Lord Stanley / Eagle Vaults, Rosamond Street East

Lord Stanley, Rosamond Street East, Chorlton-on-Medlock. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Lord Stanley stood at No.51 Rosamond Street East, just off Oxford Road on the corner with Higher York Street [2].  The Lord Stanley opened in 1864, was known as the Eagle Vaults from the 1930s to the 1950s, and closed as the Lord Stanley in 1969 as a Taylor's Eagle Brewery house (hence its name change).  The Lord Stanley was one of the first pubs in Chorlton-on-Medlock to have a piano, although drunken fights would often break out over what songs were to be played!  A wall had to be knocked down to get the piano into the beerhouse as it was so small, and its size also led to an odd method of serving drinks.  The bar staff would fill a tray with various drinks and pass from one side the room to the other and drinkers would help themselves to whatever was going.  Beer was often paid for "on the slate", with bills being settled on pay day - cheeky boozers would sometimes simply switch to a different pub to avoid paying.  

Former location of Lord Stanley / Eagle Vaults (along, right), Rosamond Street East. (c) Google 2014. View Larger Map.

The Lord Stanley was a popular haunt for cinema-goers when Oxford Road was Manchester's theatre district, and landlord Harold Woodward advertised at the La Scala cinema on Oxford Road:  "After the show, why not visit the Lord Stanley?"  Other customers included several well-known shoplifters, and they'd call in for a lunchtime drink in baggy clothes, returning later looking suspiciously fat, padded out with their loot.  On the other hand, policemen from the nearby Cavenish Street police station would also drink in the Lord Stanley.

Former location of Lord Stanley / Eagle Vaults, Rosamond Street East. (c) Google 2014. View Larger Map.

The photo at the top shows the Lord Stanley in the centre with its white Taylors Eagle sign.  On one side of the Lord Stanley was the Provis & Squires Ltd shirt-makers factory, and over the road was the Gladstone pub, a Chesters house with the whitewashed first floor.  After spending most of is life as a beerhouse, the Lord Stanley was finally granted its full licence in 1957, a year later becoming a Marstons house (quite a rarity for Manchester then) for its last 11 years before closing [1].  The view above from Booth Street East is looking down what was once Higher York Street; the Lord Stanley used to stand at the end on the left, facing what is now the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

1. The Old Pubs of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Bob Potts (1980).

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