L & Y Arms

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Arms

The L & Y Arms or 'The Café'

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Arms stood on the corner of Chorley new road and Gooch street near to the public entrance to the Loco works. It was originally intended to be a licensed premises for the sale of intoxicants but was never granted a licence on the ground that the area was already well serviced with retail outlets for intoxicants. A tender of £1,627 for the construction of the L & Y Arms was let in 1887 by Neill and Sons.The building was designed by local architect Henry Shelmadine and looked like a traditional public house even having the L & Y Arms in frosted glass in the windows.

The L & Y Arms or 'The Café' as it was known by most was used as a Café and restaurant and also used to hold meeting by several local organisations ,the Horwich Works committee and the Railway Veterans both held their first meetings there. 'The Café' also had accommodation and was for many years the only place where Horwichites could get a proper bath. It seems that up until the 1930s many Horwich folk bathed at 'The Café' for a modest charge rather than suffer the Zinc tub at home.

The Café was lost to dry rot and pulled down in late 1972, some of the inscribed windows were kept at the York Railway Museum.

The L & Y Cafe Dining Rooms

The Dining rooms were erected behind the L & Y arms to accommodate up to 1,100 who lived at distance to the Loco works who's meals would be cooked or warmed by room attendants. The building still stands but is now in private use.