Pubs of Manchester

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

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Queens Arms, Honey Street

Queens Arms, Honey Street. (c) Scottyweb.

This Red Bank pub is one we regrettably missed before it closed its doors for seemingly the last time last year.  The Queens Arms has long been held in high regard amongst the real ale crowd and has been a fixture in the Good Beer Guide.  As recently as 2007 it was named the City Life Pub of the Year, as noted in December 2007's Opening Times from CAMRA.

Queens Arms article in Opening Times, 2007. (c) Stockport & South Manchester CAMRA.

Unfortunately, the Queens Arms was just a bit too far off the beaten track to pick up regular footfall, located up on Honey Street, Red Bank overlooking the north of the city centre from an industrial and depressed part of town.  The area's gradual regeneration as the "Green Quarter," including the hulking great Co-Op development, hasn't spared the only pub in the area.

Queens Arms, Honey Street. (c) Brewery History Society.

The Queens is a fine looking pub, the maroon and green tiling is that of the Empress Brewery, Old Trafford, as noted by the Brewery History Society [1], with more modern Theakstons signs a little out of place.  A superb photo kindly supplied by Alison shows the pub during its extension in 1987... it used to be half the place it is now...


Queens Arms, Honey Street, 1987. (c) Alison G.

The last few years of the pub saw changes of ownership and some closures, not to mention the apparently variable beer quality.  It looks like the last pint has been pulled at the Queens Arms, and one of Manchester's northern gems has gone the way of the Hat & Feathers, Pot of Beer and Crown & Cushion.

Queens Arms, Honey Street. (c) googlemaps.

8 comments:

  1. A cracking boozer in its heyday

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  2. The Queens Arms is open again

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  3. It was open this afternoon but don't expect much in the at of beers, Guinness, Carling and no bottles at all!

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  4. peter lewis fairchild17 March 2019 at 19:59

    I painted this pub in 1954 when i was a student at the High School of Art in Southall Street. The bit that was demolished to form the extension was a derelict UCP shop and the building next to it was another pub, The Albion, which I think is still standing. What a pity that we are losing all these characterful back streets in Manchester

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  5. Used this pub for six years when I worked at Longworth paper and plastics landlord Bernard and Chris great little pub used to be frequented by some of the north’s best wrestlers, must be over forty years ago.

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    1. Used to know many people at Longworth P&P. What did you do there?

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    2. Used to know many people at Longworth P&P. What did you do there?

      Delete
    3. Used to know many people at Longworth P&P. What did you do there?

      Delete