The brilliant Kersal Flats website pays homage to one of Manchester's (well, Salford's) most famous lost estates. Along with the likes of Manchester History, Ex-Hulme and the Manchester District Music Archive, it's one of the essential Manchester websites.
Kersal Flatsm before and after. (c) kersalflats.
Please visit the site to read about the fascinating history of the area, its transformation into the unforgettable estate, the characters, the floods, its eventual and inevitable decline, and the final demolition of most of the high-rises.
The estate's pub was The Castle, a Greenall Whitley house built in 1971 and opened by Sir Jimmy Savile (RIP) [1]. While it survived the October 1990 demolition of eight of the towers, its custom was obviously hit and it closed a while later. The last landlord was Harold Foster, his story detailed below in the press cutting.
The Castle, Kersal Way, Kersal. (c) kersalflats.
There are loads more photos of the Castle and its locals on the website, although it's not yet been confirmed exactly when the Castle was demolished. All images used with kind permission from the webmaster.
The Castle, Kersal Way, Kersal. (c) kersalflats.
On the site there is also an album that was recorded live in the Castle in 1975!
ReplyDeleteKersal site is rubbish. All old stuff pinched from other sites.
ReplyDeleteWent in the castle once, I think it was about 1981 or maybe 82. I seem to remember thinking it was a bit of a rough house. I went in the vault, according to a regular I got talking to, he said that was the best bit, if it was going to kick off it was in the room
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