The Preston Film Archive is the companion site to the Preston Digital Archive hosted by Flickr. This channel displays vintage moving images that feature the town (now a city) of Preston Lancashire, England. To view the vintage still image collection please visit the Preston Digital Archive at www.flickr.com/photos/rpsmithbarney/
If you have films or videos that show past activity in Preston and that you would like to contribute to the P.F.A. please contact us at prestondigitalarchive@hotmail.com
This is incredible. My family have lived in Preston for a long time, over 300 years at-least. At this time in Preston history, my great-grandfather’s probably drank at this pub haha. Nice look at a near past.
My first Job aged all of 15 was a Galley Boy on T.F.S. M.V. DORIC FERRY, on the Felixtowe - Europoort - Zeebrugge Run. It certainly set Me up for an interesting Life and while it had its challenges I loved every minute. They were grand Ships and 'Europic' then the Flagship even served in the Falklands !
Thanks for this history lesson. I've only lived in Preston for nearly 3 years and always thought that the now pub looked unoriginal with its odd shaped walls from the back.
The Public Hall was demolished in 1986, not 1999 as the video title suggests, leaving only the front elevation of which is now a pub and has been for some years. The organ was dismantled by Nicholson's and put into storage and has since been used, albeit not in its entirety, in a new organ in Edinburgh.
This footage is just gold dust. It is so nice to hear proper Lancashire accents and to be able to see how things used to be, such great community spirit and everyone wearing a smile. The Landlord is a star! It makes me feel homesick and wistful for the good old days. Thank you for sharing. ☺️
I sang with several school choirs + full symphony orchestra about 1958 at the public Hall. I also watched the Beatles on their first UK tour. Learnt to swim at Saul st Baths. Ah, old memories.
The Public Hall had a superb giant of an organ, donated by a Preston businessman. Alas, it was not maintained and allowed to become derelict and unplayable. I worked for over 12 years in the building that stood on the site of Saul Street Baths. I remember the baths used to have a floor covering the main plunge in winter and concerts would be held.
Just think the baby is about 34 years old now... What a wonderful video & hard to imagine the new modern Docklands was once so barren... A windy dreary & somewhat miserable image but in a funny way it is so amazingly nostalgically beautiful.
Look at those thick layers of clothing. Not much heat in the place, I imagine. If they had served suchi back then, they wouldn't have needed a fridge for storage! :)
Into store in Halifax for many years and suffered damage there I believe. It is now a major component of a new organ built in Edinburgh Catholic cathedral. It has lost its integrity being merely source material for something else but at least it didn't go for scrap.
The beginning where jack tells how he loaded china clay into the hopper at the top of the clay sheds brings back memories, as kids we used to play in the china clay sheds, under the hopper were railway type wagons running on rails which accepted the clay and would then be pushed along the rails to different bays, they would then open the bottom and the clay would empty out into the bay, we were playing in there one sunday afternoon and i was hanging and dropping from the rails into the piles of clay below, i happened to hang over a bay which was empty so it was too high to drop, i began to handwalk along the tracks when my mate pushed a wagon along the tracks and it ran over my fingers on both hands, it must have weighed at least half a ton, my fingers were flattened.
Don't suppose you have any clips of Brook st in Preston pre demolition do you? Please. My childhood was spent playing on the wreck playing field at the back of my grandmothers house, Oh happy days.
