Pubs of Manchester

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

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Bristol Inn, Bristol Street

Bristol Inn, Bristol Street, Hulme, 1966. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Bristol Inn was a rarity for Manchester in that it was a Younger's house, belonging to the Edinburgh brewer. From the 1930s they were swallowed up into Scottish Brewers, Scottish & Newcastle and then Heineken, before Wells & Young's recently bought the brand back. The Bristol Inn was in the middle of this block of Bristol Street towards Radnor Street, was a small boozer with a special brass plate in the doorway which read:

"1888 - On this newel post her most gracious majesty Queen Victoria rested her royal hand."

It's not known whether the Queen actually visited the pub but her and Prince Albert did pass down Stretford Road in 1857 en route to the Art Treasures Exhibition at Old Trafford [1]. The Bristol Inn opened in 1864 [2] so maybe the plate came from the exhibition and was incorporated into the beerhouse. Pictured above in 1966 as Hulme was being pulled down for redevelopment, the Bristol Inn had closed two years earlier in 1964 as a Scottish Brewers house [1]. The old location of the Bristol Inn was roughly where Rawkin Close is in modern Hulme.

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).

12 comments:

  1. I believe a great, great uncle of mine from Market Drayton in Shropshire was beerhouse keeper of the Bristol Inn from about 1865 up to his death in 1869. His name was Edward Swinchatt.

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    1. from 1952 until demolition the Bristol Inn was run by Ted Bamford and Anne Bamford a great pub and loved by some members of the Northern Dance Ochestra Alun Ainsworth visited the pub,

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  2. The Bristol was in the middle of the block. Not on the corner of Radnor St.

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  3. Also the newal post at the foot of the stairs with the plaque queen Victoria rested her hand on this post, was given by the Landlord Ted Bamford to the Wigan Museum Prior to the demolition of a great great Pub. also Les Dawson the comedian who worked for a vacuum company, enjoyed playing the Kemble minx piano before he sold Anne a washing machine.

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  4. Does anyone have information on Biddulph's, an engineering firm that may have been located on Bristol Street? If not there, it was on another street close by in Hulme. The firm was owned by two brothers, I believe.

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    1. There was a commpany opposite the pub called Maxwell Heaters. Making water heaters.

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  5. The landlord of the Bristol Inn, prior to Ted Bamford and Anne Bamford, was Lenord Summers. He vacated the pub in Sept 1951.

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    1. Len was my grandfather, my dad James was his eldest son

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  6. Len Summers,landlord of the Bristol Inn, 1938-1951

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    1. My grandmother she passed in 1983, 40 years ago.

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  7. Len moved to stockport after giving the pub up, he passed away in April 1973 at the age of 83, before running the pub he was a beat police officer around the hulme area. There was spare land at the side of the pub where side shows and traveling fares would perform. My dad, lens eldest son would play with the travelers children, one of them being the actress Julie Andrews,

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