Friday 16 July 2010

Grapes, Deansgate


Grapes, Deansgate. (c) Frank Heaton/Neil Richardson [1].

Ivy Forth was barmaid at the Grapes on Deansgate (at the Liverpool Road end) for a time in the early 20th century: "A lot of loose people went in there and the pub used to stay open all hours of the night. My husband was a bit of a fighter and if any of the rough customers spoke to me he was quick enough to put the fist in [1]." Between 1941 and 1948 the Grapes was actually used as a replacement synagogue after a main Manchester synagogue was bombed. Inside the pub-cum-place of worship was a door set into the wall, about 10 feet off the ground which presumably was an old entrance from higher ground at the rear of the pub, and it's said that women used to watch the prayers through this door as they weren't allowed onto the main floor.

1. The Manchester Village: Deansgate Remembered, Frank Heaton/Neil Richardson (1995).

6 comments:

  1. wonderfulpub in 60s

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  2. One of George Best's regular haunts in the early 70s

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  3. The Grapes closed in the early 70s and relocated to Little Quay Street as the New Grapes where I was once introduced to George Best. At some point the name changed to the Old Grapes and it closed in its turn in 2016.

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  4. My office local in the 1960s. I left Manchester in 1967. Bill Barr, an American ex-serviceman, was the landlord. Free house and a superb lunchtime buffet. Convenient for the Phonograph Club a short walk away.

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    1. MY mam worked there for years for Billy and Lilah

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  5. The grapes was a cracking pub sold loads of different cheeses,fine beers.

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