The King William IV closed as recently as 2003 on Springfield Lane, just off Greengate and Trinity Way at the northern tip of our Salford boundary. Against the odds it had survived a severe lack of custom as a Marstons pub in the 1970s [1] and also the demolition all around it. In the 1980s and '90s was a freehouse, somehow still surviving in this scandalously ruined part of Salford.
King William the Fourth, Springfield Lane, 2009. (c) poldyicarus at flickr.
It looks like it's finally gone, as a virtual walk up Springfield Lane shows the tell-tale pink hoardings and nowt but an already overgrown space where the pub stood on the corner of the Lane and Senior Street.
King William IV, Springfield Lane, 2009. (c) poldyicarus at flickr.
Former location of King William VI, Springfield Lane. (c) googlemaps.
In busier times, the King William VI was licensed in 1835 with a brewery alongside on Senior Street. The pub advertised a large clubroom but the brewery closed in 1863 before the pub was bought up by Taylor's Eagle Brewery in the early twentieth century. The pub was used to trial Marston's Burton beers and so popular were they that Marston's took over in 1924. The pub closed in 1980 but then reopened as a freehouse a year later when it enjoyed a further 22 years before finally closing [2].
1. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres (1975).
2. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
My aunt was landlady of this pub in 70s up to when it shut in 1980. I was only a kid but I remember it quite well.
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