Whatever happened to the rooftop Lancia Lambda?

If you ever drove cross-country from Blackburn to Blackpool in the 1960s (avoiding the four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire…), chances are you passed through the town of Inskip. And, as a motoring enthusiast, you would surely have remembered. For The Derby Arms pub in Inskip – better known as The Motoring Bar or the Grand Prix Bar – had nothing less than a Lancia Lambda mounted on its roof to attract visitors.

The Derby Arms is believed to have been the first motoring-themed pub in the country, and is also said to be the birthplace of “Chicken in the Basket” – or so the story goes. There is some delightful British Pathé footage showing the pub’s exterior and interior in vivid colour and detail. Note also the other pre-war cars arriving in the film.

The main question that remains with us, however, is: what became of the Lancia? And what model Lambda was it, anyway? We came across a photograph of it being hoisted into place by Inskip Motors, and the picture looks as though it could even date back to the 1950s. But how long did the Lambda stay up there? Even if it stood on the roof for decades, might it still have been salvageable? Who knows more about the fate of this remarkable car?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture source unknown

Published:

Monday September 8th, 2025

DAVID BURGESS-WISE

14 September 2025, 18:34

There was also the Horseless Carriage at Chingford Hatch, which opened in 1965 (long gone!) which had a veteran on display. The film recommended by Zack Stiling brought back memories, as a young motoring writer I not only took part in the opening of the Two Hoots restaurant in Bishopsgate with my 1927 Clyno but also met Peter Sellers and Britt Ecklund at the launch of the Radford Mini. Happy days!

Kees Jan Boosman

10 September 2025, 21:41

This Lambda is alive and well, I last saw it in 2021 at the GP Nuvolari event in Mantova, Italy. It is now in The Netherlands with Dutch registration.
The Pub still exists, alas without the excitement, and is just south of Inskip on the B5269.

Don Williamson

10 September 2025, 14:00

The Lambda was brought down from it's perch and was being restored but I have not heard about it for some years.

Zack Stiling

09 September 2025, 18:50

Themed museum taverns were once not an uncommon thing. We find this interesting little excerpt in Thomas Burke's "The English Inn" (1930): "Then there are those taverns which, if they do not offer entertainment in the form of music and sing-song, offer it in other forms. Many years ago, when music and dancing were first prohibited in taverns, it became the custom for publicans to go to much trouble in making their houses interesting, and to this end some of them formed collections of curiosities. A few only of these now remain. The Marquis of Granby, at New Cross, still has its collection of weapons and other trophies; the Union, at Camberwell, its bird specimens from all parts of the world; the Wheatsheaf, at Aldgate, its war museum; and the Hole in the Wall, in Borough, its collection of all sorts of curios. The George, in George Court, off the Strand, used to have a living aviary on its roof, but this has now, I believe, gone. The Bell and Mackerel, at Mile End, still has, I hope, its exhaustive entemological collection which I saw some years ago. This was an exhaustive collection of many thousands of specimens, properly displayed and documented; as interesting to the student of insect life as the collection of old playbills at Rule's must be to students of the stage."

The Derby Arms was not the only hostelry to adopt motoring as a theme, as this slightly earlier film shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPI2aq7OT3E

Around the same period, London had its own vintage car restaurant called Two Hoots, a brief snippet of which may be enjoyed in this short film: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/37966/

Peter Caunt

09 September 2025, 00:07

In the 1960/70's I used to organise the local (North West) area for the Armstrong Siddley Owners Club and used the Derby Arms several times - obviously a place of great interest to us. We did visit other pubs in the Lancashire/North Cheshire area since these counties have some excellent pubs. Having mamber in Chester, we had to look at Cheshire to give him a rest fromt travelling to Lancahsire pubs since he almost always appeared at our local meets. A Great Pub but cannot help with the car - it was still there when I left in June 1982 for Australia. Best Wishes, to All,

Keith Kuehn

08 September 2025, 19:31

WOWZA, what a cool pub! Is it still there? Getting your beer out of a gas pump is just the neatest thing I have seen, and the use of a car (Rolls-Royce) radiator for a heater is just precious! Somebody sure put their mind to good use in coming up with all that. Plus, the carpet! I am impressed! MY KINDA PLACE!

Whatever happened to the rooftop Lancia Lambda?

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