Pubs of Manchester

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

Friday 29 March 2013

Albert, Regent Road

Albert, Regent Road, Salford. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

The Albert opened in the 1860s on the corner of Comus Street and Regent Road, at the other end of the row to the Spread Eagle.  By the 1870s it was owned by Crown Brewery of Hulme who almost changed the name of the beerhouse to the United Tavern in 1875.  In the mid-twentieth century the Albert became a Bass house, but unlike many of its Regent Road neighbours, was not rebuilt or extended despite an attempt in 1945, and only became fully-licensed in the 1960s [2]. 

Albert (left), Regent Road, Salford. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

The Albert is pictured top in 1974 and above in 1959 (pre-face lift), and the boozer lasted until 1982 when it was demolished for the widening of Regent Road [2].  Comus Street still runs north off Regent Road today; in the past there was a school behind the row in which the Albert stood (see top photo), but today there is an empty industrial unit in its place.

Former location of Albert, Regent Road. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

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

Turf Tavern / Moulders Arms, Chaney Street

Moulders Arms, Chaney Street, Hanky Park, Salford. (c) Tony Flynn [1].

The Turf Tavern was a beerhouse that opened in the 1860s on the south side of Chaney Street, off Chapel Street and just south of Broad Street in Hanky Park.  Originally it was a single house at No.35 but in the 1880s it expanded into next door at No.37 and was renamed the Moulders Arms [1].  Pictured here outside his beerhouse in 1912 is landlord Samuel Rainey with a couple of nosey customers peering out through the vault window.  By now the Moulders was owned by Walkers Brewery of Warrington but sadly it closed in 1927 when the beerhouse was considered structurally unsuitable, with poor custom (an average of six customers) and was no longer needed as there were 22 other licensed premises within 300 yards [2].  The old location of the Turf / Moulders was not far from opposite where the closed Woolpack is today on Meyrick Road / Belvedere Road

Moulders Arms, Chaney Street, Hanky Park. (c) Neil Richardson [2].

1. Hanky Park, Tony Flynn (1990).
2. Salford Pubs Part Three: including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Steam Engine Tavern, Dainton Street

Steam Engine Tavern, Dainton Street, Ardwick. (c) Manchester Local Image Collection. Click here to view full size image.

The Steam Engine Tavern was a big Chesters house on the corne of Higher Sheffield Street and Dainton Street near Ardwick Station. Shown in 1963 and 1969 at the archives, it may have stood on this corner (if indeed the lost Higher Sheffield Street once intersected here), looking towards the railway viaduct.

Former location of Steam Engine Tavern, Dainton Street, Ardwick. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Kings Arms / Vine Tavern, Ellor Street

Kings Arms, Ellor Street, Hanky Park, Salford. (c) Tony Flynn [1].

In the early 1850s the Vine Tavern opened on the corner of Albion Place and Ellor Street, Hanky Park, just a few doors east of Hankinson Street, which gave the area its name.  Apparently, you might not have been considered a true 'Hanky Parker' if you lived on Ellor Street; you had to live on Hankinson Street itself [1].  However, the Vine Tavern, soon to be renamed the Kings Arms at some point after the 1870s under licensees Charles and George Crapper, was popular with Hanky Parkers, who knew it as Crapper's.  Thomas Casewell took over the beerhouse by 1910, followed by Alfred Casewell in the '30s, and the Kings Arms was duly nicknamed Casewell's.  A compulsory purchase order was issued to the now Tetley's house in 1959 (pictured above in 1961), and Casewell's lasted until 1964 until it had to make way for major redevelopments [2]. 

Tony Flynn tells some fine tales about Casewell's in 'Hanky Park' [1]. Local bricklayer, Sam Gill, who liked a drink, would go straight to the boozer after work most nights.  His wife, Agnes, got fed up of this on a fourth night on a row and stormed off to to Casewell's to teach him a lesson.  She shovelled his tea into a carrier bag and plonked it down on the bar, saying he needn't bother coming home for it.  That didn't stop Sam and he stayed supping all night and was helped home by the barmaid.  On another occasion Sam marched into the bar of the Brass Handles (Royal Oak), announcing "Drinks all round, on me!", and then snuck out to Casewell's while there was a mad rush to the bar [1].  If you draw a line west from the bit of Ellor Street that still survives, the Kings Arms was close to where it would meet Hankinson Way.

1. Hanky Park, Tony Flynn (1990).
2. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Joiners Arms, Ellor Street

Joiners Arms, Ellor Street, Hanky Park, Salford. (c) Tony Flynn [1].

Pictured above in 1959 in Tony Flynn's recommended book 'Hanky Park', the Joiners Arms stood on the corner of Florin Street and Ellor Street [1].  The photo is looking down Florin Street, and the woman on the left can be seen whitening her front doorstep with a Donkey Stone.  The Joiners opened in the 1850s and by 1896 had been sold to Groves & Whitnall (their Red Rose Ales & Stout being advertised below in 1960) [2].  It lasted until 1963 when it was pulled down in the Ellor Street clearances for the building of Salford Precinct and the new high-rise flats that accompanied it.  Although a short stretch of Ellor Street still survives in Pendleton today, the Joiners was at the other end, towards where Hankinson Way still runs, both still reminders of the lost district of Salford that was Hanky Park.

Joiners Arms, Ellor Street, Hanky Park. (c) Neil Richardson [2].

1. Hanky Park, Tony Flynn (1990).
2. Salford Pubs Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).

Monday 25 March 2013

Kings Head, Heywood Street / Harpenden Street

Former location of Kings Head, Heywood Street / Harpenden Street, Moss Side. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

The Kings Head was a Hydes house which was almost the brewery tap, the old Queens Brewery being just a few yards along Moss Lane West.  The Kings Head was on the corner of Heywood Street, later (and for reasons unknown) renamed Harpenden Street.  This street and the pub have been swept away in the redevelopment of Moss Side, but it was the next street to the west of Alexandra Road.  The Kings Head is shown from similar angles in 1971 and 1972 at the archives, not long before it was demolished, to be replaced with the grim council houses of William Kay Close.

Kings Head, Heywood Street / Harpenden Street, Moss Side. (c) All rights reserved - Manchester Local Image Collection - Click here for view full image.

Alexandra House, Alexandra Road

Alexandra House, Alexandra Road, Moss Side. (c) All Rights Reserved - Manchester Local Image Collection. Click here to view full image.

The Alexandra House was a small Groves & Whitnall then Greenall Whitley boozer at No.102 Alexandra Road, Moss Side.  It is shown in 1971 and 1972 next door to a shop selling barbecued food as the Moss Side streets around it are demolished.  Back to the sixties and you can see the opticians that used to stand next door on the other side. Unlike a number of the Moss Side pubs that were allowed to remain when the area was redeveloped - the still serving Claremont and Big Western, and the more recently lost Talbot and Great Western - the Alexandra House was pulled down in the mid-'70s.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Do you remember the first time?


By Rob Warm


First pint I ever bought on my own was at the Wilton on Bury New Road.  I was probably about 14, maybe 15.  Tall enough to be old enough, but with a waxy teenage face that had never seen a razor. And to level with you it wasn’t even a pint.

Walking in to the pub was an unplanned act of bravado.  An act of someone else’s bravado.  On my part it was more an act of invisibility, the desire to fit in by looking like I had done this many times before. We all knew that this was a first time. We all pretended it wasn’t.  First times are often like that.

A lad called Jez who called a lot of the shots round our way casually said let’s go for a beer as we were wandering through the precinct.  In a normal world, at least one of us would have said, “What the fuck are you talking about?  We’ve never done that before?”

But the world of a teenage boy isn’t a normal world.  Rules are suspended.  Better to try and fail than look the weak link in a group that was only held together by a glue of reputations hard won and easily lost.

Don’t get me wrong, I had been drinking in pubs for years.  Grown up in them as I’ve written about before.  But that was a different business. There was no dissembling.  Everyone in those pubs knew I was underage – I was ‘Adge’s son’, so every landlord in a 5 mile radius had watched me growing up and knew exactly how old I was.  As long as I was with my dad and his mates, and as long as there was a glass of coke on the table, no-one cared that there was an extra pint glass there too.

But the Wilton was a pub where I wasn’t known.  A pub where my dad didn’t drink.  It wasn’t for him.  No real pub man would be seen dead in there.  Beer not good enough.  Jukebox too loud.  Too many kids and fights.  It was the sort of place where the brewery could only turn a profit by turning a blind eye.

The four of us walked in looking like the cast of Bugsy Malone.  Kids with paper thin swagger and darting eyes.  Waiting for the landlord’s head shake which would have made us spin on our heels faster than Dandy Dan’s splurge gun.

It wasn’t dark – early evening on a weeknight.  The place was dead, apart from a couple of dead-eyed daytime booze hounds who hadn’t graduated to grown up pubs, despite looking a lot like grown-ups.

The first drink I ever ordered on my own was a half of Chesters. Brewery has gone now.  And so have my days of drinking halves.  Only other time in my life I have bought myself a half will have been when I was driving.  But the barman must have known I was too young to drive.  My mates all ordered lager.

I wasn’t being deliberately different (difference was frowned upon) but in world I knew as a kid, bitter was what blokes drank in pubs.  My old man was as likely to drink a pint of lager as he was to drink a pint of water.  And he always told me he never drank water - because “fish fucked in it”.


I can sort of remember the look the bloke behind the bar gave us, nearly 30 years on.  A look that said, “You lot aren’t old enough.  But I don’t care”.  A bloke at the bar said “Fuck me – has school kicked out”.  We pretended not to hear.

I was surprised though.  When he just switched on the tap and filled up a half glass.  I was also surprised by how cheap it was, probably around 35p which wasn’t much more than your average can of coke at that time.  That was my frame of reference.  From that point on it was easy.  Think we had another, pissed about playing pool.

The next Friday we were back.  Prepared.  The ice had been broken. The pub was our planned destination – not a random unspoken dare. We turned up looking smarter.  Cockier.  Notes not coins in our pockets, secure that this was now a place where we had been accepted once and would be again.  With each successive visit, it became more of a habit and less of an adventure.

These days we hear a lot about teen drink dangers – alcohol pricing and stringent age checks in pubs.  But people forget that there was a time, not that long ago, when there was a general widely held assumption that underage drinking was OK, as long as there was even the possibility that you could be old enough.  If you were 99% certain to be underage, then it was that other 1% that the barman looked at. That was the first rule.  The second rule was more important.  You were allowed to be served underage as long as you didn’t bother the grown-ups by doing it in a proper pub where they went to drink.  

The Wilton, like many others, had a particular place in the pecking order, the hierarchy of pubs.  People reading this will know where their own Wilton was.  Every town had one - a half way house between youth club and pub, the nursery slope of drinking.  A place to serve your drinking apprenticeship before you could enter the real pubs as a proper trained drinkers.  It was a bit like watching a 4 year old playing at shops or post-offices.  Totally real to those doing it, and completely unreal to those watching it.  For us it was all about learning the ropes.

And let’s face it there was stuff to learn.  Stuff you know instinctively now?  Well there was a time that you didn’t know it.  It’s easy to forget that you had to learn somewhere.  You forget that there was a time that you didn’t know the rules of Killer on a pool table.  Know the etiquette of replacing spilled drinks.  Or have the skills to get yourself out of a situation which was in danger of spiralling out of control.

(c) Ingy The Wingy at flickr  under Creative Commons.

You had to work at it.  Kids I was at school with.  Kids who teachers said couldn’t learn.  They could learn this stuff.  Know the rules, who sat where, who not to talk to.  It wasn’t something you could learn in the park with a bottle of Thunderbird and a few cans.  That was just an extension of school.  That was children’s drinking.  The gang was still the gang.  Top dogs were still top dogs.  In a pub all bets were off. There were bigger dogs.

Drinking in parks had its place but drinking like that was about volume, oblivion and boredom.  A lot of boredom.  But we have lost something. Pubs today are much too fussy about who they do and don’t serve. I’ve seen blokes with full beards asked for ID in some pubs.  What chance for 14 and 15 year old boys?  None.  So they go to the field.  And learn nothing.  By the time they emerge as 18 year old drinkers they aren’t equipped with the pub skills they need.  This can be dangerous for them and irritating to the rest of us.  Those two statements are often related to each other.

Kids’ training pubs used to serve a social function.  There was a pastoral role.  You knew the pub for you at a given age.  Maybe they still exist.  Maybe I am just too old to know the right places because they aren’t for me.  I’ll be honest.  I hope they do.  I hope the kids are drinking somewhere.  Because one day they’ll be drinking in the same pub as me.  And I hope that they’ve learned the rules before they are.

Dyers Arms, Ordsall Lane

Dyers Arms, Ordsall Lane, Ordsall. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

A hundred yards or so up Ordsall Lane from the still serving Holt's house, the Bricklayers, the Dyers Arms stood on the corner of Chadwick Street, opening around 1840.  By the early 1900s, a Lawrence Wall had the Walkers beerhouse; this family are linked to many local boozers.  When Lawrence moved up Ordsall Lane to the Druids, his brother Tom, who'd previously run the Star on Ford Lane, took over before moving along to the Queens, the Buck on Cross Lane, the Park Hotel on West Park Street then the Greyhound on Broad Street.  Tom's daughter, Vina Lewis, was landlady of the Masons on Robert Hall Street, and son Lawrence had the Tatton on Tatton Street. Finally, Vina's daughter, Iris Johnson, had the Welcome on Ordsall Lane and retired from the new Welcome on Robert Hall Street in 2001. Back to the Dyers Arms - like the Princess Tavern up the lane, it was bought up and demolished by the Salford Corporation in 1936 to make way for the Regent Flats [1].

Former location of Dyers Arms, Ordsall Lane. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

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

Princess Tavern, Ordsall Lane

Princess Tavern, Ordsall Lane, Ordsall. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The Princess Tavern used to face the Gresley Iron Works at the top of Ordsall Lane between Crookell Street and Seddon Street.  Today this site faces the McDonald's at the junction of Regent Road and Ordsall Lane.  The Princess Tavern is first listed in 1845 and from the 1870s until it closed in 1936, the pub was owned by the Ancoats brewer, Joseph Boardman.  This didn't stop the Princess offering other beers though, with Boddingtons beers and stouts, bottled bass plus fine wines and cigars advertised.  Shown above as an Empress Brewery house in the 1920s, it was a Walkers house until its demolition when Salford Corporation cleared the Ordsall Lane slums to build the Regent Flats (to the left in the below view).

Former location of Princess Tavern, Ordsall Lane. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

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

Friday 22 March 2013

Great Western, Sloane Street / Sedgeborough Road

Former Great Western, Sedgeborough Road, Moss Side. (c) Mancky [1].

Also known as Duncan's Bar before it closed a few years ago, the Great Western was an old Groves & Whitnall house, seen in the 1960s and 1969 on Sloane Street, Moss Side.  When the area was being developed, for example like here in 1974, the Great Western survived by Sloane Street was renamed Sedgeborough Street.  Quite why the council decided to do this, especially when Sloane Street was famous for being the birthplace of sufragette Emiline Pankhurst [1], is anyone's guess.  In the 1990s the Great Western sounded like a rum old boozer when Alan Winfield visited the Websters house [2], but these days the building has been put to use as business premises.

Former Great Western, Sedgeborough Road, Moss Side. (c) rightmove.

Pickford Inn, Fenwick Street

Pickford Inn, Fenwick Street, Moss Side. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Pickford Inn was an old Boddingtons beerhouse on Fenwick Street off Moss Lane East on the Hulme-Moss Side border.  It opened in 1863 and was named after Thomas Pickford of the well-known Pickford's haulage firm which still operates today.  Pickford had lived in the large 'Mayfield' house, the grounds of which Pickford Street passed through during its construction [1].  The Pickford Inn passed to Walkers of Warrington before it closed in 1932 [2].  Fenwick Strete was replaced by the Moss Side Shopping Precinct, which itself has been demolished.

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).

Sunday 17 March 2013

Borough Inn, Regent Road


Borough Inn, Regent Road, Salford. (c) NAH1952 at flickr [1].

The Borough Inn was first licensed on the corner of Windsor Street in 1832, when this end of Regent Road was still all fields.  Towards the end of the century Groves & Whitnall owned the Borough when it was described as a house used as a beerhouse and shop [2].  


Borough Inn, Regent Road, Salford. (c) Mark Naylor at vimeo.

The brewery pulled down the beerhouse and neighbouring houses they also owned and built a new Borough Inn.  It stood in the shadow of the gasworks (the Gas Tavern was in the same row of buildings, further east) until Regent Road widening saw it closed in 1980 [2] as a Greenall Whitley house.  


Borough Inn, Regent Road, Salford. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [3].

The Borough Inn was demolished soon after and nothing has replaced it on Regent Road on this corner of the still present Windsor Street. Still standing behind is the gasworks, though the remaining gasometers are further back towards Liverpool Street.

Former location of Borough Inn, Regent Road. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

1. www.flickr.com/photos/59342697@N06/5433236695.
2. Salford Pubs Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).

Stirling Castle, South Street

Stirling Castle, South Street, Longsight. (c) Manchester Libraries. View Full Picture [1].

The Stirling Castle was a Chesters house on the corner of South Street and Dillon Street at the north-eastern, Ardwick-end of Longsight.  There is a photo of the Stirling Castle at Manchester History [2] which describes Sand Park, the lost children's playground that the pub looked onto.  This is marked Rec. Grd. on the map of the area, below, possibly from the 1940s.  Some of South Street still still runs through this part of Longsight but the other streets have been lost following development of the area in the late 1960s and early '70s.

Location of Stirling Castle, South Street. (c) Barbara.H at rootschat.

Railway, Stockport Road



Railway, Stockport Road, Levenshulme, 1993. (c) Alan Winfield with permission.

The Railway was a big corner pub on Stockport Road near Levenshulme Station that's been converted to a solicitor's office. Shown below in 1905 as an Empress Brewery house, it underwent significant rebuilding in later years.

 
Railway, Stockport Road, Levenshulme. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Shown in 1935 from the same angle as the top view, in 1965 from along Albert Street (the Union in the background), by the 1970s the Railway was a Chesters house, which then passed to Whitbread. 

Railway, Stockport Road. (c) Levy Boy [1].

Alan Winfield visited the Railway in 1993 when it was Whitbread keg-only.  The below view from Albert Street reveals the rear part of the closed Railway which still looks very pub-like.

Railway, Stockport Road. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Thursday 14 March 2013

Polygon, Barlow Road

Polygon, Barlow Road, Levenshulme, 2008. (c) Colin Irving at Levy Boy [1].

Pictured above when it was still just about functioning as a pub, the Polygon was a backstreet Boddington's pub on Barlow Road in Levenshulme.  The Polygon is shown at the archives in 1965 with its old neighbour.

Polygon, Barlow Road, 1982. (c) Ken Musgrave at Levy Boy [1].

The Boddies house is seen here in happier times before a pensioners' day trip to Blackpool in 1982, as shown on the great Levy Boy website [1], but towards the end the Polygon was reportedly very much a local's pub.
  
Polygon, Barlow Road, 2010. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

The Polygon closed in 2008 and has now been converted to flats, although so many features of the old boozer have been retained, you'd could be mistaken that it was still a public house.  One that has been lost is its amusing and literal sign.

Polygon, Barlow Road. (c) kh1234567890 at flickr under Creative Commons.

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Haymarket, Tonman Street

 
Haymarket, Tonman Street. (c) Oldfield & Day [1].

The Haymarket was named after the old Manchester hay markets which stood around nearby Dumville Street and Byrom Street, as seen here in 1906.  Tonman Street is the next street after Liverpool Street as you go up Deansgate, and this Tetley's house, the Haymarket Hotel, stood until at least the mid-1970s as seen here in 1970 and here in '73.



In 1975, the Haymarket was described as a no frills, working man's boozer, with a shabby, tiled, 1930s interior.  Cask Tetley bitter and mild were available on push button, and keg Double Diamond, Skol and Guinness were also on offer.  Pool, darts, fruit machines, electronic tennis plus colour and black & white TV were for drinkers' entertainment [2]. 

The former location of the Haymarket on Tonman Street is seen on this map from Manchester History [3], now the location of the small housing estate off bounded by Longworth Street, Camp Street, Lower Byrom Street and Tonman Street.

1. Manchester's Sporting Past: Nineteenth Century Athletic Grounds, Samantha-Jayne Oldfield & Dave Day, Manchester Metropolitan University.
2. The Manchester Pub Guide. Manchester and Salford City Centres, Manchester Pub Surveys (1975)

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Queens Hotel, Ordsall Lane

Queens Hotel, Ordsall Lane, Ordsall, 1907. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

The Queens Hotel was built in 1868 on the corner of Hulton Street and Ordsall Lane, offering a a dining room, clubroom, stables and a brewery.  It was granted a full licence in 1873 and was soon snapped up by the Crown Brewery of Hulme.  The above photo of the pub is from a 1907 postcard [1].  The Queens was rebuilt at some point in the 1930s, passing to Bass Charrington in the '60s before closing in January 1970 for regeneration of Ordsall [2].  These days Hulton Street doesn't meet up with Ordsall Lane, a point at which the Queens Hotel once stood, roughly where St Clement's Drive meets the Lane nowadays.


Queens Hotel, Ordsall Lane, Ordsall. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr.

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

Baltic Fleet / Napier & Baltic Fleet, Sunnyside Street

Baltic Fleet, Sunnyside Street, Ordsall, 1930. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The Baltic Fleet was situated in between Ordsall Lane and the River Irwell on the corner of Lower Seddon Street at the top of Sunnyside Street.  It was originally called the Napier & Baltic Fleet and by 1898 was owned by the Empress Brewery.  They extended the beerhouse into the properties next door and to the rear but by 1934 at the brewster sessions it was decided that the Baltic Fleet was no longer needed due to a drop in custom with sales down to one barrel a week.  Two years later the Baltic Fleet received £1,323 compensation for its licence and closed for good [1].  The former location of the beerhouse was roughly where Derwent Street is today, just south of Regent Road.

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

Garratt, Pink Bank Lane

Garratt, Pink Bank Lane, Longsight. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

This former Joseph Holt estate pub on Pink Bank Lane is a recent Longsight closure.  When Alan Winfield visited over 20 years ago the Garratt was serving fine Holts bitter and mild [1], like most of their houses still do today.  The Garratt is shown here in October 2012 up for let or sale.  In nicer images of the pub, the Garratt engine which gave the pub its name is shown on this mural in 1966, and on the other side of the pub a mural shows a steam clock, valve, spring and crank shaft.

Garratt, Pink Bank Lane, Longsight. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Garratt, Pink Bank Lane, Longsight. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Monday 11 March 2013

Sir Edwin Chadwick, Stockport Road

Sir Edwin Chadwick, Stockport Road, Longsight, 2002. (c) @johnrisby at Wombat Sunday Pics @wombat37 [1].

This was an odd one - a Wetherspoons that got it wrong and failed.  The Sir Edwin Chadwick, named after a local Longsight hero and hack, was housed in a new unit on Stockport road at the south end of Longsight, just south east of Dickenson Road.  However, Wetherspoons badly underestimated how troubled this area can be at times, and it was quickly closed and written off as a bad mistake after 'Spoons boss, Tim Martin, reportedly took one look at the place saying "get rid!" [2].  The wonderful photo above from @johnrisby shows a couple of old boys boozing in the old Edwin Chadwick beer garden [1], which is now this wasteland car park next to the curry house that has replaced the pub.

Former Sir Edwin Chadwick, Stockport Road. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

Sunday 10 March 2013

Bay Horse, Stockport Road

Bay Horse, Stockport Road, Longsight. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

The original Bay Horse was this tiny little old boozer, shown in 1969 and 1970, on Stockport Road, just northwest of Dickenson Road in Longsight.  Its replacement was a grimly functional shopping centre style pub built by Boddingtons, shown in 1975 and at Manchester History only four years ago [1].  Its recent closure and conversion to a fruit and veg shop leaves Longsight a two-pub district, the Huntington estate pub and the Gold Cup, following the closure of the Springbank, Crown / Ceili Inn and even the ill-fated and short-lived Wetherspoons. 

Bay Horse, Stockport Road, Longsight. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.


Bay Horse, Stockport Road, Longsight. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.