The Bee Hive stood on the south-west corner of Martha Street and West Worsley Street, just off Regent Road. It opened as a beerhouse in 1868, later belonging to Watson, Woodhead & Wagstaffe before passing to Walker & Homfray in 1912. Apparently, the Bee Hive was forced to close in 1939 as it only sold two barrels and two dozen bottles a week, averaging only four customers a day [2]. The photo shown above is listed as 1972 so it must have reopened and before finally being lost due to compulsory purchase orders for the area's regeneration. The approximate site of the old boozer is at the bend of Craven Avenue.
2. Salford Pubs - Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).
The Bee Hive is one of the very few anomalies in Neil Richardson's work. As you say, Neil's entry concludes with the pub closing in 1939 but is then illustrated with a picture of an open looking Bee Hive dated 1972.
ReplyDeleteFurther evidence that the pub survived into the 60s and 70s can be found in the 1994 local history publication, 'Barbary Coast Revisited', subtitled 'A book by Ordsall about Ordsall'. In one section, former Ordsall resident, Paul Ramsbottom, remembers his youth in the 1960s and in particular the pubs of Ordsall and Trafford Road. On pages 26-27 he recalls "They were community places. I mean Coronation Street is supposed to represent a Salford Street, but I'd put that back twenty years, Salford's nothing like that now. That Rovers pub, that is something similar to, like the Beehive on West Worsley Street or the Little Tatton, just off Tatton Street, near Woodbine Street. There were loads of them Rover's Return type pubs in the Ordsall area, absolutely loads of 'em".
The 'Barbary Coast', incidentally, was also the new name originally proposed for the Craven Heifer on Cross Lane before it was renamed the Golden Gate. The original choice was apparently rejected by Salford Council because it was 'a reminder of when the dockland area was full of fights and slums'.
I think we can excuse the late, great Mr Richardson this one! Great information about the Ordsall book, I'll try to locate a copy. Cheers
ReplyDeleteI lived a few doors down, it was never open as a pub between 1959-72. It was used as a private residence by the Burke family
ReplyDeleteHi, I am sure this was the pub my grandad lived in, I was wondering if you knew them.
DeleteI was a friend of Mike Burke who lived in the beehive whe it was not a pub
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