Celebrities have been antique hunting in East Lancashire for a BBC TV show – and they took a pit stop at Britain’s last temperance bar in Rawtenstall.
The BBC Two episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip featured Pauline McLynn (Father Ted) and Dom Joly as they visited several towns and antique shops across Lancashire while accompanied by antiques experts, James Braxton and Philip Serrell.
GG Antiques in Morecambe, The Old Coach House Antiques and Interiors in Clitheroe, Holden Wood Antiques in Haslingden, and Warner Street Antiques and Collectibles in Accrington were some of the local antique shops which featured on the show.
However, the episode wasn’t just a shopping adventure as Dom and James also paid a visit to Britain’s last temperance bar in Rawtenstall.
Ashley Morley-Doidge, who runs Mr Fitzpatrick’s said the men came to visit them during the summer.
She said: “When the episode aired my phone started going nuts and people were asking me what we served and if we sold coffee – I thought it was really random.
“Somebody rang my husband and mentioned we were on the telly – I didn’t know it was on that night.”
Ashley said the cast and crew came to the temperance bar as they wanted to feature somewhere “different” and with history to cut alongside their antique shop visits.
She said: “It was so nice for people to come and learn about it and try some drinks they haven’t tried before.
“The BBC did a really good job for us and Dom Joly was so lovely – he was such a large character.
“He was really easy to talk to and conversation with him flowed really well. While he was here he was saying he had never seen a temperance bar before.”
It’s not the first time Mr Fitzpatrick's has featured in the media. Rawtenstall influencer, Phil Lester, also paid a visit over the summer for a YouTube original travel documentary.
The bar also popped up on the BBC show The Hairy Bikers Go North.
- READ MORE: The Hairy Bikers Go North: Si and Dave visit Lancashire for BBC show
- READ MORE: Phil Lester returns to Rawtenstall for YouTube series
Ashley said: “The hairy bikers came in just to hear the history of the company. They also tasted our products and cordials.
“We were blown away that they wanted to come and visit us.
“They were so nice and so easy to get along with and literally what you see on the telly.
“The show has brough a lot of tourism to the area and so many people have come to visit us which is so nice!”
The bar’s short feature in Celebrity Antiques Road Trip focused mainly on its history and involvement in the Victorian sobriety movement.
The show’s narrator, Tim Wonnacott, said: “This bar was opened in 1899 by Dublin family of herbalists. It stands proud as a monument to the forgotten campaign against alcohol.
“By 1900 the health and financial benefits attracted more than six million people who had taken the pledge to give booze the boot.
“By early 20th century rock and roll was everywhere and temperance bars fell out of favour.
“But her in Lancashire Mr Fitzpatrick’s, thanks to Ashley and her family, remains the last bastion of a movement that helped the nation sober up.”
On the show, Ashley said: “In the 1800s alcohol was known as a demonic drink. It was very cheap and everyone was drinking it, from women to children.
“It was causing a lot of problems from work to marriages – everything seemed to be a big problem
“Somebody stepped in and said ‘we need to start a sober community bar… because everything was about drink.
“It became like a popular thing – they were all over Britain. In the peak of them, Fitzpatrick’s had 40 in Lancashire alone.”
She added that the idea behind the cordials was that they served a medicinal purpose.
Ashley added: “It’s always been about cordials. Julia Fitzpatrick came with her recipes from Dublin and we still make various ones to the recipe now.
“The idea behind it is they’ve done it with a medicinal purpose in mind, that’s the belief of it.
“For instance, Sarsaparilla is said to be very good for the blood. Blood tonic… they say that it’s a very good pick me and that it’s very good for your immune system and digestive system.
“It’s not something you can buy in a supermarket. It’s a little bit different.”
Dom and James sampled some of Mr Fitzpatrick’s, including the brand’s popular Sarsaparilla.
“Sarsaparilla is the marmite of our cordials,” Ashley explained “You’re either going to love it or hate it.”
“There is a hint of TCP about it,” James concluded. “I’m feeling good already”.
“What I like is that you don’t know what you’re going to get with these. I like that,” Dom added.
You can watch the episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip on BBC iPlayer.
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