This grand-looking boozer in Ladybarn was once ran by Frank Swift, the legendary Manchester City goalkeeper who died in the Munich Air Disaster in 1958 along with eight United players, plus 14 others. In the 1950s when Swift had it before he became a journalist, the pub was known as the Talbot and there are archive photos from 1959 and 1970 as a Threlfalls house, plus one from Alan Winfield in 1993 as a Whitbread pub.
Ladybarn sign, Mauldeth Road. (c) Ladybarn at Facebook.
In recent years the Talbot had a spell as 'Peninsular' which was a student pub with a seaside theme. Its final hurrah was as The Ladybarn when it reinvented itself as a food-led pub, receiving some favourable reviews as recently as 2006 [1]. However, the pub didn't last long, being knocked down in early 2010, despite appearing still standing on googlemaps on the corner of Ladybarn Lane. The photo below shows the pub wall before complete demolition with the still open Brewers Arms in the background.
1. http://menmedia.co.uk/food_and_drink/s/214667_barnstorming_welcome.
