Pubs of Manchester

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

Sunday 30 September 2012

Eagle, Stretford Road


Eagle, Stretford Road, Hulme. Anthony Scally at Ex Hulme facebook.

This Eagle opened in  1837 and was a Walker & Homfray house [1], closing as a Wilsons house in 1968 [2] when Hulme underwent its first regeneration.  It was on the corner of Upper Moss Lane and Stretford Road and today some pleasant looking flats sit on the site of the old pub.  However, the Eagle did live on after its demolition, as the estate pub of the same name was built on nearby Robert Adam Crescent, lasting only a couple of decades before being swept away along with the disastrous Hulme Crescents.

Eagle, Stretford Road, Hulme. (c) Google 2012. View Larger Map.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme Manchester (1) 1770-1930, Bob Potts (1983).
2. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Friday 28 September 2012

Dog & Partridge, Bolton Road


Dog & Partridge, Bolton Road, Irlams O'Th' Height. (c) Google 2012. View Larger Map.

The Dog & Partridge closed about 4 years ago after two shooting incidents in as many months.  Ironically this old Bass house is now in use as a doctor's surgery, The Height General Practice.

Dog & Partridge, Bolton Road, Irlams O'Th' Height. (c) SSP Health.

This end of Salford is known as Irlams O'Th' Height, so named after the Irlam family who ran another pub nearby, the Pack Horse, and because as it stands at the head of the Irwell Valley.


Dog & Partridge, Bolton Road, Irlams O'Th' Height, 1973. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

Until its closure, this stretch of Bolton Road boasted a hattrick of pubs - the Wellington, Dog & Partridge and the Waggon & Horses.  It is telling that the Pub Co-owned boozer was the one to go, while the two Joseph Holt estate pubs survive.


Wellington, Dog & Partridge, Waggon & Horses, Bolton Road, Irlams O'Th' Height. (c) Google 2012. View Larger Map.

1. www.flickr.com/photos/61756486@N05.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Pop Inn, Platt Lane


Former Pop Inn, Platt Lane, Rusholme. (c) Google 2012. View Larger Map.

Above what used to be a Co-Op on the corner of Yew Tree Road and Platt Lane was Co-Op Hall, a dance venue that was opened as the Pop Inn in the swinging sixties.  Originally the Pop Inn was unlicensed like many of Manchester's clubs, but in later years it became licensed to try to boost attendances.  The entrance to the club was actually on Yew Tree Road, and the double doors led to a neon-lit staircase which was wallpapered with a floral, puce effect.  The tunes were Motown, Rhythm 'n' Blues and Pop, and an early style of line-dancing was practiced here by the youthful revellers [1].  

Former Pop Inn, Platt Lane, Rusholme. (c) Google 2012. View Larger Map.

The 1960s and '70s City players who used trained opposite here at the Platt Lane training ground in Rusholme were probably more interested in visiting the pubs and clubs in the city centre than a teetotal line-dancing club.  These days the Co-Op is now a continental supermarket and the old entrance has details of the Muslim community centre which is now housed here.  While the Pop Inn probably closed in the '70s, MCFC still have a presence here with the youth teams based at Platt Lane, but not for long as they will soon be relocating to the new Etihad Campus at Clayton Arm.

1. www.manchesterbeat.com/venues/rusholme/popinn/popinn.php.

Monday 24 September 2012

Hulme Labour Club, Bonsall Street


Hulme Labour Club, Bonsall Street, Hulme, 1995. (c) Mick Pye with kind permission.

Looking grim here in the mid-1990s, the Hulme Labour Club is shown at the archive in happier times just after it opened, in 1971 as part of the new, regenerated Hulme.  Why the council or the owners eventually decided to brick up the windows is rather obvious when the disturbing history of this disastrous 1970s Hulme redevelopment is considered.  The Hulme Labour Club played host to famous bands back in the day, such as The Fall in 1977 and Fast Cars the following year.  However, by the mid-'80s the place had closed and was being used as a squat, perhaps by the sort of chaps shown below (it's "Dave Hulmanoid" with the hat).

Hulme Labour Club, Bonsall Street, Hulme, mid-'90s. (c) Mick Pye at Manchester District Music Archive [1].

Digging through the archives brings up this sorry story from 1982 in The Tribune:  "AT AN election night social in the Hulme Labour Club in May, two gay men suffered an unprovoked attack which resulted in both of them requiring hospital treatment.  The club, which has a long record of discrimination against gay people, has refused to condemn the attack or take any action against the attacker whose identity is widely known as a member of Hulme Labour Club.  Hulme Labour Party has now decided to break all connections with the club and will picket it every Friday evening."  Bonsall Street still spans Princess Road today, just south of Stretford Road; the club is, of course, gone.

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?aid=8607&vid=631.

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Church Inn, Palmerston Street

Church Inn, Palmerston Street, Ancoats. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

On the corner of Russell Street and Palmerston Street, the Church Inn was a Groves & Whitnall house that lasted until 1966.  It was known locally as "Bill Illingworth's", the landlord, who was also a partner in Illingworth & Ingham's builders of Old Trafford [1].  The old location of the Church Inn is roughly where the pin is on this modern day map of Palmerston Street on the Ancoats / Beswick border.

1. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).

Clarence, Slater Street

Clarence, Slater Street, 1920s. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Clarence was the last pub standing on Slater Street before the properties were all bought up and knocked down under a 1960s Compulsory Purchase Order.  The Clarence was a Threlfalls house that stood  here just off Rochdale Road from 1851 to 1964 [1].  The street still runs through this part of inner city north Manchester (just about Collyhurst) today but has been renamed Sudell Street.

1. The Old Pubs of Rochdale Road and neighbourhood Manchester, Bob Potts (1985).

Burns Tavern, Slater Street

Burns Tavern, Slater Street, 1912. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Burns Tavern was a Walkers of Warrington house which stood on Slater Street from 1850 to 1930.  By the time it had closed, the Burns Tavern had passed to Tetley's of Leeds [1], wand even in the halcyon days of the pub trade, must have been quite usual for a large out of town brewery to take a small backstreet boozer in another city.  Slater Street has been renamed Sudell Street these days, and runs parallel to and east of Rochdale Road, just past the Marble Arch.

1. The Old Pubs of Rochdale Road and neighbourhood Manchester, Bob Potts (1985).

Sunday 16 September 2012

Britannia, Whit Lane

Britannia, Whit Lane, Salford, 1973. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

When it closed in 1974, the Britannia Inn on the corner of Clegg Street and Whit Lane was known locally as "Yeb's" after an old landlord from the late 1800s called Abraham Roscoe.  Why Yeb's is unclear but he was behind the bar of his Holt's pub for 20-odd years and it stuck.  The Britannia opened in the 1850s boasting a tap room, sitting room, lobby, parlour and kitchen.  Joseph Holt took ownership in 1893 and the pub passed from Yeb to three subsequent family members (which may explain how the nickname stuck) before its closure on 4th July 1974 [2].  The precise location of the old Britannia isn't clear.

2. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Clarence Hotel, Whit Lane

Clarence Hotel, Whit Lane, Salford, 1973. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

This pub was on the corner of Enys Street and Whit Lane and started out as a beerhouse attached to a brewery on Suspension Road (now known as Gerald Road) in the 1830s.  Originally the Whit Lane Tavern, it was then renamed the Church Inn when St George's Church opened in the 1850s.  In 1883 the beerhouse was replaced by the Clarence Hotel and it was granted its full licence in 1886.  Threlfalls Brewery took over soon after and it passed to Whitbread before it was demolished in the mid-1970s [2].  The appoximate location of the Clarence Hotel was here on the small lower stretch of Whit Lane that still survives.

1. www.flickr.com/photos/61756486@N05.
2. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindeheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Friday 14 September 2012

Kersal Hotel, Moor Lane

Kersal Hotel, Moor Lane, Kersal, 1990. (c) deltrems at flickr.

When Kersal Moor was the venue for the Manchester Racecouse in the 1700s and 1800s, there was an alehouse opposite to cater for spectators and participants.  Its first name was probably the Running Horses, as recorded in 1776, and in the next century the pub was known as the Racehorse, the Turf Tavern and the Griffin & Turf Tavern.  It was described as having a bowling green, archery grounds, gardens, and booths that were rented out to Manchester shopkeepers on race day [1].


Former location of Kersal Hotel, Moor Lane, Kersal. (c) Google 2012 View Larger Map.

When the Manchester Racecourse moved from Kersal to Castle Irwell in the 1840s, the Turf Tavern's brewhouse was sold and the pub was converted into a hotel.  The Kersal Hotel had 15 rooms and it now boasted "the best bowling green near Manchester."  Boddingtons Brewery bought the Kersal Hotel in 1893 and rebuilt it into the grand pub shown here on the corner of Oaklands Road and Moor Lane.  It only offered three bedrooms now but was still was described as "the largest and most up to date hotel in the district [1]."


Kersal Hotel, Moor Lane, Kersal. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr.

In more recent times the pub was also known as the Kersal Moor Hotel and it survived into the 1990s, still under Boddingtons.  Sadly, the pub closed in the mid-'90s and was left empty for almost a decade. It was finally demolished in 2004 and has since been replaced by a block of new-build flats.  At the Lost Pubs of Prestwich Historypin site you can see a nicely done before-and-after shot of the Kersal Hotel and what's since replaced it [2].


Kersal Hotel, Moor Lane, Kersal. (c) Lost Pubs of Prestwich by S100py [2].

1. Salford Pubs Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).

Thursday 13 September 2012

Bird In Hand, Back Borough Street

Bird In Hand, Back Borough Street, Charlestown. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

Tucked away on Back Borough Street off Whit Lane when this street used to run all the way down to Broughton Road / Cromwell Road, the Bird In Hand beerhouse opened in about the 1840s.  It was bought by Cardwells Brewery and passed to Wilsons when they bought up the smaller brewery and its pubs in 1899.  The Bird In Hand had a different Wilsons frontage to most of its pubs as it was hidden away behind the Whit Lane shops.  It had a its sign above the door angled so that it could be seen by passers-by on Borough Street.  Like most pubs in this part of Charlestown, it was lost in 1973 following the clearances [1].

1. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Three Terriers, Union Street

Three Terriers, Union Street, Charlestown. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

This Charlestown boozer opened in the 1860s and was a Boddingtons Brewery house by the early 1900s.  The Three Terriers stood on Union Street, which still just about runs through the area, and the pub stood on its own for a while after the rest of the street was cleared.  The Three Terriers was eventually knocked down in the mid-'70s after closing in 1973 [2].

1. www.flickr.com/photos/61756486@N05.
2. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Gardener's Arms, Pendleton Street

Gardener's Arms, Pendleton Street, Charlestown. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

A lost pub on a lost street, the Gardener's Arms stood on the corner of Pendleton Street and Pump Street in the Charlestown area of Salford. It can be traced back to 1838 and the first  brewery to own it was Issott's Brewery of Ardwick, in 1894.  By then some of Pendleton Street was already disappearing to make way for Cromwell Road, and in the early 1900s, Wilsons Brewery took the Gardener's leasehold. They owned the boozer by 1926 and gave it the classic Wilsons cement render and 'Sign of Quality' draughtboard sign, as seen above in the 1950s but which disappeared in the '60s.  The Gardener's Arms closed in 1973 as part of the Whit Lane compulsory purchase order [1].

Gardener's Arms, Pendleton Street, Charlestown, 1972. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [2].

1. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Thursday 6 September 2012

Wheatsheaf, Broad Street

 Wheatsheaf, Broad Street, Salford. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

This little Salford pub was in a row of shops of Broad Street between Chapel Street and John Street, and was originally known as the Independent Oddfellows Arms in the earlier half of the 1800s.  The Watson & Woodhead Brewery had the Wheatsheaf by the end of the century and by the time of the First World War, the Manchester Brewery Company (a Walker & Homfray subsidiary) had the pub.  The brewery added a distinctive, inset curved front window and coloured tiling, and the Wheatsheaf lasted until 1970 when it closed as a Wilsons house [2].  As the Wheatsheaf shut, landlord John Shortman moved to the newly built Woolpack, which is sadly closed these days. 


Wheatsheaf, Broad Street, Salford. (c) Neil Richardson [2].

2. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Shakespeare, Stretford Road

Shakespeare, Stretford Road, Hulme. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Shakespeare opened on the corner of Renshaw Street and Stretford Road in 1842 and was a Stopford Brewery house before Walker & Homfray took it [2].  It closed in 1967 as a Wilsons house [1], typical of the style with its whitewashed frontage.  Since the regeneration of Hulme in the 1970s, Renshaw Street has been known as Epping Street, and the site of the old Shakespeare is these rather grim box-flats near the Hulme Arch.

Former location of the Shakespeare, Stretford Road, Hulme. (c) Google 2012. View Larger Map.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).
2. The Old Pubs of Hulme Manchester 1770-1930, Bob Potts (1983).

Waterloo / Neptune Inn, Preston Street

Waterloo, Preston Street, Hulme. (c) Bob Potts [1].

Shown above in 1952, the Waterloo was at No.10 Preston Street, and was formerly known as the Neptune Inn when it opened in 1844 [2]. The Waterloo had time as a J H Lees (different to today's J W Lees), Walker & Homfray and finally Wilsons house, before it closed in 1965 [1].  Preston Street used to run from Upper Moss Lane to Warde Street, and the Waterloo was at the top end, where today Ellis Street meets Warde Street.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).
2. The Old Pubs of Hulme Manchester (1) 1770-1930, Bob Potts (1983).

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Victoria, Crown Square

Victoria, Crown Square. Copyright (c) Manchester Local Image Collection..

The Victoria was at the other end of Crown Square to the Stanneylands Vth, part of an office block, possibly a barristers chambers.  This Tetley's pub had a ground floor entrance and you went up some stairs to the bar on the first floor.  Mike Coatman remembers the Victoria having a unique atmosphere: "It was frequented by defendants from the Magistrates and Crown Courts, together with the solicitors and barristers who were prosecuting or defending them."

The photo of the Victoria shown above was taken by H. Milligan in the 1970s and is Copyright Manchester Local Image Collection.  Displaying the image adheres to their policy of allowing not-for-profit sites to display a limited number of images in low resolution.  Please click here for information on the photo, and here for a larger, higher resolution image.  The Archive Collection is a fantastic resource - just type in a street name or location and up pops some fantastic old pictures.