Crumbling Preston pub set for new lease of life after standing empty for 5 years

An historic Preston pub could soon be brought back to life after standing empty and derelict for five years.
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The 200-year-old Shawes Arms in London Road has been bought by a local restaurant owner and is expected to be re-launched as an eatery.

The pub’s previous owner Nadeem Sadiq, who acquired the Shawes in 2015, told the Post: “I’m delighted that it has still got a future. It would have been terrible to see it disappear after being such a landmark for two centuries.

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“I have sold it to a lovely couple who already own a restaurant in Preston and I gather they plan to refurbish it and turn it into some sort of eatery overlooking the River Ribble.”

The Shawes Arms could be open again after five years.The Shawes Arms could be open again after five years.
The Shawes Arms could be open again after five years.

The Shawes, which dates back to at least 1824, was originally called the Black Horse Inn, standing on the Preston side of the Ribble Bridge.

It changed its name in 1843 and was a much-loved alehouse until trade dropped off and it closed its doors in 2014.

Mr Sadiq bought the building and its adjacent land the following year with the intention of finding a tenant to re-open it as a pub.

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“Unfortunately it has kept getting broken into and damaged and it has become derelict,” he said.

"I’ve had quite a bit of interest in it and a few people who wanted to knock it down and build there. But because of its history and its prime riverside spot I didn’t to see it go. It deserves to be brought back into use.”

Older drinkers might recall that when pubs in Preston and South Ribble had different opening hours, locals used to dash across the Ribble Bridge at night between the Bridge Inn and the Shawes Arms for an extra half hour’s drinking up time.