Plans are afoot for Blackburn’s Adelphi pub to re-open in July. The Railway Road establishment is under new management and is in the process of recruiting staff.
Though still owned by Admiral Taverns, the pub will be managed by Farnworth based Change Hospitality. They already manage three other pubs around the Bolton area, including the Market Inn, Farnworth, where this business is located.
Harrison Clayton is the owner of Change Hospitality and behind plans to re-open Blackburn’s Adelphi. I put together a few questions for him which have been raised by punters in Blackburn:
- Your Facebook page says the pub is under new ownership. But is it not owned by Admiral Taverns?
- Have you been inside the pub to have a look at it?
- Do you intend to refurbish this place?
- Have you studied local Facebook comments and looked into the past history of this pub?
- Do you intend to serve food?
- Will real ale be available?
Unfortunately there has been no reply forthcoming from Harrison yet. He is obviously a very busy man, running three pubs and his recruitment business, so his time is probably very limited. No doubt he will have business plans for the Adelphi and his other ventures look to be a good recommendation for what the Blackburn pub’s future could be. But he might find punters at this end of the A666 are going to be more sceptical than those at the other end of the Devil’s Highway. There seem to have been a lot of false dawns with Blackburn’s Adelphi pub. Many people remain convinced it cannot be turned around due to current economic conditions, people’s changing drinking habits and the Adelphi’s reputation.
Various attempts at making a success of the Adelphi have been tried over the years. Sadly, these have proved rather limited. This pub seems to have had a recent history of opening and closing as often as the lion’s eyes on nearby Morrison’s clock chimes. Sadly this clock’s jungle scenes have also been compared to life in the Adelphi. Yet it sits between our railway and bus stations, thousands of people pass this pub every day and a new football season will soon be here with plenty of thirsty fans landing in Blackburn town centre when Rovers are at home.
Hopefully the new regime in charge of the Adelphi can transform this pub into a thriving hostelry its position in the town centre should command. But they have one hell of a task on their hands.