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Preston
City in Lancashire, England

Preston

Preston is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England.

Plan a trip to Preston→From Liverpool

The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding district obtained city status in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Preston had a population of 147,835 at the 2021 census, the City of Preston district 156,411 in 2023 and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322. The Preston Travel To Work Area had a population of 420,661 in 2011, compared with 354,000 at the previous census. The south bank of the Ribble is part of the Preston urban area, although it forms the South Ribble borough that is administratively separate.

Get in

Getting to Preston

Manchester Airport (MAN IATA) is usually the best choice for its wide range of flights at competitive fares, and good onward transport, see below. Liverpool (LPL IATA) has flights across Europe, otherwise consider Birmingham (BHX IATA) and the London airports.

  1. 01
    Preston

    There is step-free access to all platforms.

  2. 02
    Preston

    A concrete Brutalist creation of 1968, refurbished in 2019.

See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Harris Museum and Art Gallery

    Collections of fine and decorative art, costumes, textiles, photography with displays about the history of Preston, in an impressive 19th-century Grade I listed building in the centre of the city.

  2. 02
    Lancashire Infantry Museum

    Fulwood Barracks, Watling Street Rd PR2 8AA,.

  3. 03
    Ribble Steam Railway

    This is a preserved standard-gauge 1½ mile stretch of line in the docklands, running since 2005 when a Southport heritage railway collection moved here.

  4. 04
    Brockholes

    Family-friendly nature reserve and wetland in a bend of the River Ribble.

  5. 05
    British Commercial Vehicle Museum

    Britain once made the buses, trucks, farm and military vehicles for not just itself but for all the "pink bits" on the world map; many were built right here, by Leyland Motors.

Do

Things to do

What's on? Read Lancashire Evening Post. Watch football at

  1. 01
    Preston North End

    Deepdale Stadium, Sir Tom Finney Way PR1 6RU.

  2. 02
    Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre

    Garstang Rd, Brock PR3 0BT (6 miles north of town),.

  3. 03
    Worden Park

    Public park with a Georgian walled garden, hedge maze and adventure playground.

Eat

Where to eat

Local specialities include Lancashire cheese, Goosnargh cake and butter pie. This last was also known as Friday Pie or Catholic Pie, as it's made of potatoes, onions and butter and therefore free of meat. It's made and sold in many places, and in Wigan it serves as the vegetarian option in the World Pie-eating Championships.

How locals move

Getting around Preston the local way

  • Get inFerries ply to Liverpool from: Dublin twice a day (P & O, 8 hours), though there are faster sailings from Dublin to Holyhead in North Wales.
  • Get inBelfast twice a day (Stena Line, 8 hours) Douglas Isle of Man three per day (Isle of Man Steam Packet, 2 hour 45 min); Douglas also has ferries to Heysham near Morecambe.
  • Get aroundLancashire is increasingly a cycle friendly place for on- and off-road cyclists.
  • Go nextOr hop on a ferry to Ireland or the Isle of Man.

From Wikivoyage: Lancashire, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-07.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: DeFacto (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.