Yes indeed, here's a truly magnificent Victorian photo showing Colne's Market Street of 128 years ago. Note a bustling main street full of folk with every single one of them wearing headgear of every kind! See, too, not a scrap of litter to be seen, only the inevitable horse manure on the setts which are still insitu today, underneath the modern tarmacadam.

There are no less than seven pubs to be seen along the busy street at which time the town's population was 11,970. Firstly on the left is the Black Bull Hotel, then further along is the Bay Horse Inn, followed by the Red Lion Hotel and just in view centre is the Angel Inn.

On the right is the Hole-i'-th'Wall Inn followed further on with the White Swan Hotel and the large building centre right is the original Dog and Partridge Inn of 1611, but at the time of photo, being used as the livery stables for the White Swan next door.

Only two of these pubs survive today with the Red Lion still being as popular as in Victorian times. Here we find genial mine host Tony Parkinson and his wife Joanne behind the bar alongside cheery barmaid Vanessa Bolton, who is Tony's sister. Many well-known Colne characters are Red Lion regulars, including the amicable Terry Dowling and the sartorial Walter French. "Sleepy Dave" regularly nods off standing at the bar, still clutching his pint glass, and nothing escapes the eyes of locals Andrew Spencer and Stanley Lord, known to all as "Waldorf and Statler".