On the corner of Blackfriars Road and St Stephen Street, this magnificent flat iron public house has thankfully been lovingly preserved as smart looking flats. The Broughton Tavern was briefly known as the Printers Arms when it was first licensed in 1818 on Green Bank (an old name for this part of Broughton Road, which became Blackfriars Road). By 1824 it was renamed the Broughton Tavern and remained until the 1870s and '80s when Blackfriars Road was created and the pub was rebuilt about 15 yards from the original site. Now on a wedge shaped and uneven plot of land, the Broughton Tavern became a Groves & Whitnall house by the early twentieth century and had a boxing ring upstairs [1].
Broughton Tavern, Blackfriars Road, 1974. (c) NAH1952 at flickr.
Greenall Whitley took over in the 1960s and the Pub Guide describes "an excellent example of a substantial, largely untouched, Victorian public house" with high ceilings, fine woodwork and old glass panels with "Commercial Room" and "News Room" engraved. Cask Greenalls was the drink of choice along with Guinness and Grunhalle lager in this slightly decaying pub which was nevertheless well worth a visit [2]. The pub company Ascot Taverns bought it in 1991 and unsurprisingly - given the behaviour of some Pub Cos - they closed it two years later, but thankfully it was spared the wrecking ball and remains a spectacular sight when travelling towards town.
Broughton Tavern, Blackfriars Road, 1970s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].
Broughton Tavern, Blackfriars Road. (c) Manchester Pub Surveys [2].
1. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
2. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres, Manchester Pub Surveys (1975).
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