Colne Road (Duke Bar)
Welcome to Duke Bar, a residential area centring on the main road between Burnley and Nelson,
Colne Road. While this isn't a great drinking area by any means, if you come to Burnley a lot, you might want to wander
up here once every so often. For an occasional visitor, I'd say there are more rewarding crawls in other parts of town.
However, if you're heading towards Briercliffe Road to visit the pubs up there, this is a
natural staging post on your way to / from the town centre.
The main interest in this area for the beer drinker lies in that fact that it is home to two pubs owned by the
local brewery, Moorhouses. Actually, that could be down to one
now, with the Dragoon, on Hebrew Road, just off Colne Road, rumoured to have been sold and facing
an uncertain future. You've still got the Wheatsheaf on Colne Road.
Other pubs round here are unappealing, with real ale at a premium. You'll find none in the Duke of
York, stuck in the wedge further up where Briercliffe Road meets Colne Road, or the Victoria,
a little before the Wheatsheaf coming from the centre. There are other pubs around here, but I'm not terribly
sure what's still open anymore. At least a couple I drunk in once upon a time many years ago have, I notice,
been boarded up when I've passed through. To be honest, this rather symbolises the air of decay that
hangs over the area, where there is obvious poverty and the buildings are often run down. This is where the worst
of the race rioting in the summer of 2001 took place.
If, instead of bearing right onto Briercliffe Road you fork left, you come to the Reedley Hallows
on Barden Lane.
Click here for
a map of Burnley centring on the area covered by this crawl.
The Dragoon
Hebrew Road
It was galling to find this place shut on a Saturday night visit to this part of town in August 2002.
This remains the only of the four Moorhouses
pubs in Burnley that I haven't visited, and perhaps the chance has gone now. I later learned it had been closed
for a while and had, I was told been sold. Whether it will remain as a pub and in what form we shall see.
Moorhouses Premier
of varying quality was available when it was open, I'm told. The other year one of my researchers dropped in and
commented, "It used to be the biggest dump
imaginable - the closest I've ever seen to being a slum.
Unfortunately, although it's still as rough as hell, they've
decorated the place. The Premier was slightly vinegary which was
unfortunate. What was more unfortunate was the satellite broadcast
of old pop tunes running on the big screen in the background - Steve
Harley (miming atrociously) followed by Kool and The Gang, I ask you!"
The Dragoon, 72-74 Hebrew Road, Burnley BB10 1NQ.
Tel 01282 422418.
Click here for a map.
Victoria
Colne Road
A Tetley's pub which has not had any of the real stuff on at any time I've passed by in the last ten years.
The Victoria, 84-86 Colne Road, Burnley BB10 1LW.
Tel 01282 456914.
Click here for a map.
Wheatsheaf
Colne Road
This is one of the two basic, local pubs in the area taken over by
Moorhouses some years ago. Like most Moorhouses pubs,
they don't take the brewery's full range, but you should be able to get a pint of Premier bitter. I had a surprisingly
good pint of Premier when I last called. in. The locals were not as unfriendly as anticipated (I was told you tended
to get stared at if you weren't a regular), and the pub was not as grubby as I remembered it being. All in all,
a positive experience, and I'd go back.
The Wheatsheaf, 112 Colne Road, Burnley BB10 1LP.
Tel 01282 421120.
Click here for a map.
Duke of York
Colne Road
This pub was gutted in the riots when it was set alight. It recently reopened after a full refit, but apparently it remains beer-free. I once got a telling off for blocking someone's view of the boxing in here. It must once have been a rather grand pub, and it remains a big, imposing building.
The Duke of York, 129 Colne Road, Burnley BB10 1DU.
Tel 01282 839016.
Click here for a map.
Reedley Hallows
Barden Lane
Long time since I've been in here, but it's long sold beer and I recall it being a friendly place. See Becko's bit for
more.
The Reedley Hallows, 305 Barden Lane, Burnley BB10 1JA.
Tel 01282 425210.
Click here for a
map.
Becko's Burnley boozer of the month, November 2002
Last updated November 2002
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