Pubs of Manchester

All pubs within the city centre and beyond.
A history of Manchester's hundreds of lost pubs.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Druids' Home, Silk Street

Former Druids' Home, Silk Street, Salford. (c) Eddie_Manchester at flickr.

The Druids' Home was a popular late 1960s Salford estate pub, built by Wilsons Brewery to replace an original Druids Home, on Silk Street just off Blackfriars Road - at least it was in the mid '70s when the Manchester Pub Guide covered it [1].  Cabaret turns, loud music, a young clientele, garish wallpaper and plastic seating in the large front lounge bar complemented electric pumped Wilsons bitter and mild, Carlsberg, Watney Red and Guinness.  A haven to the rear was the vault with darts and dominos, the Druids Home was described as "the pinnacle of the modern housing development style" of pub [1].

In the early 1980s, the Druids' Home turned into a Samuel Webster house and a few years later Banks's Brewery owned it.  Closing in 1987, Banks's soon announced that they had given up the licence for the Stowell Spire on Howard Street / Eccles New Road.  Although no longer a pub, the Druids Home still lives on today as a youth centre.

Former Druids' Home, Silk Street. (c) Google 2011. View Larger Map.

1. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester and Salford City Centres (1975).

8 comments:

  1. My mam and dad managed it!

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  2. Used to go looking for my dad in the Druids. I was only small. Lived on Walter Southern, Cannon street, told me stop, mustn't have been a good look for him!

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    Replies
    1. My grandad, sid knight used to make me cross over the road from the druids, because he said it was dangerous!!

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  3. was there ever a pub on the corner of silk st/blackfriars rd

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  5. when my grandad took me to mocha parade (KWIKSAVE) from walter southern on a saturday afternoon , he used to cross the road at the druids warning me to steer clear of it and i was only 9 !!

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  6. My dad took me in here for years £25 to the winner of the pool competition every Thursday I won most weeks lol I was 12

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