TURN back the clock 100 years or so, and in Blackburn and other towns in East Lancashire you could stumble, quite literally in some cases, out of one pub and into another.

It seemed like there was one on every corner and they were at the heart of the community.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Times have changed with different patterns of family life, the smoking ban and cheap supermarket alcohol just some of the things which have taken their toll on the queue at the bar.

We have delved through the archives to dig out old pictures of pubs from around the area and hopefully they should stir some happy memories for our readers.

One of the buildings which is still standing is the Ye Olde White Bull pub in Salford.

These pictures were taken back in 1960 and it was latterly known as the Pitchers bar when it closed back in the 2000s.

There is also a picture of one of Blackburn’s oldest coaching inns, The Bay Horse, back in 1952 but you can spot the Lord Nelson in the distance which we have featured on another picture which was taken in 1962.

Another photo shows St John’s Tavern on Ainsworth Street back in 1953 and it was once know as The Gaping Goose.

It was here that the Company of Archers held their annual dinner in 1800 and a year later a sedan chair was stolen, and it saw much of the social life of Georgian Blackburn.

Another town centre pub was The Legs O’Man in Darwen Street which was due to be pulled down back in August 1976.

The Sportsman’s Arms at the corner of Shear Brow and Pleckgate Road looks different from the view taken soon after World War One.

Licensee James Thompson Kay was pictured at the doorway with daughter Alice and son Richard with their shiny clogs.