Preston Pub Sign Study – The Ribble Pilot

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The docks at Preston were a major centre of the town-city’s industry up to the 1960’s, drawing big ships and cargo right into the middle of inland England. The river waters were and are however not without their dangers, sandbars, rocks, areas of moving shallows, and of course, other shipping. Pilot boats helped to guide the ships crewed by captains unaware of the waters and their hazards through the channels to safe allocated dockside moorings and out again. This beautifully coloured sign, with its pleasant yellow sunlight on an appropriately riverside pub, shows a pilot boat going out to meet an incoming vessel, ready to offer assistance. Without these highly knowledgeable river-pilots the waters would have been virtually un-navigable. Now the waterside promenade area is a beauty spot with shops, cinemas and bars and plenty of walkways overlooking he beautiful river with the remnants of the docks at one end, and leisure activity such as wind-surfing, swimming and leisure sailing on offer, and of course, with the modern Ribble Pilot pub, drinking too. Arthur Chappell