The name Lodge Road derives from the site of the old Lodge for Alsager Hall; the road itself was part of the main route from Sandbach to Nantwich. There was an inn, formerly called the Holly Bush, on the corner, licensed in the 18th century; from an early date it was also the centre of a working farm, and came by the early 19th century to be called the Lodge. Oats, wheat and barley were sold at regular markets here, and animals were brought for stud purposes. Annual meetings of the vestry alternated between the Lodge Inn and the Plough until 1853, after which the Alsager Arms was used instead of the Lodge.
The last publican was John Fox, who went from here to open the new Lodge Inn on Crewe Road in 1854. His successor at the farm was John Creed Mayer, who had, ironically, been a Burslem publican as well as a businessman and developer. His son Francis trained as a solicitor, and became the first clerk to the urban district council as well as builder of a large house, the Gables, on the corner of Church road and Chancery Lane. Arthur Tomkinson, a mine-owner, one of the purchasers of land round the Mere in the late 1870s, lived, briefly, at the Lodge before moving to Clover Bank, behind the Firs on Sandbach Road North. One or other or both of these refashioned the premises. By 1886 Frank Rigby, son and heir of an Audley mine owner (who was brought up in Church Lawton) had become owner, and is unlikely to have carried on farming. He considerably enlarged the house in 1897, lining his billiards room with panelling which had started life as Christ Church box pews, removed from the church at its centenary revamp. In his time the house came to be called Westmere Lodge.
The Lodge was bought in 1906 by W. Huntley Goss whose father founded Goss pottery. He and his family were to live there until 1930. The Lodge itself with its grounds were then sold to a builder, Albert Perry, who divided the enlarged house into two, and engaged in all sorts of marketing ploys for his wider scheme, the creation of a small housing estate in the grounds. This fell foul of the council, and all that remains of it is 24 to 28 Lodge Road. Three other detached houses were built for owner-occupiers along the road between the wars.
