Black Boy, Lower Moss Lane

Black Boy, Lower Moss Lane, Hulme. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The Black Boy opened at No.77 Lower Moss Lane on the corner of Bedford Street in 1847 [2] and was a freehouse owned by William Kay of the Britannia Brewery of Hulme [1].  The brewery demolished the original beerhouse, rebuilding a grand boozer which they hoped would get a spirits licence, but this never happened although it was granted a wine licence.  When Wilson's of Newton Heath took over the Britannia Brewery in 1903, the Black Boy became a Wilson's house until its eventual demolition in 1963 after a compulsory purchase order to make way for Chorlton Road [2].

Bob Potts' second book contains a full account of the running of the Black Boy by its final landlord, Harry Mann:  'the Blackie' was a well-built pub with central heating and fire places... it had an oak statue of a black boy placed at the front of a gable wall high above the front door... We sold Wilsons bitter, which was comparable in quality to any bitter sold anywhere.  Our weekly barrelage was three barrels of bitter (108 gallons) and four half-barrels of mild (72 gallons)... The Black Boy was a family pub and entire families got together in the singing-room at weekends... The work in the pub is mainly in the cellar and the pleasure of a pub is in meeting and serving customers [1].

Former location of Black Boy, Lower Moss Lane. (c) Google 2013. 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).