Tucked away on a residential street in the suburbs of Blackpool, the Talbot is not the kind of pub you’d expect people to travel to from across the country.
And yet, thanks to its grand rebrand as the world’s first Reform UK pub — complete with a new turquoise-blue paint job — thousands of Nigel Farage fans have made the pilgrimage from as far as Scotland and Northern Ireland to tell their mates they’ve had a pint at the newly political pub.
As you enter, your eyes adjust from the bright Lancashire sunshine to the flicker of GB News on every screen. The fruit machines jingle and the dulcet tones of Belinda Carlisle are blasted from the jukebox. This, the locals are quick to tell me, is a “real boozer”.
As I reach the bar, I find Carling Export for £2.60 a pint, although this stunningly cheap price is not afforded to the European heavyweights Stella, Madri and Cruzcampo, priced at a comparatively eye-watering £4.50.
Wonky “Vote for Reform” posters are hung next to offers of three shots for £5 – both designed using the same 1990s Microsoft clip art – while other notices tell locals that a Take That tribute act will be there in August, all the way from Benidorm.
Away from the bar, it is a standard northern community pub: elderly couples stare at each other in silence over warm ales, local tradesmen play a few rounds of pool (20p a game) on their lunch break, and, in the corner, tensions flare over a darts grudge match.
The Talbot started life as a Conservative social club almost 100 years ago, but in a move somewhat echoing today’s political landscape, it has defected to Reform, thanks to landlords Nicholas Lowe and Peter Flynn.
The pair have run the pub for more than 15 years, but with electric bills rising and footfall lagging in the last six months, they decided to see if a rebrand could reverse their fortunes following Reform’s sweeping success during the local elections, which saw the party pick up 677 council seats.
Raymond Head, 86, drove 200 miles from “Labour-controlled” Stevenage after he saw the pub on GB News.
He said: “I thought, if I’m going to support anyone, I want to support this guy. I want to come and have a drink here. It’s cheap and cheerful, and we all very much talk the same language.”
Mark Butcher, the regional Reform UK chairman who came third as Blackpool South’s candidate in the general election last year, is equally emphatic about the pub’s new identity.
He called the pub a “bold statement to the local community” stranded in the Labour heartlands of Blackpool, adding: “Together, we are redefining the narrative and fostering a space where every voice matters.”
Clifford Dyson, 70, who lives across the road from the pub, said: “The food here’s brilliant, I must admit, and a 5-star hygiene rating to boot – what more can you want?”
The dishes are undeniably reasonably priced – from the £2 black pudding and sausage sandwiches to the £5 Sunday roasts – but it’s the £3.50 chicken curry that takes my fancy.
Sitting in the hot sun for just a minute, a thick custard-like skin congealed on the surface of the dish, giving off an aroma reminiscent of school dinners.
Seeing me struggle with my lunch, Barry, 74, a self-described “proud racist” who lives nearby, breaks the ice by launching into a vile tirade about small boats and hotels. Confronting the owner, I ask him if he knows there are “proud racists” propping up his bar.
Mr Flynn replies: “No, I didn’t know that. I don’t like extremism. I don’t stand for that.”
Lenny Thompson, 47, drinking at the busier Wetherspoons closer to the faded seaside promenade, said he won’t be visiting The Talbot anytime soon.
He said: “There are xenophobic people in Blackpool, but also all over the country. But we need immigrants to come into the country so that the NHS doesn’t collapse.
“They are a populist party and target people who have these fears about foreigners. They get a lot of support here, but people don’t realise Farage wants to get rid of the NHS.”
Much like Mr Farage’s underwhelming rebranding from Ukip to the Brexit Party and now to Reform UK, the “transformation” of The Talbot seems to be a case of slapping some fresh paint on an antiquated establishment and selling it to the consumer as something new.
But one party member’s words echo in my ears: “Reform is more than just a political party, it’s a movement – and this is just the beginning.”
