Sad farewell as Lancashire riding school is forced to shut

Jane Ingham, 49, insisted she was “gutted” at having to close the facility off Chapel Lane, Longton after the landowner decided not to renew her lease.

All 17 horses and ponies at the Jane Ingham School of Equitation are being sold and nine members of staff will be laid off when the school shuts at the end of May.

Jane said: “The landowner wants to turn it back into a livery yard, which is what it was before. There’s no animosity, I completely understand. But I’m upset. Since I was given notice about four or five weeks ago, I’ve been looking high and low in the local area for suitable places to move to, but there are none.”

Jane, who lives in Chorley, has built her business up over the past 10 years and was based at Oakfield in 
Leyland before moving to Longton.

She added: “The school in Longton is such a lovely place for both kids and adults to learn how to ride. The kids are passionate about it and it gives them something active to do, especially during the holidays.

“It’s been nice to see the kids improve. Some of them become weekend workers and two of them have gone on to university to become vets.

“It’s taken a long time to build this up and and find suitable horses, but I’ve come to a dead-end. It’s the end of an era. The area is losing something very special.”