refreshing impact on our pub scene and we now have another new addition to our nightlife in the recently opened Electric Church on Northgate.

Vietnam was known for being part of the oriental golden triangle.  But perhaps Blackburn town centre could have its own pub golden triangle.  This would be bounded by Sudell Cross, Richmond Terrace, Exchange Street and King William Street.

So it’s One, Two, Three, Four, what are we waiting for?  Yes we give a damn, the Borough’s in Blackburn, not Vietnam.

Blackburn’s Postal Order pub is turning its top floors into hotel rooms.  This sounds like a really good move.  Here are some of the characters who might be staying there when it opens.

Builders:

There always seems to be building work going on in Blackburn town centre.  These are the people who will really appreciate stopping in the Posty.  They will be there until last orders and first up next morning for their breakfast.  They are amongst the best behaved guests too.  It will be strictly tea or coffee for them, to wash down their gigantic breckies.

Sales Reps:

These are the kind of guests every hotel wants.  Flash cars, sharp suits and expense accounts.  They have deep pockets and are looking for deep cleavage.  The bar staff will have really good stories to tell about some of these characters.

Football Fans:

With Rovers back in the Championship, lots of football fans will be checking into the Posty before, during and after match days.  This means boozing until last orders in this place and then maybe out for a few more elsewhere.  Liquid breckies could be the order of the day next morning.  Let’s hope the only tops which are asked to be removed are from the bottles.

The Lovers:

Many blind dates and extra-curricular liaisons already take place in the Posty.  And with it having brand new bedrooms, nature is bound to take its course.  And like this building’s previous use, so it did for Fred and Doris.  She definitely found something in his sack and a late rising followed.  It wasn’t a cup of coffee for these two next morning.  They had something to celebrate – with British sparkling wine of course.

Left Handed People:

A pioneering experiment to help left-handed people become part of mainstream society is to be tried out in the Postal Order.  Wetherspoons want to reassure customers there is nothing sinister going on and intend to keep things even handed.  Punters may notice new left-handed coin slots on the gaming machines and two handles on the barrel glasses.  Apart from this, everything should be all right.

Rock Bands:

No doubt the Posty management will have been warned about taking in rock bands as guests.  If a television suddenly comes crashing down on Darwen Street, you’ll know they haven’t done their homework.  Those days seem to have long gone, when chemically debauched rock stars like Keith Moon and Keith Richards used to trash their hotel rooms.  Nowadays we have clean living manufactured groups who are tucked up in bed for 10.00pm.

Turning the top floors of the Postal Order into a hotel sounds like a really good idea.  What could be better for business than a captive audience?  This new hotel should give us something to celebrate in Blackburn – as long as it’s not with Champagne!

Blackburn town centre brewery, Daniel Thwaites, was invaded by travellers over the Spring Bank holiday weekend.

Several parched itinerants, on their way to Appleby for the annual horse fair, said they were desperate for a pint of Original Bitter.  But they couldn’t find a pub in Blackburn town centre which sold it.

They thought it would be a good idea to start searching for nearby pubs around the brewery itself, so decided to park their caravans, cars and other vehicles on Thwaites’ car park.  Their first choice at looking for a pint was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for obvious reasons, but they found it wasn’t being used as a pub any more.  Their luck was tried around the other side of the brewery, at the Veteran, but this pub had been closed down too.

Things were starting to get desperate when they next found the Fleece Inn boarded up.  And the last straw, which broke the Shire horse’s back, was finding out Daniel’s was now a training centre.  Out of sheer desperation the travellers decided to invade Star Brewery and try and get in touch with a bloke called Crafty Dan, whose name they liked and they had heard was based somewhere inside.

But it wasn’t to be for these travellers this bank holiday weekend.  Crafty Dan was nowhere to be found and neither were the famous dray horses, who they had also wanted to meet – with their jam jars at the ready.  After all, they were on their way to a horse fair and it wasn’t just the system they wanted to milk.

And so these travellers had to settle for a night in their caravans watching telly, having to settle for cocoa and Horlicks.  They proved they couldn’t manage to organise their own piss-up in this brewery.  These unhappy wanderers were told Thwaites do still have outlets in Blackburn town centre and they could get a pint of Original in the Sun.  But they declined this offer, saying they had heard this pub might be a bit too rough for them.

Thwaites, quite rightly, are angry about what happened to their brewery over the bank holiday weekend.  Taking away people’s jobs and livelihoods is very unfair and drinkers should be given the opportunity to enjoy beer in their local pub.

On the bright side, at least we now know not all of Thwaites’ licenced premises have a restrictive covenant in place.

Blackburn town centre has a new nightclub.  Switch is its name and it could be one of the final pieces in this jigsaw of improvements to our town centre’s pub and club scene.

I first went in an earlier incarnation of this club as a 16 year old. It was known as the Mecca and was the venue for my student freshman’s ball. Most 16 year olds looked older back in those 1970’s days.  But not me, I looked like a street urchin out of Oliver Twist.  Amazingly, I still managed to get served that night. Those three pints of bitter finished me off.  Fortunately my sobriety had recovered enough by the time I got home, enabling me to sneak off to bed without disturbing my parents.

At the time, Blackburn’s Mecca, or to call it by its proper name, the Golden Palms, was one of a number of town centre nightclubs we had available when I first called in.  This building was built in 1909 and started out as stables for the Old Bull pub.  Its use changed to a skating rink a couple of years later.  It then became the Olympia Theatre for ten years, before being converted to a cinema, though still keeping its Olympia name.  This closed down in 1957.  Mecca then bought it two years later to turn it into a dance hall and it became the Locarno Ballroom.

Many of us will have stories to tell about the Mecca under its various different guises.  But now we have a brand new nightclub known as Switch.  It has all of today’s latest technology on offer and should help fill a generation gap which has emerged in Blackburn town centre over these last few years.  Daytime drinking seems to have become the norm down town, but there looks to be a demand out there from younger people who want to have a good time at night.

Security is a big issue with nightclubs and Switch is determined it won’t become a 3D nightclub.  It has put measures in place to prevent Drugs, Drunkenness and Disorder taking place.  Over the years this place, like our town centre, has had its ups and downs, but always seems to come back again.  Hopefully this tenacity can bring it success and reflect the good work going on in Blackburn town centre and its continuing pub, club and nightlife rejuvenation.

Blackburn’s former Jubilee pub has now re-opened as the Lemon Tree.

On April Fool’s Day last year, I asked the question:  What next for Blackburn’s Jubilee Pub?  This followed its recent closure at the time.  Sadly for this pub, not only had it been dying a slow death commercially, structural damage was also blighting the building.  So things looked bleak and there seemed little possibility of it ever opening as a pub again in the present difficult economic climate.

But this is Blackburn and things are happening.  They are certainly happening on Blakey Moor and an opportunity arose to do something with the Jubilee.  This is where James and Katy Quayle stepped in.  With their other pub, the Drummer’s Arms, they have turned a derelict jeweller’s into Blackburn town centre’s jewel in the crown.  What was stopping them doing something similar with the Jubilee?

A decision was taken to rename the pub.  This was down to its intention to sell food and attract students from nearby Blackburn College and its University Centre.  Their next job was to sort out building problems and refit and decorate the pub throughout.  This included providing catering facilities and turning the Lemon Tree into one of only a handful of Blackburn’s town centre pubs to have food available.

The Lemon Tree opened its doors in December and looks very nice and clean and bright.  My only worry was being shocked by these old school desks which act as tables.  They brought back nightmare memories of my own school days, back in the 1970’s.  I sat at one which looked like my old school desk, but fortunately it was empty when opened.  There was no sign of my catapult or pea-shooter inside.  Neither was there any sign of the material we used to read under our bedsheets with a torch while listening to the wandering wavelength of Radio Luxembourg.

Another worry which also turned out to be a red herring was the price of real ale in the pub.  Rumours about its cask beer being too expensively priced have proved to be totally unfounded.  It costs the same for real ale in the Lemon Tree as it does in the Drummer’s Arms.

And so another pub re-opens in Blackburn town centre, continuing the good work being done by a lot of people and organisations.  This pub might be aimed at students, but it’s looking like it’s going to be a class act for the rest of us to follow.

Blackburn town centre’s nightlife is starting to go places.  Hopefully it will bring people here from other places.  But this hasn’t been an overnight improvement.  Various factors have led to this resurgence in its fortunes.

A low water mark had been reached just over a year ago and there was talk at the time of even more pub closures.  Fortunately we were saved from boring nights in front of the telly or expensive trips out of town by things starting to happen in our own town centre.

The turning point seemed to be when two major events happened in 2016.  These proved to be a catalyst for starting the ball rolling in this resurgence of Blackburn’s town centre pub scene.  Yet both were so very different in how things panned out.

Thwaites’ decision to close their Sir Charles Napier pub angered many regulars of Blackburn’s only rock pub.  They were determined this pub wasn’t going to die and a spirited campaign was organised.  This gained support from Judas Priest lead singer, Rob Halford, and rock concerts with groups giving their services for free.  There were also those tee shirts and the Napier being awarded an asset of community value.

A year-long struggle eventually led to a famous victory for this gallant band of Napier regulars.  And it also put across the message that things can be done if enough people are prepared to try.  Almost a prophetic overture to what was going to happen in the rest of our town centre.

Around the same time as the Napier came back from the dead, a brand new pub was born.  The Drummer’s Arms was a result of James and Katy Quayle noticing a demand for real ale in Blackburn while working during events in the museum and at the Bureau of Blackburn.  The Drummer’s Arms opened and was joined by its nextdoor neighbour, Tiki Monkey, which is bringing a taste of Hawaii to our town centre.

Another major player in this town centre revival came back from temporary closure.  The Adelphi reopened after various issues were resolved by its management.  It has gone on to re-establish itself as one of the town centre’s well known hostelries.  Things have been helped in its location by all these new developments on the former Boulevard site and an emergence of a new Cathedral Quarter.  This has attracted new high quality restaurants to the area, something which Blackburn needed badly.

Since these exciting new developments, Blackburn’s town centre boozer bandwagon has kept on rolling.  New pubs have opened, including the Bees Knees and Shh! Bar.  There is also another reopening in the pipeline with Blakey Moor’s Jubilee becoming the Lemon Tree.  Plus, The Squire, which was formerly Molloy’s, has been secured.  If this had closed down, it would have been a crucial loss to Blackburn town centre’s pub scene.

What has also been crucial in helping bring about this revival of Blackburn’s town centre pub scene and nightlife are those people who decided to do something about changing things for the better.  These have included Richey Pull and his ‘Closed Pubs of Blackburn’ Facebook page.  Alex Martindale and his tenacity in the Save the Napier campaign.  The Quayle family for opening the Drummer’s Arms and soon to be Lemon Tree.  And of course, Blackburn Nightlife Project for never giving up on our town centre and helping to promote all the new developments.

Things have not been entirely plain sailing.  We have still had some pub closures, just like everywhere else across the country.  But it’s been a case of two steps forward and one step back in Blackburn.  In these difficult economic times, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Blackburn town centre’s latest addition to its pub scene, the Bees Knees, opened up in the old TSB Bank, in November.

The building, on Lord Street West, first opened as a bank in 1863, costing £1834.15s.  There was a cotton famine going on at the time, due to it being during the height of the American Civil War.  This meant many Blackburn people were feeling the effects of unemployment and poverty.  So no grand opening of this new building took place at the time.

Over 150 years later it wasn’t a grand opening for the Bees Knees either.  This was down to decorations running late and paintwork still being wet.  So a decision was correctly taken by management of the pub to postpone its opening Friday night until next day.  I managed to get in the pub a day later, early on Sunday dinnertime.  As the pub’s name suggests, it was a hive of activity, with lots of punters calling in to check the new pub out.

My only problem was wearing a pair of suede boots with crepe soles.  This led to my feet sticking to their polished floor while walking to the bar.  Other people made similar squelching sounds, so a mop and bucket was found and this sorted things out.

No doubt, like me, those punters would have liked what they saw.  The pub is big and roomy, with lots of seats and tables.  It reminded me a bit of Blackburn’s former Blob Shop on Church Street.  For the real ale fans there were three cask beers on sale.  Much to my surprise was their reasonableness of price, with real ale around £2 a pint.  Plus, they gave me a reward card which would bring another pint my way once it was filled.

This pub looks like it is aimed at all ages.  Their WIFI works very well and so do the vast array of TV screens throughout the pub.  There is also a varied collection of lighting and sound equipment which gives the place a nightclub effect.  This should bring plenty of young people in.  Whereas the decent beer prices should attract a good afternoon and early evening trade from the middle aged and older clientele.

Hopefully the Bees Knees will help boost this growing revival of Blackburn’s town centre pub scene.  Apart from the opening night, things are looking good in here and going to plan.

Blackburn’s Molloy’s pub has been put up for sale.  But despite not meeting its reserve price at auction in July, it’s still business as usual for the popular hostelry on King William Street.

Molloy’s has had a positive impact on Blackburn’s pub scene, despite it being one of our town centre’s ‘newer’ pubs.  It was well-known book shop, Seed & Gabbutt’s, for many years, until bought by Irish themed pubs group, O’Neill’s.  Duplicates of O’Neill’s familiar blue and yellow liveried pubs suddenly started springing up across Britain in the 1980’s and Blackburn was included.

Sadly for local CAMRA members, O’Neill’s was a real ale desert.  This reflected the Emerald Isle at the time, where cask beer was also very difficult to find.  But like Ireland and its own microbrewery revolution, that all changed when it became Molloy’s.  Despite its Irish name, this theme bar culture was gradually squeezed out and it became a proper pub.  No more trying to figure out what Fir and Mna meant on the toilet doors.

Molly’s soon became a mainstay of our town centre real ale scene and carried on flying the flag while other pubs either shut down or stopped selling cask beer.  This pub is now established as one of the best in Blackburn.  It is one of three, including the Napier and Postal Order, which serves food, along with real ale in the town centre, and has a good mix of young and old punters in during the day and at night.

‘Molly’s’ owner, Stonegate Pub Company, part of the Cayman Islands incorporated TDR Capital group, are also selling off many of their other interests.  They are Britain’s fourth largest managed pub chain and currently own nearly 700 outlets, including Yates, Walkabout and the Slug and Lettuce restaurants.  It would appear the latter may be where Stonegate may have their main focus, leading to them possibly wishing to offload some of their pubs to release funds for further investment in their prime interests.

Unfortunately Stonegate’s pub downsizing plans has had a negative effect on business, certainly at local level.  Many punters think Molly’s has either shut down already, or will be doing so in the very near future.  This is certainly not the case and the best way of ensuring the future of this popular friendly pub is to carry on supporting it and keep the momentum going in the rebirth of Blackburn’s pub scene.