The beer house was built in around 1868, when Burnley had about 360 inns, taverns and hostelleries with a pub on virtually every street corner.  Burnley was described at the time as the most drunken town in England.

Originally the pub was called the Royal Volunteers Inn and the first licensee was Anthony Ashworth, who was still here in 1879.

According to Leslie Chapples in his best selling book “Taverns Of The Time”, the reason why the pub acquired it’s name because the landlord was a proud rifle volunteer in the militia under Colonel Charles Townley.

Another piece of research by local historian Jack Nadin found that the Burnley Volunteers were part pf the 17^th Lancashire Rifles whose band was much admired, giving concerts at the Mechanics Institute and leading marches through the streets of the town.  The band won the first prize at Belle Vue Manchester.

The pub became simply the Rifle Volunteer in about 1890, when the landlord was Charles Loder.  Another enthusiastic tenant was called George Henry Frankland who stayed for 23 years and also served as a volunteer for a further 20 years.

The above information was kindly supplied by Steve Chapples in September 2005