The Ship Tavern was on the corner of Byrom Street and Eltoft Street. This 1965 shot shows the Ship Tavern after closure and as the street was being demolished. A photo from the same position some years earlier in The Manchester Village shows the Ship as a Walker's Warrington Ales house with a Falstaff Ales sign on the roof as well [1]. Despite its respectable appearance, it had a reputation for serving prostitutes who would try to seduce the drunks. 'Deansgate School' stood on Eloft Street as shown in this 1965 photo and in later years the site of the old Eltoft Street was subject to an archaeological dig, as seen in 1978.
1. The Manchester Village: Deansgate Remembered, Frank Heaton/Neil Richardson (1995).
I grew up in Eltoft street in the early '50s and remember the pub. I walked into it, I was about 4 or 5 years old and I remember the scene clearly. Lots of old folks, so they seemed to me, and someone said "There's Arnold's boy" and the patrons gave me pennies and ha'pennies. I was rich! I knew the school as St Mary's or St Ann's but could be confusing it with somewhere else.
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