Preston

Preston Town Hall
For other places with the same name, see Preston (disambiguation).

Preston is the largest city in the county of Lancashire, England, and historically was a major port and industrial centre.

Understand

Preston is one of the few cities that has an "old northern" culture, with many words of the Lancashire dialect still in use. Preston is in The Duchy of Lancaster and The County Palatine of Lancashire. Preston is the only place which has a Guild. It comes around once every 20 years. The last Guild was in 2012.

Get in

By plane

Nearby Blackpool Airport has flights to Dublin, Isle of Man, France and Spain, while Liverpool and Manchester airports offer a world-wide service. Manchester Airport's services include London. Local airlines include Jet2, British Airways, British European, and CityJet.

By train

Preston is a major terminal on the WCML "West Coast Main Line", and services to and from most major cities around the UK are offered by Virgin Trains. The Virgin website sells tickets between any two stations in the National Rail network, so getting to Preston by train should be easy, wherever you are.

By car

Preston is well linked to the motorway network (M6, M61, M62, M60, M65). There are many reasonably priced taxi firms in the city - see By taxi in Get around.

There are two Park & Ride sites in Preston: Preston PortWay which is situated close to Preston Docks, and Walton-le-Dale. For more information consult Preston Bus.

By bus

National Express offer intercity coaches from most towns and cities in the UK, and many in France and Spain, while Megabus offers extremely low cost (£1 one way) bus travel to and from London. Other bus companies are available, and can be booked via the UK public transport gateway transportdirect which is a database of all British Public Transport, and can effectively link any two buildings in the UK with Public Transport using Postcodes

Get around

Preston has an extensive local bus network operated by Stagecoach Northwest and JFS (Fishwicks), details of which can be found via transportdirect.

Preston has a number of reliable taxi companies - the largest/most notable of which are:

See

Preston has several cultural attractions worth visiting, such as the city museum and Minster Church. It is also well known for its bus station and train station.

The Harris museum is a Grade 1 listed building

Do

Learn

Preston is the home of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) with over 30,000 students. The university has its roots in The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge which was founded in 1828. Subsequently known as Harris Art College, then Preston Polytechnic, then Lancashire Polytechnic, in 1992 it was granted University status by the Privy Council. The university is the fifth largest in the UK in terms of student numbers.

The university contains the following schools:

Buy

Eat

Preston has a wide range of restaurants in its city centre, and many local pubs serve meals as well.

A popular and tasty local delicacy is butter pie, which is made with potatoes, onions and butter. Originally created for Catholic workers to eat on days when they had to abstain from meat, it can be found in many fish and chip shops in the city.

As well as this, outside the Fishergate Centre there is a small stall that sells 'corn floss.' This is basically warm sweetcorn that comes in lots of different flavours.

Drink

Preston has a wide variety of clubs located on the main highstreet such as Lava Ignite and Wall St.

Sleep

Budget

Mid-range

Splurge

Stay safe

Preston is relatively safe compared with larger cities like London or Manchester, but it is still wise to use common sense. If you are alone, avoid wandering around quiet areas of the city at late unsociable hours. If you are approached by someone who is possibly drunk and who causes you to feel uncomfortable, it is best to avoid prolonged eye contact and excuse yourself politely. Avoid walking through residential areas adjacent to the City Centre late at night unless you know where you are going.

Preston Police are available on 101 for non-emergencies. In emergencies only dial 999 or 112 from any phone for fire, police, or ambulance.

Connect

Go next


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