Nelson: what to know before moving day
Nelson took its name from the Lord Nelson Inn beside the station, chosen when the villages of Great and Little Marsden grew into one town, and it became a borough in 1890. By 1891 there were 57 cotton firms here. The main roads through the centre are the A56 Leeds Road, the A682 Scotland Road and Manchester Road, the A6068 Reedyford Road and Barrowford Road, and the B6249 Carr Road and Every Street, with the canal, Pendle Water and Walverden Water crossing the town.
The Pendle Rise Shopping Centre, opened as the Arndale Centre in 1967, has Nelson Market beneath it, and Nelson Town Hall on Market Square houses both the town and borough councils. Nelson Interchange, opened in 2008, puts the bus station and the railway station on one site. Lomeshaye, by junction 12, is the biggest business park in the town. Listed buildings include the Edwardian Old Library, the 1893 Station Hotel and a brick canal warehouse. For an older house near the centre, check the door and stair widths before booking a large sofa.
How the van gets to Nelson
Nelson has two motorway junctions: junction 13 at Reedyford for the town, and junction 12 at Brierfield for Lomeshaye. The A56 runs from the town centre north-east to Colne and south-west to the M65, and the A682 heads north towards the Dales. From Bradford the van reaches Colne by Keighley on the A6068 or Skipton on the A56, then has only a short run west.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 45 to 60 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Also covered around Nelson
Carr Hall, Little Marsden, Lomeshaye, Whitefield, Catlow, Southfield.
Services for Nelson
Each service below links to its Colne page, which covers how the job works in and around Colne.
Nelson: questions before you book
How many councils does a Nelson address deal with?
Three tiers. Lancashire County Council, Pendle Borough Council and Nelson Town Council, which was created with the new parish in 2008. The town and borough councils are both based at Nelson Town Hall on Market Square.
Which Pendle wards cover Nelson?
Four: Bradley, Brierfield East & Clover Hill, Marsden & Southfield, and Whitefield & Walverden, after the 2020 boundary changes. The town centre postcode checked here, BB9 7LB, is in Bradley.
Areas near Nelson we cover
This place has its own page, with local detail and how the van gets there.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): BB9 7LB is in Bradley ward, Pendle, parish of Nelson
- Nelson, Lancashire (Wikipedia): 33,617 people in 2021, 3 miles north of Burnley and 2 miles south-west of Colne, mill town, Great and Little Marsden, name from the Nelson Inn, borough 1890, 57 cotton firms in 1891, Carr Hall, Lomeshaye business park by junction 12, Pendle Rise Shopping Centre (Arndale 1967) and Nelson Market, Nelson Town Hall on Market Square, town council 2008, four wards, junction 13, A56 and A682, Nelson Interchange 2008
- Nelson railway station (Wikipedia): named after the Nelson Inn at Marsden, part of Nelson Interchange with the bus station opened December 2008
- Listed buildings in Nelson (Wikipedia, from the National Heritage List): Old Library (Edwardian Baroque), Station Hotel 1893, Leeds and Liverpool Canal warehouse in red brick
- OpenStreetMap map data: A56 Leeds Road, A682 Scotland Road and Manchester Road, A6068 Reedyford Road and Barrowford Road, B6249 Carr Road and Every Street, M65 junctions 12 and 13, canal, Pendle Water, Walverden Water, Nelson Town Hall, Lomeshaye Industrial Estate, Whitefield and Little Marsden suburbs
- postcodes.io reverse lookup at the OS Open Names point for Catlow (listed under 'Also covered'): nearest postcode BB10 3RN, Marsden & Southfield ward, Pendle
- postcodes.io reverse lookup at the OS Open Names point for Southfield (listed under 'Also covered'): nearest postcode BB10 3RJ, Marsden & Southfield ward, Pendle