Brought Back To Life
From the outside, you could easily walk past Plau and not give it a second glance, but once you’re inside it’s a different story, writes Tracy Hargreaves
I was lucky enough to be given a behind the scenes guided tour of Plau Gin & Beer House, soon to open on Friargate, Preston in November, by two of the co-founders of Meat & Drink.Org Jeremy Rowlands and Rebecca Scott, along with general manager Nick Elsby. I say lucky, as customers to the new venue will only see a glimpse of the hard work, commitment and dedication the Meat & Drink team have put in to transform this amazing building, with an incredible history, to what it is today.
Rebecca and Jeremy are no strangers to the pub trade, already owning two successful businesses, the Plungington Hotel and the Continental, both in Preston. They purchased the building back in 2015, along with their business partner Nicola Heritage, with a view to turning it into a gin and beer house and so, set about researching its history.
Jeremy says: “Our current building was constructed by John Chorley in around 1668 on the site of a previous unknown building. Over the years, there have been many changes to the building, but in principle, it is undoubtedly the same structure that John Chorley built 350 years ago.”
“The family were butchers by trade and we think The Plough Inn may have started life as a butcher’s shop and a home. Certainly, elements of the cellar, including the stone tables with drainage run off channels would suggest the cellar was used as an abattoir or meat hanging area.”
Unfortunately, it is unknown when the building was converted to The Plough Inn, but the first written records of its existence are when bribes were paid in the inn during the 1796 election to Lord Derby. During canvassing for the Preston election, agents of the successful candidate, the Earl of Derby, spent £187 bribing the locals in the Plough to vote for Derby. In those days that would have been a lot of money, which suggests the Plough was already doing well.
As I wander round, what seems like a rabbit warren opening out into several different rooms on different floors, a couple of which will be used as dining areas, I can only imagine what must have gone on here centuries ago.
Rebecca, whose background is in design, has been keen to keep as much of the character of the building as possible and so everything that has been used in the refurb is recycled and reclaimed to make it look and feel authentic. Old church pews, wood, brickwork, chandeliers and stained glass just being a few and the attention to detail has paid off. It is like stepping back in time. “I wanted to have the look and feel of the authentic Victorian era, by giving it a dark and curious feel,” said Rebecca.
The earliest reference to the current Plough Inn building is 1795. Its name was changed to the Hotel National in the 1890s and then finally closed as a pub in 1913. Since then a portion of the ground floor which fronts onto Friargate has been used as a shop.
During the renovations, more history was revealed. An historian found that the front of the cellar contained the remains of a small gin distillery. There is a mash pit for pulping the grain and horse-shoe shaped shelving, with water run offs, which held gin stills. Strange to think that 350 years on, Plau will once again be going back to its roots and selling gin. There are several references to the dram (gin) shop/spirit vault, which was found in the rear portion of the cellar. “This was bricked up,” says Rebecca. “So, we had to fully excavate it, as it had been infilled with around 50 tonnes of rubble.”
Clearance of the vaults and the repair of the brick floor led to the most amazing discovery in the building, a large stone well, which has been identified as dating back to the Medieval period. I carefully peer over the edge and look down and can just about see water at the bottom of the 40ft drop. In the first six feet, a large amount of pottery and artefacts were removed dating back to the 1850s. These have been cleaned and repaired and several items will be placed around Plau for customers to enjoy. Today the well has been completely cleared and customers will be able to look down by standing on reinforced glass.
“This has been our most ambitious and challenging project yet,” says Rebecca. “We certainly didn’t expect to find all this when we initially bought it, but it’s been extremely exciting. There has been something every day and from what we have found, we have let the building guide us through what we did with it. It’s been an amazing historical journey and we are proud to be opening the doors of the venue very soon. We hope that customers will enjoy finding out more about Plau on one of Preston’s oldest streets.”
Plau will open from 10am through to 12 midnight, 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and will serve craft and cask beers, gins, cocktails along with locally sourced, freshly prepared food throughout the day.
