Branwell Bronte was almost as famous for boozing as he was for painting his literary sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne. His prolific consumption of gin probably kept the Lord Nelson Inn, at Luddenden, in roaring trade when he worked as a station manager down the hill at Luddenden Foot. Today the pub, housed in a building that pre-dates the legendary admiral’s birth by 124 years, is still very much in business.
The inn doesn’t sell food and like Luddenden village itself, it isn’t on the way to anywhere in particular. In a year when, according to CAMRA, around 29 pubs close every week, how is the Lord Nelson doing so well? Is it the Bronte connection? Is it the crowds of parched walkers and cyclists who stop in the village every weekend? READ MORE: Life in 'friendly diverse' district but with two problems that need sorting Maybe. But the main reason is the community that live around this whitewashed, L-shaped tavern at the heart of their village.
“We’re very lucky that our community loves our pub...
” says landlord Daren Wilkinson. "Luddenden is brilliant. It’s got a great community atmosphere.
” “For young people and old people, it’s great,” adds Daren who has run the Lord Nelson for eight years. Luddenden sits halfway between Halifax and Hebden Bridge. It’s halfway up a relentlessly steep valley formed by Luddenden Brook, a tributary of the River Calder.
The name is Brythonic, the ancestor of modern Welsh, and may mean the ‘valley of a loud stream’. .