Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition

Winners 2025

The 2025 Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition culminated with its Awards Presentation Ceremony at Eaves Hall, West Bradford on Monday, 13th October.

The Chair, Kelly Wood, thanked the judges, committee and villages for all the hard work throughout the year to make the event a success and such a positive for Lancashire communities. She was pleased to welcome guests and dignitaries, including Mayors representing many towns and villages from all over Lancashire and to thank our sponsors. Introducing our Finals Judge for this year’s competition David Cam, Under Sheriff of the counties of Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, David was to present awards to for the 'Best Kept Vllages' and 'Outstanding Features' of which there were nearly 300. David gave a short talk about himself, and his journey around the villages of Lancashire on the final judging days and how impressed he was with all the villages who took part.

This year's competition saw 48 villages entering across the 6 categories (including Urban Community) with 10 villages making the final round of the traditional village categories, with nearly 300 nominations for Outstanding Features. In total some 60 hamlets, villagess and urban communities took part in this year's competition.

All the results are a closely guarded secret until revealed during the Awards Ceremony. The Chair Kelly Wood ran the proceedings giving an overview of the competition and its history, with an explanation of the judging stages and process over the summer months from June until the end of August. As usual the final stage judging is done by an invited external judge - this year we were pleased to have the services of David E Cam DL BA, Barrister, Under Sheriff of Lancashire - not an easy task given the high standards of the competing villages - who presented the awards to the Winning Villages and for Outstanding Features. The Winning Villages got a plaque and certificate; runners-up were presented with a certificate.

This year the winner of the Champion Village Class was Bretherton ; representatives received an engraved commemorative crystal vase/cup along with a plaque and framed certificate. This award is held for a year and then presented to the new Champion Village.

Other major Whole Village Class awards went to New Longton (Large Village), Newburgh (Medium Village), Hurst Green (Small Village) and Little Eccleston (Hamlets).

In its third year the 'Urban Community' class (formerly 'Tidy Town') award was won by Whalley with Cumeragh runner-up.

There were 16 'Outstanding Features' Awards for features nominated by the villages themselves. There were ??? entries

Competition Winners (2025)   [class entrants]

• Champion Village - Bretherton (Runner-up - Elswick; Highly Commended - Blacko, Grindleton). [15]
• Large Village - New Longton (Runner-up - Grimsargh). [7]
• Medium Village - Newburgh (Runner-up - Weeton; Highly Commended - Bilsborrow). [6]
• Small Village - Hurst Green (Runner-up - West Bradford; Highly Commended - Roughlee, Heapey). [10]
• Hamlet - Little Eccleston (Runner-up - Inglewhite). [4]
• Urban Community - Whalley (Runner-up - Cumeragh; Highly Commended - Whittle-le-Woods). [6]

Outstanding Features (2025)

1. Place of Worship and Grounds [33]
   Winner: Bilsborrow - St. Hilda's
   Joint Runners-up: Heapey - St. Barnabus, Parbold - Our Lady & All Saints
   Highly Commended: Inglewhite - St. Mary's, Whalley - Chapel
2. Schools and Children's Nurseries [20]
   Joint Winners: Preesall - St. Aidens, Newburgh - C of E Primary
   Highly Commended: Adlington Lower - Adlington Primary, Bretherton - C of E Primary
   Highly Commended: Parbold - Douglas Academy, Town Green Aughton - Town Green Primary
3. Public Houses & Restaurants [33]
   Joint-Winners: Broughton - The Italian Orchard, Longton - Black Bull
   Joint Runners-up: Grindleton - The Rum Fox, Pleasington - Clog & Billycock
   Highly Commended: Parbold - The Windmill
4. Hotel / Guest House [6]
   Joint Winners: Town Green Aughton - Moor Hall, West Bradford - Eaves Hall
   Highly Commended: Lathom - Briars Hall
5. Public Building [29]
   Winner: Mere Brow - Village Hall
   Runner-up: Parbold - Village Hall
   Highly Commended: Cleveleys - CAC, Grimsargh - Village Hall
   Highly Commended: Cleveleys - Town Green, Elswick - Village Hall
6. Industrial / Commercial Premises [10]
   Winner: Sabden - Specialised Automotive Services
   Runner-up: Adlington Higher - Deighan's Funeral Parlour
   Highly Commended: Whalley - Railway Station
7. Shops [21]
   Joint Winners: Adlington Lower - The RailWeigh, Sabden - The Village Nook
   Runner-up: Longton - Bludell's
   Highly Commended: Blacko - Pulse Hairdressers
8. Residential / Nursing Home / Sheltered Accommodation [12]
   Winner: Bretherton - The Apiary
   Joint Runners-up: Heapey - Ryefield, Waddington - Alms Houses
9. Community Notice Board [28]
   Winner: Bretherton - By The Apiary
   Runner-up: Grindleton - Parish Council
   Highly Commended: Brindle - Church Wall, Inglewhite
10. War Memorial [25]
    Winner: Bilsborrow - War Memorial
    Joint Runners-up: Blacko - War Memorial, Grimsargh - Longridge Road
    Highly Commended: Heapey - Heapey & Wheelton, West Bradford - Coronation Garden
11. Heritage Feature (Item of Cultural, Social, Industrial Interest) [8]
    Winner: Longton - Brickcroft
    Runner-up: Grindleton - Stone Table
    Highly Commended: Bilsborrow - Queen Elizabeth Memorial, Little Eccleston - Cartford Bridge
12. Public Playing Fields [20]
    Winner: Hambleton - Bob Williamson Park
    Joint Runners-up: Elswick - Village Hall Site
    Joint Runners-up: Town Green Aughton - William Arnold Silcock Memorial Playing Field
    Highly Commended: Barley - Village Green
13. Children's Play Area [22]
    Joint Winners: Haskayne - Village Hall, New Longton - Chaple Lane
    Highly Commended: Bretherton - Recreation Ground, Longton - School Lane
14. Bowling Green [17]
    Winner: Bretherton
    Runners-up: Mere Brow
    Highly Commended: Elswick, Longton
15. Cricket Ground / Tennis Club [10]
    Winner: Longton Tennis Club
    Runner-up: Bretherton Cricket Club
    Highly Commended: Grimsargh Cricket Club, Hambleton Tennis Club
16. Public Garden [16]
    Joint Winners: Shirdley Hill - Village Green, Hambleton - Bob Williamson Park
    Highly Commended: Elswick - Village Green, West Bradford - Coronation Gardens

Download Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition Full Results 2025.

---

Previous Years' Results

Results 2024 (PDF Download).

Results 2023 (PDF Download).

Results 2022 (PDF Download).

Results 2021 (PDF Download).

The 2020 Competition was cancelled due to Covid and Lockdowns.

Results 2019 (PDF Download).

Results 2018 (PDF Download).

Results 2017.