Miller Arcade, Preston

Preston’s Miller Arcade is almost cathedral-like in its magnificent high ceilings and walkways that cross like a transept and nave. The tiled entrance to the former Crown Hotel is still visible, as is the ornate lettering over the old way in to the Turkish Baths, also now long gone. Mr Miller, the local dentist who had the arcade built in the 1890s, was inspired by a visit to New York (though locals compare the arcade to London’s Burlington Arcade). Mr Miller said he hoped the arcade would help Preston take on a more ‘worthy appearance.’

It is probably less of a pedestrian thoroughfare than it once was, but there were quite a few lively cafes and eateries open and buzzing on the Saturday afternoon we visited. There’s no public access now to the upstairs floors, but from inside the arcade it was worth glancing up just to see both the glass ceiling and the beautiful stained-glass leadlight windows on the upper floors.

My favourite shop today

It was a piping hot afternoon in mid-summer when we visited the arcade, so Rise was the café of our choice as they did fantastic cold drinks, though our neighbours on other tables were eating what looked like delicious meals, too.

Rohan travel clothing was the main retail outlet in the arcade, which could really do with more actual shops for it to increase its overall footfall.

My pick of the arcade’s past

The Turkish Baths were advertised as good for “chronic gout, rheumatism, dyspepsia, sluggish liver and bowels.” To make them accessible to more people, after a year in operation, prices were reduced to one and sixpence for ‘first class Turkish bath’ and a shilling for ‘second class’. The Baths closed permanently in 1947.

In February 1911, a woman in her 30s was found by a policemen slumped in a shop entrance in the arcade at 11pm one evening, but showing no signs of being drunk. She had suffered a complete loss of memory, and with no money on her or ID, she was sent to the workhouse, even though she was wearing a fur and a muff. Her story made the newspapers all over the country, and she was identified 24 hours later, though the papers never explained how her name became known.

Information for this section courtesy of www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, The British Library Board, and specific stories: 1) Lancashire Evening Post, 12 October 1899; 2) Lancashire Evening Post, 16 February 1911.