This is from the original Northern crawl thread, but will do to kick off discussion about the route:

Quote Originally Posted by sheffield hatter View Post
Preston is pretty good, but there's quite a long way between pubs. I was there in August with a crew from Beer and Pubs Forum - see this thread: my post on 13 August has itinerary and walking distances, to save you reading the whole thing. Their suggested lunch stop in the Wellington was pretty awful, despite being in the Good Beer Guide, so in the interest of research I also visited Hogarths (cheap beer but good condition), the Princess Alice, the Wellfield and the Plug & Taps microbar (standing room only at tea time). My idea of the best of Preston based on this visit would be as follows:

Continental
Old Vic
Hogarths
Old Blue Bell
Guild Ale House
Moorbrook
Vinyl Tap
Market Tap
Black Horse
Plug & Taps

Others that may be worth a try: The Orchard, Plau, The Northern Way or even the (no longer Mad) Ferret. Any more, anyone?
Suggested route:

Old Vic
Continental
Plug & Taps
Black Horse
Plau/Northern Way/Ferret (wild cards)
Vinyl Tap
Moorbrook
Guild Alehouse
Twelve Tellers/Olde Blue Bell/Hogarths
Market Tap

Haven't checked opening times except Plug & Taps which is 1pm, so should be open by the time we get back from the Continental.

This is only a rough draft and it's more than three months until the day, so I hope there'll be some more ideas.