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Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Black Horse, Preston
Preston
PR1 2EJ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 9 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about Black Horse Hotel
An excellent heritage pub with a superb interior and a splendid selection of ales, including my favourite Titanic Plum Porter. Suffice it to say that my jotted note was completely unintelligible so I will just have to go back.
On 25th April 2022
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3641 recommendations about 3576 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Black Horse Hotel
An absolute gem,a true must visit with a fabulous interior and apparently the only pub in the UK with doors to three streets.A Robinson's house but always with a wide selection of guests.
The interior is authentic with two front snugs,a tap room ,corridor drinking and a charming seating booth at the far end.Great mosaic floor tiling,internal glazed windows above the island bar,traditional furniture it's a work of art.
The ale selection on my trip was Robinson's Old Tom (a regular),Unicorn,Dizzy Blonde Amarillo Pale and the Robinsons sub brand White Label Pale Ale .The guests were Castle Rock Screech Owl,White Horse Wayland Smithy,Ossett White Rat and Titanic Plum Porter Reserve (NBSS 4.5).
That was quite some ale line up ,and next time I'm in Preston I will devote a session here to imbibe their ale and fully appreciate the surroundings.Outstanding.
On 23rd April 2022
- rating: 10
[User has posted 2936 recommendations about 2936 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Black Horse Hotel
Lovely corner building, lots of different space/rooms inside, leather sofas, traditional. Sadly the beer was very poor on my visit but hopefully a one off
On 20th October 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1542 recommendations about 1519 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Black Horse Hotel
Almost a decade has passed since my last review so it was good to be back. One of the finest heritage pub interiors in the country, and now with a slightly enhanced beer range: only three Robinsons beers among the 10 hand pumps. There are two real ciders, plus two ales from Hopback and one each from Tiny Rebel and an unknown-to-me micro in Gloucestershire (see photo). I hope to be back a little sooner next time.
Date of visit: 23rd August 2019
On 10th October 2019
- rating: 9
[User has posted 4273 recommendations about 3935 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about Black Horse Hotel
one of my favourite pubs and certainly the best in Preston, for reasons that I will now set out:
- interior of majestic Victorian splendour and multiple unspoiled drinking rooms, perfect for quiet pint
- a great range of Robinsons (of which I am a fan) beer as well as interesting guests
- staff and clientele that are friendly and not up their own arse
- completely unpretentious, it's a traditional pub and doesn't pretend to be anything else
On 18th May 2018
- rating: 10
[User has posted 1174 recommendations about 1136 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about Black Horse Hotel
A nice pub that served Robinson's beers plus a few guests. Victorian in decor it had, from what I could make out, at least 3 rooms. The 2 smalls rooms that I went into where located at the front of the pub. There are better descriptions of the interior elsewhere so I won't step on their toes. The beer, sadly, wasn't great on my visit with standard Robinson's offerings and a Marston's. That said it is a nice pub and worth a visit.
On 10th July 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Black Horse Hotel
I visited this Robinson's pub once before well over thirty years ago. Just about everything around it has changed but the exterior looked the same and the interior I'm sure is exactly the same.
As well described below it's an island bar with various rooms off it.
When I arrived there was some sort of photo shoot going on with a tall woman dressed to probably look Victorian with a long black dress and a black hat that would look completely ridiculous even at Royal Ascot.
I bypassed this strange event to see what the beer choice was like.
It consisted of 5 Robinson's beers, Trooper, Unicorn (Best), Dizzy Blond, Frosty Frolics and Double Hop. There was a white label beer which is Robinson's "experimental" brewery and from the Marston stable Hobgoblin and Pedigree. There were also two ciders on offer. I completely failed to see the point of the two Marston beers and went for the bog standard Unicorn (£2.90) which I thought was rather bland and disappointing. I wished the Old Tom had been on.
As for the interior it is quite special but agree with below about the
fruit machines being an eyesore. I didn't spot any TV screens so they must have been off.
On 26th November 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Peter Rydings left this review about Black Horse Hotel
Not a lot i can say Pub Sing Man as said it all but its a must when in Preston to goto
On 3rd June 2014
- rating: 10
[User has posted 948 recommendations about 917 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Black Horse Hotel
This magnificent Robinson's pub in the heart of the town centre has one of the most spectacular interiors I have ever encountered. Built in 1898 for the Kay's Atlas Brewery, the pub occupies a prominent corner position on Friargate, boasting an impressive frontage with a lot of intricate detail and a first floor balcony. Entering through the Friargate door, via a mosaic floor porch which bears the pub's name, as does the beautifully etched internal door, you emerge into a central corridor adorned with prints of the pub's original plans and indentures. The servery is to the right, forming the focal point for the whole pub, with various rooms leading off from the corridor. There are two small smoking rooms at the front on each side. The one on the right boasts some plush leather banquette seating, whilst the one to the left has a very cosy, lounge feel to it and has been carpeted, with banquette seating, bell pushes and a nice tiled fireplace complimenting the traditional décor. The archway to the right of the servery leads you into the public bar - easily the most attractive room and well worth spending a bit of time in, regardless of the lack of comfortable seating options. The room is dominated by an amazing curved ceramic bar counter (one of just eleven remaining in the UK according to CAMRA) which sits well in a beautiful ceramic tiled room with a small fireplace, decorative plaster ceiling and a colourful stained glass side entrance porch. There are a few framed pump clips displayed on the walls and a small TV above the porch was showing horse racing, although there was notably some vociferous opposition to this from a couple of punters, with it eventually being tuned off. The corridor side of the servery has lovely dark wood panelling and a large stained glass sash canopy opposite a staircase that leads upstairs to a function room (roped off on my visit). The corridor ends in a lovely elongated U shaped booth with a single banquette running around the length of it, serving two copper toped tables, with bell pushes above the banquettes, mirrored backs, some fine dark wood panelling and stained glass windows which provide light via the corridors either side leading to the lavatories. There is also a stained glass Black Horse on the end wall.
There was a good range of Robinson's output on the hand pumps, with Dizzy Blonde, Trooper, Hannibal's Nectar, Double Hop, Unicorn and Old Tom available along with Hartley's Cumbrian Way and XB. I tried the Hannibal's Nectar which was in pretty good shape and couldn't resist a half of the rarely seen Old Tom before departing, which was sublime. The barmaid was very friendly and enjoyed some good banter with her customers and there was a welcoming vibe in the public bar, with the local's happy to stop for a chat.
This was the last pub I visited during my five days in Lancashire and I would say it was the pick of the bunch. I would recommend this place on the atmosphere and beer quality alone, but the stunning interior makes it an absolute must visit.
On 27th April 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Black Horse Hotel
A Camra National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. I agree with John, am surprised that there's not more reviews. The pub was moderately busy on our midweek, lunchtime visit. The Robinsons Unicorn was flying out like no tomorrow. The barman and fellow drinkers were all friendly and chatty. We spent quite a bit of time in here marvelling at the interior. There were 8 ales on handpump, I went for the Hartleys Cumbrian Way and XB, both were superb.
On 25th February 2014
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3645 recommendations about 3645 pubs]