Blackpool's "Four" Public Houses

The whereabouts of the Number 1 and the Number 2 public Houses has long been the subject of debate among local historians.  As two of the public houses in Blackpool are called the Number 3 and the Number 4, where were the Number 1 and Number 2?

About the only thing that has been agreed upon is that the Number 1 was on the Promenade – and that it was called the Lane Ends Hotel – built where the Clifton Arms now stands in 1779 (says who?). In view of this, it would be probable that the Number 2 was somewhere geographically between the Number 1 and the Number 3 at Devonshire Square.

An early candidate for the Number 2 was the now-vanished Albion Hotel, opposite the Lane Ends, but this was not built until 1828.

Many think that it was the now-vanished Adelphi Hotel, which was not built until 1835, and is now a Vision Express shop on Church Street.

Some believed that it was the Raikes Hotel (later the Grosvenor) on Church Street – not built until 1874.

Still others preferred the tale that it was the Saddle in Marton – the town’s oldest pub – already built, but not between the Number 1 and Number3.

Recently, the Gazette suggested that the Number 2 had been a beer house, located at a cottage numbered “2” in the small village of Layton Rakes, which was located between today’s Devonshire Square and Cookson Street. Hearsay has it that Thomas Bagot used to drink there from the 1840s.

The earliest mention of the existence of the Number 3 is in William Hutton’s description of Blackpool, published following a visit in 1788, and there was known to be an unnamed inn on the site in 1780.

The likelihood that the four numbered pubs were coaching inns is remote, as the early coaches came into Blackpool via Lytham and along the coast. It was not until the road was built from Ashton to Clifton and beyond in 1781, that they came via other routes. Only in 1816, did a service first enter the town via Whitegate Lane past the Saddle; even then, why have four pick-up points within 1 mile?

Therefore, it seems sensible to assume that the Number 2 would have been already around at that time, although the Number 4 was not built until 1890, before which it was known as the Eagle’s Nest.

If they were not coaching inns, the Gazette suggests that they may have been pick-up points for the wagons travelling from Blackpool to Poulton with passengers and supplies - in which case they would have been consecutively located on the route from Blackpool to Poulton. That route left the Promenade and went down Church Street, through Layton Rakes, before turning left in front of the Number 4 and passing through Great Layton (today’s Layton Road) before turning right at Hoo Hill Windmill and going on to Poulton.

So, if we assume that, based on building dates alone, the Lane Ends was the Number 1, and the Number 3 was always named as such, then the Number 2 would have been constructed sometime and somewhere between them, the Number 2 must have been built between 1779 and 1788.  The Albion, Adelphi and Raikes were all built too late – so nothing fits the bill!

Might I suggest that the Lane Ends was never called the Number 1, and that there was never a Number 2? The Number 3 could easily have been simply number three in a long-forgotten street in Layton Rakes village, and the Number 4 was so called in 1890, in order to continue a romantic possibility. That works for me until such time as proof appears to the contrary.