Langham, Radnor Street

Langham Hotel, Radnor Street, Hulme, 1936. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Langham Hotel opened in 1842 [2] on the corner of Bristol Street and Radnor Street in the southern part of Hulme.  It closed in 1965 under a compulsory purchase order  as a J W Lees house and for the last 5 years it was run by George and Flo Pickering.  In 1960 the Langham was rundown but they saw it as a challenge to improve the beerhouse.  Lees' beer was delivered weekly - one and a half barrels of bitter, 18 gallons of Guinness, a hogshead of best mild, 18 gallons of ordinary mild and bottles of Lees Archer stout and Lees Tulip lager.  Inside was installed two ships' lamps and a ship bell used to ring last orders [1].

Flo Pickering gives further insight into the challenges of running a busy beerhouse - up at 7:30am and finishing at 11:30pm with just one afternoon off per week each.  As was the case in all pubs until relatively recently, restricted opening hours in operation, these being 11:30am-3pm and 5:30pm-10:30pm, then 12-2pm and 7pm-10:30pm on Sundays.  These were extended a few years later to 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays.  George Pickering offered a yard of ale (two and a quarter pints), free to anyone who could drink it.  The landlord of the Boston Hotel next door often came in to try it, but the only person to succeed in the Langham was a solider on leave from Germany [1].

Radnor Street used to run approximately where Rawkins Close is in today's Hulme, not far from Old Birley Street and Greenheys Street West.  Most of the old streets are long gone, but a small arms of the old Warwick Street is a reminder of the old Hulme.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

2. The Old Pubs of Hulme Manchester (1) 1770-1930, Bob Potts (1983).