Image from c1900 provided by Red Rose Collections. Digital restoration and enhancement © Deeper Blue Marketing & Design Ltd 2026.
For centuries, the Plough Inn stood on Church Street in the heart of Poulton-le-Fylde, serving local residents, farmers, merchants and travellers visiting the town’s busy weekly markets. Occupying the site now home to Crave (renamed from The Pork Shop at 11 Church Street, it was one of Poulton’s earliest recorded public houses and formed part of the historic streetscape linking Market Place with St Chad’s Church.
Although the exact date of its establishment has not survived, the Plough is known to have existed by the eighteenth century, when Poulton had developed into the principal market town of the Fylde. Inns played a vital role in everyday life, providing accommodation, refreshments and meeting places for those arriving from surrounding villages to trade livestock, grain and produce. Situated only a short walk from the Market Place, the Plough was ideally placed to serve both local people and visitors.
By the nineteenth century, Church Street had become one of Poulton’s busiest commercial thoroughfares. The Plough stood among a mixture of shops, homes and other public houses that reflected the town’s growing prosperity. Historic photographs from around 1900 clearly show the inn standing beyond the neighbouring Bay Horse, confirming that it remained an established part of Church Street well into the twentieth century.
As Poulton modernised, the Plough eventually disappeared through redevelopment. While the exact date of its closure has yet to be established, the site entered a new commercial chapter as retail premises. For many years it became home to Long’s Booksellers, a much-loved independent bookshop remembered by generations of local residents. The shop became a familiar destination for books, stationery and educational supplies, ensuring that the building continued to play an important role in the daily life of the town long after the old inn had disappeared.
In 2001, the premises entered another chapter when the Gardner family opened The Pork Shop, which has since become one of Poulton’s best-known independent retailers. Although the building has changed dramatically over the centuries, it has continued to serve the people of Poulton through trade and commerce, maintaining a tradition that stretches back to the days when the Plough welcomed market traders and travellers.
Today, little remains to indicate that one of Poulton’s oldest inns once occupied the site. Yet the history of 11 Church Street reflects the changing character of Poulton itself—from a bustling market town with traditional coaching inns, to a thriving shopping centre with independent businesses. From the Plough Inn, through the years of Long’s Booksellers, to the present-day Pork Shop, the site has remained an enduring part of the commercial heart of Poulton-le-Fylde.
This wall painting of the pie as at the rear of the shop facing the Teanlowe Shopping Centre car park.
Images by © Deeper Blue Marketing & Design Ltd
