WARRINGTON, BUSES AND BEER

As promised, we'll now taken a look at Warrington's buses, but first, the Town Hall (From Wikipedia - Creative Commons License). 

Market Gate, part of the town centre  (From Wikipedia - Creative Commons License). 

Warrington used to have trams; Here are a couple on Warrington Bridge.

Warrington Corporation had a big fleet of buses. Here's a Leyland PD2 at the depot.

An unusual purchase by Warrington Corporation was no. 4, a Leyland Leopard coach, seen at the old bus station.

One of the rear-loading 'deckers became a trainer bus. No. 116 was found in the, then, new bus station.

Warrington Transport had some 7' 6" wide Leylands. No. 46 is seen in the town centre in 1978.

This Leyland was purchased from Brighton to cover a vehicle shortage in 1978.

Warrington Transport bought several East Lancs bodied Bristol RE types. This one is seen beside a huge advert for one of the town's products.

Leylan Atlanteans became the standard double-deck type for Warrington Transport. No. 75, on the left, is in a special livery to commemorate 75 years of service.

Some buses received a special livery for "out of town" routes.

Here's a variety of more modern buses from the Warrington Transport fleet.

Back in 1977, this former Widnes Leyland was on loan from Halton Transport.

Lancashire United (LUT) ran various routes into Warrington.

LUT got taken over by Greater Manchester PTE.

Another bus in GMPTE colours, a former Leigh Corporation AEC Renown.

Another PTE...... Merseyside came into Warrington from St Helens.

Crosville had plenty of routes into Warrington. 

The "new" North Western Road Car's buses were common in the late 20th century.

Arriva and Firstbus are the main national operators in Warrington these days.

Several independents have been seen over the years. These include Timeline, Anthony's Travel, Bennett's, Fairbrothers and Warrington Coachways.

Phew! That was a lot of buses, now it's beer time! There's a Wetherspoons, the Friar Penketh.

A good bet for real ale, the Albion.

The Lord Rodney no longer serves cask beer.

The Old Town House, now a Tapas bar - no real ale.

Better news! The Blue Bell has a good beer range.

The Bull's Head has a classic interior and good beer.

We finish at the best/ The Lower Angel, a true bastion of real ale.

Next time, we lurch towards Manchester again.

LET'S MAKE A START ON WARRINGTON

Warrington is a large town, with a lot of interesting stuff. Therefore I'm going to split it into two posts. In this one, we'll look at the railways and the two former breweries. There's a couple of pubs too.

First, we approach the town via the suburb of Sankey, where we come across one of Warrington Corporation's trams.

Warrington Bank Quay station, some distance from the town centre, seen in 1970.

Just some of the traffic along the West Coast Main Line at Bank Quay in British Rail days.

A short-lived postal service calls.

EWS managed to get most of the freight traffic through the station.

Virgin Trains, of course, had the WCML Intercity services.

In 2014, Arriva Wales 175 107 arrives at Bank Quay.

Just to the south is Arpley Yard, where 37 584 is seen.

From Arpley Yard, a curve leads down to Arpley Junction, connecting with the freight only line passing under Bank Quay station. Here's some EWS traffic in 2003.

Warrington's other station, Warrington Central, is, as the name suggests, right in the middle of the town. First North Western 150 215 calls in 2003.

A fairly modern signal box controls movements here.

Here's a reminder of a former Warrington brewery - Greenall Whitley - found in town.

Another vanished brewery, a modern one, but it's closed now. Tetley-Walker's establishment in 1990.

The Tavern is now the tap for Warrington's 4T's Brewery.

We'll conclude this post at Porter's Ale House.

Next time, we'll take a tour around the town for the buses and more pubs.