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Sited on Manchester Rd. The Ash Hotel is situated on the boundary of the township. First mentioned in 1820, It was opened as a brewery by Thomas Froggatt, Who added to its already ample facilities by offering a bowling green at the rear. When he died in 1835 his wife continued as landlord and brewer. By 1850 the brewery was being run by William, Sam and George Higginbotham and it boasted a fine pleasure garden including a museum, Elizabethan maze, and a stage. It was the chief location for the Lancashire Hill Wakes, an annual holiday and fair which provided running and dog races, as well as wrestling and a balloon ascent, a fair and fireworks. This was not the only hotel to have a pleasure ground alongside, the Waterloo, on Waterloo Rd and the Bowling Green, Tiviot Dale were also venues for annual fairs.
by the 1860s the Ash had branched into wholesale wine and spirits, and could supply private families with half or quarter barrels. As the brewing side of the business increased the hotel and gardens became a separate entity. The brewery owned other inns like the Black lion Hillgate ( Time Gentlemen Please #5 ) and the Grey Horse, Old Road. Finally the Ash Hotel was sold to Daniel Clifton's Brewery, the gardens sold off and the Hotel rebuilt in 1900. Thankfully the building still stands all be it as another business.
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