This pub was taken over by the Town Hall, (next door) and used for Food
Relief Offices in the First World War. Afterwards, they leased the
premises to Matthew Brown and Co. Ltd., until 1956, when the lease
ended. Originally it was a Managed House, but after 1946, became a
tenancy. The pub, in 1956, was in a very bad state of repair and after
renovation, the Council installed Housing Department there, until the new
Town Hall Extension was completed in 1983.
The Council then leased the pub to Tommy Ball, a well loved local shoe
entrepreneur, becoming Blackburn's very first Free House. Tommy Ball
died in 1995, and a succession of tenants have rented the premises from
the Council since.
