Horse & Groom - Market Place

From 1828, William Oldershaw was licensee, and evidence from the 1841 census suggests that the pub was located on London Road. By 1851, when George Wildbore was landlord, the Horse and Groom was on High Street, in the building now housing the Red Lion. By 1876 Charles Newham was tenant and 'the Groom', as it was known locally, had moved onto the Market Place.

The Market Place: right to left; Horse and Groom, Wardle's grocery; Widdowson plumber and glazier.

Owen Widdowson was a popular landlord in the 1950s and during his tenure a myna bird, renowned for its bad language, was kept in a cage in the bar: Whenever a lady customer came in the bird was either covered over or banished to the living quarters. The pub ceased trading in the 1970s and the property became first a launderette, then a pet shop and by 1999 the offices of Excel Engineering Services.