What happened to Preston’s Lovat Road after its BBC fame?

In 1993, five years after the Lovat Road series began, a Lancashire Post reporter returned to the street to see whether life had changed for its unlikely soap stars. Back in 1988, he had chatted to the local butcher and chip shop proprietor about their expected overnight fame. Keith Johnson writes.

Now the chip shop was closed and shuttered, while the butcher’s shop had disappeared without trace. At the hardware shop owned by Dave Wadeson, one of the stars of the series, the shelves stood empty.

Since filming, a one-way traffic system and a 20mph speed limit had been introduced. The street was much quieter and, according to Dave, it felt as though the heart had been taken out of the place.

Many shops had closed, with at least four converted into flats and bedsits. In only a few years, many of the familiar faces who had appeared behind the counters had moved on.

It was by no means a total collapse. The houses remained well maintained and the surviving shops were doing a decent trade, especially the Real Ale Shop and the Barrel of Laughs fancy dress emporium.

Good-natured Lyn Atherton, the street’s answer to Elsie Tanner, was still there, although she had sadly lost her disabled husband. There was no denying the street was changing, with neighbourly conversations becoming fewer and farther between.

She had a video recording of the series and often watched it, recalling those halcyon days. Would she have welcomed the cameras back? Of course she would.

The cameras did return more than 20 years after the original series, in 2009, when a sprightly and jaunty Allan Beswick presented a local news feature for BBC North West.

Residents recalled the community spirit, neighbourhood parties and cups of tea shared during chats with neighbours. They generally looked back fondly on days that seemed to have gone forever.

You could still buy real ale and fancy dress outfits, and even have your face painted, but the shops were now few and far between. The newsagent’s and general store had blacked-out windows, while a For Sale sign showed that it was open to offers.

There was also talk of the Lovat Road Hotel, which had once been at the centre of so much community activity. Since its closure in 2004, however, its future had remained uncertain.

The inn had stayed popular throughout the 1990s, hosting musical performances by the likes of Karen and the Sundowners, Begorrah, New Exiles and the Jolly Tinkers.

For more than 70 years, until 2005, it had also been the home venue of the Lovat Deepdale table tennis teams.

The trophy-winning Deepdale Lovat club included legendary international players such as Donald Parker, Steve Turner, Jill Parker, Joy Grundy and Jean Parker, helping to keep Preston on the sporting map.

In 1990, a Lancashire Evening Post headline declaring “No Stopping Lovat!” marked the club’s third successive victory in the Matthew Brown Darts League.

It reflected the community spirit of the area, with pub regulars holding quizzes, whist drives, bingo nights and raffles to raise money for good causes.

By 2000, the inn was part of Jennings Brothers plc and was advertising for new tenants at a time when student bedsits were available for £40 a week.

Curious to see what Lovat Road is like today, almost 40 years after its soap opera days, I felt compelled to return to the street and its 90 houses.

During the 1980s, I had often walked along Lovat Road on my way between my Deepdale home and the Goss printing works on Fylde Road.

The first thing I noticed was that the fine buildings erected for Moor Park Methodist Church and its school, which later became the fashionable Preston Antique Centre, are now home to Abrar Academy, where Islamic values are taught.

Across the street, the former chemist’s shop that served generations of poorly residents is now Sugarbudz, a dessert and drinks bar offering shakes and sweet treats designed to cure your ails.

On the sunny afternoon of my visit, all was quiet. There were no neighbours standing for a gossip on the doorstep and no music coming from the Lovat Road Hotel.

There was no clown emerging from the Barrel of Laughs, which is now Shampooch, a place to pamper pets. There was no hardware shop where you could have a key cut or buy a tin of boot polish.

There were no hot pies, cakes or loaves of bread for sale, no queue outside a fish and chip shop and nowhere to buy freshly cut flowers, as advertised on the surviving ghost sign outside No. 50, once Oldham’s grocery store.

I did notice that cats were still roaming the street, including one perched on a windowsill.

To buy my Lancashire Post, I had to venture into Charnock Street, but there was no free balloon with every purchase this time, unlike in the days of Croasdale’s.

A couple of years ago, Preston’s own former BBC radio presenter John Gillmore spoke to Lynn Eastham on his popular Parched Pea Podcast.

She recalled her days as a Lovat Road soap star and the time she spent running the Barrel of Laughs fancy dress shop. She was clearly pleased to have appeared in the series that brought the residents fame, even if it was fleeting.

That podcast, together with videos of Lovat Road on YouTube, helps to keep the memories alive for those of us who enjoy a journey into the past.

When Allan Beswick returned to Lovat Road in 2009, he suggested that he might come back again 20 years later.

That date is fast approaching, but the Lovat Road we once knew and loved has, just like Coronation Street, changed beyond recognition.