Crown, Fountain Street. (c) beerintheevening.
Having just re-opened again following an ownership change, this pub changes little, irrelevant of who is in charge (as seen in this 1970s photo from the Archive). Just one large room with a central bar area, there is plenty of seating and standing only space for your evening reveller. Attracting mainly office types during the week, and your "slighly posher than the Printworks" crowd at weekends, there is a place for a pub like this if only for one on a crawl. Unfortunately for the Crown, the far superior City Arms and the Vine are within spitting distance, so you're unlikely to end up in here by choice unless very drunk or the others are closed (the Crown does open till 2am on the weekend). Oh, and despite having proper pumps, there was no real ale available. The Crown was a gentleman's club in back in the day, and allegedly was so sophisticated it only served ale in half pints [1]. These three 1962 photos show the original and rather regal Crown, and a year later, here it is demolished before the ugly, present day Crown was built.
Having just re-opened again following an ownership change, this pub changes little, irrelevant of who is in charge (as seen in this 1970s photo from the Archive). Just one large room with a central bar area, there is plenty of seating and standing only space for your evening reveller. Attracting mainly office types during the week, and your "slighly posher than the Printworks" crowd at weekends, there is a place for a pub like this if only for one on a crawl. Unfortunately for the Crown, the far superior City Arms and the Vine are within spitting distance, so you're unlikely to end up in here by choice unless very drunk or the others are closed (the Crown does open till 2am on the weekend). Oh, and despite having proper pumps, there was no real ale available. The Crown was a gentleman's club in back in the day, and allegedly was so sophisticated it only served ale in half pints [1]. These three 1962 photos show the original and rather regal Crown, and a year later, here it is demolished before the ugly, present day Crown was built.
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The 1962 version looks a lot better! It's flirted with cask over the years and who can forget the gay Aussie barman-those were the days.
ReplyDeleteI can confirm that the Crown was indeed a " gentleman's club " and sold beer in half pint measures and no ladies allowed.
ReplyDeleteWe used to get a passout ( stamp on back of hand ) from the unlisenced " Three Coins " and grab a couple of swift halves between acts.
We included the Three Coins/Staxx (http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.com/2010/12/three-coins-staxx-club-fountain-street.html). There were plenty more unlicensed clubs / coffee houses that we will eventually get round to including, such was their importance in the Manchester scene in the 50s & 60s...
ReplyDeleteThe "demolished" photo isn't of the site of the Crown, but a site on Cross Street. You can see the street sign "Four Yards" in the background.
ReplyDelete