Preston People: Preston Pulse

We do a regular series on our social media called #PrestonPeople where we feature a local person, group, or business.

For this edition, we had a chat with Rory, the creator behind Preston Pulse – Preston’s newest source for promoting culture, nightlife, creativity, and events in Preston!

Read on to learn more about Rory and his creation:

Society1: Tell us a bit about you and what you do:

RC: Hello! I’m Rory, I’m 30 years old, and I work in the promotions and events industry. I mainly earn a living as a self-employed Event Manager for companies like Google, PlayStation and Nintendo, but in my spare time, I also create written and video content.

In early February, I started a new, video-first social media page called Preston Pulse – it’s all about documenting, showcasing and promoting creative culture, events, live music and the arts in Preston.

Some people may also recognise me as the bloke behind Vegan Lancashire on Instagram, which has been running since October 2020. Where does the time go?!

Society1: What made you want to start Preston Pulse?

RC: I’ve always rated Preston as a city. I know the place like the back of my hand, and it always frustrates me to hear it talked down on by people who go to Slug & Lettuce and Popworld once every three months.

There’s a real wealth of amazing independent venues here, and a really cool creative scene bubbling away, but I think we as a city have historically done a pretty terrible job at showcasing and supporting it. Preston Pulse is my attempt to remedy that and perhaps change some perceptions.

Neighbouring cities like Manchester and Liverpool seem to have a much more joined-up, collaborative and cohesive approach when it comes to promoting their creative scene, whereas ours has always felt very aimless, fragmented and ad-hoc.

We’re very lucky to have resources like Blog Preston who do an incredible job of covering these things in the written word. But as we know, social media – and in particular, video – is king in today’s online space, and it just felt like the right time to start something video-first, with good production values.

I have experience in everything you need to make something like that happen – script writing, voiceover, videography, video editing, social media and copywriting – and I have the passion and local knowledge for it. So I thought, why not?

Society1: What do you love about Preston?

RC: So much! I love the parks and the green spaces. Winckley Square is stunning, especially in the summertime, and Avenham & Miller Parks are genuinely my favourite places in the entire world. And I’ve been to 26 countries!

I love the size of the place; it’s big enough that it has a very solid nightlife, regular events, and a burgeoning creative and arts scene, but it’s still small enough to have that small city, community feel. I feel like a person here, whereas in bigger cities I’ve sometimes felt very insignificant and a bit lost.

I could go on and on about the location and the transport links, the football club, the architecture, the history, the Guild Wheel, the countryside, the rivers and canals, Coco’s and The Conti, the sunset from the Bullnose, and the fact that it’s a very walkable city. But I suppose, most of all, Preston always just felt like home.

I’ve lived here for 27 of my 30 years, so it’s a huge part of my identity. My grandad was always a Proud Prestonian, and he passed that onto my mum. It was inevitable, really.

Society1: What is your “go-to” local business in Preston?

RC: Oh god, this is a tricky one. For me, PLAU deserves a lot of credit. When I think of the rejuvenation of Preston in recent years, the opening of PLAU epitomises it; it was a real watershed moment. They raised the bar and set the standards for everyone else to follow, and it’s no coincidence that we then ended up with the excellent LOST, Chain House and Chews Yard in such quick succession. Everyone upped thier game overnight.

The vision and self-confidence to look at a run-down area of Preston filled with cheap takeaways and start serving dishes like moules frittes, poriyal, gravlax and ceviche? An investor might have called them mad, but they were right on the money. The fit and finish of everything in there is still world class, and The Vaults are my favourite place to be. And look at that area now – it’s thriving!

For me, it’s that belief that Preston could be something really special. More of the same, please!

Thanks for chatting to us, Rory!

Be sure to follow Preston Pulse on social media for all the information on local happenings – it’s already looking amazing and we’re expecting great things from the page.

Instagram: @preston.pulse

Facebook: Preston Pulse

Tik Tok: @preston.pulse