Crusader Club

Express Building, Great Ancoats Street. (c) Lost in Manchester.

The Crusader Club was a newspaper club somewhere near the Express Building when the northern edition of the Daily Express and other dailies were published in Manchester.  This great passage on the Gentlemen Ranters site talks of "the murky world of the Crusader Club.  Stairs as black as ink, rubbery swing doors... beer-stained table on the left... (I'm sleeping in my car at the back of the Cheshire Cheese)... the first edition has parked and there is a mass exodus of van men up the stairs.  The ground above us begins to vibrate as the trucks rattle into life... down here in The Crusader... it's our world beneath the gutter.  It's a funny world as we stay 'til thre, four, in the morning, every morning [1]."  Clearly a basement club, the Crusader may be been around the back of the Express Building, or perhaps down Luna Street or George Leigh Street.  Anyone shed any light on this one?

1. www.gentlemenranters.com/41.html.

House of Bamboo, Canal Street

Adverts for House of Bamboo, Canal Street, 21/4/1962 & 27/4/1962. (c) Manchester Beat.

These two small newspaper adverts for all-nighters in the House of Bamboo club on Canal Street in 1962 are the only evidence of this 1960s soul club, thanks to Manchester Beat [1].  This club would have been open when Canal Street was far from the bustling pedestrianised thoroughfare packed with gay bars - more like this as in 1963 looking down Canal Street towards Princess Street.

1. www.manchesterbeat.com.

Astoria, Piccadilly

Former location of Astoria, Market Street. (c) Pimlico Badger at flickr.

On the corner of Tib Street and the Market Street / Piccadilly junction is this distinctive cast iron-framed building built by J. H. Lynde in 1879 which once housed commercial chambers as well as shops [1].  These days a boring Starbucks occupies the ground floor (and perhaps the first floor), but in the 1950s and '60s the second floor apparently housed the Astoria club [2].  Stairs and lift would take you up to the second floor although this photo from May 1959, when the ground floor was a 'John Collier' shop, doesn't indicate where the entrance was.

1. Manchester's Northern Quarter, English Heritage (2008).
2. http://manmates.proboards.com.

Blackbird Café, Tib Street

The Blackbird Café is shown here in May 1959 on the east side of Tib Street off Market Street.  Its name doesn't suggest a public house but 'codger' at the Man Mates forum (a forum for Mancunians who remember Manchester in the 1950s, '60s and '70s) recalls the Blackbird Café at the back of Litttlewoods for a crafty drink on a Sunday afternoon.

1. http://manmates.proboards.com.

Can Can / Red Bed / Kaleidoscope, Booth Street

Red Bed, Booth Street. (c) ManchesterBeat.

Can Can was a soul club, probably across the road from where the old, closed Lime bar is today.  Originally a coffee-only type place (so typical of many clubs in Manchester in the late '50s and '60s), it played host to many of the celebrated North Soul DJs that played the original Twisted Wheel.  It later became the Red Bed and then Kaleidoscope and was likely licensed by then.  It's claimed that the Can Can was the missing link between the Twisted Wheel and Wigan Casino in terms of Northern Soul history [1].

1. www.manchesterbeat.com.

Albion Refreshment Rooms, London Road Station

Albion Refreshment Rooms, London Road Station. (c) Alan Godfrey Maps [1].

The Albion Refreshment Rooms was the original station pub at the old London Road Station back in the mid-1800s.  It occupied almost half of the station's front building, i.e. it would have occupied the left-hand side as you walked up the approach to the station [1].  It's not known whether the Albion Refreshment Rooms survived the 1880s enlargement of London Road Station, but what is a certainty is that it would have been a better bet for a pint before your journey than the dreadful Balcony Bar and soon-to-close Sports Bar which embarrass Manchester Piccadilly station today.

1. Manchester (London Road) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Brannigans, Peter Street

Brannigans, Peter Street, 2006. (c) Faye Greenway at flickr.

News has just reached us that the venue known as Brannigans on Peter Street has closed as their parent company, Cougar Leisure Ltd., has gone into receivership [1].  Not to be confused with our other entry for the far superior lost venue Branagans in the Royal Exchange Arcade, this place will be lost to no-one except the scallies and chavs that blight our city's low-quality drinking areas.  Brannigans opened in the 1990s and at the time was part of the whole Peter Street revolution as the area sought to establish itself as the place to eat drink and be seen within the city centre.  Sadly for them (and their many chain-bar neighbours), it didn't really ever quite pan out this way, as first Castlefield and Deansgate Locks fought back,  Deansgate itself improved and finally the Northern Quarter really established itself as the place for the affluent 20- and 30-somethings looking for a night out.

Brannigans, inside. (c) manchestervipcard.

Whilst a bar during the day, it was more of a club type place at night, frequented generally by out-of-towners, confused foreign visitors and stag and hen nights.  Loud music, over-priced fizz, no real ale, and fights over scantily clad, rough women was the normal course of any night.  A large dancefloor in the middle and numerous poorly stocked bars surrounding it was the order of the day.  The closure of boring and badly-thought out chain bars like this are no loss to anyone if I'm honest, and it joins the growing list of rubbish chain bars that have failed along the cursed Peter Street-Quay Street length - Chicago Café, Squares, Teasers, Sports Bar, etc.  No doubt it'll end up as a Wetherspoons or something similar at some point when the recession stops biting.


Brannigans, Peter Street. (c) paranormaldatabase.

In its dying days Brannigans featured on low-brow TV's "Most Haunted" with her off Blue Peter and the former Liverpool footballer and all-round barmpot, Derek Acora.  They claimed that there is a restless spirit in the place that meddles behind the bar and tries to push staff down the stairs - are they sure that wasn't just just pissed up Irishman over for their once-a-year pilgrimage to Old Trafford?

Albert Hall, Peter Street. (c) Tony at MDMA.

There is some history about the place though; the Albert Hall in which the bar sits was built in 1910, ironically by the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission, a temperance movement, and above Brannigans today is the huge space that was used as a Methodist church, as seen in this 1960s photo.  This one from 1960 shows the Albert Hall sign and the car showroom that used to be on the ground floor.

Albert Hall, Peter Street. (c) Faye Greenway at flickr.

1. www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk.

Guest Pub - Broadway Inn, Ordsall

Broadway Inn. (c) John Bulmer at How to be a Retronaut

This fantastic photo by John Bulmer was featured on the the How to be a Retronaut site and also on the blog, Unpopular.  In Alistair's own words:

This shot from 1977 pictures an England from my own childhood.  Not that I grew up in an environment anything like the Manchester in the photograph, but still, it gives some context to times that we all too often allow to be cloaked in rose-tinted nostalgia.  I'm not sure that we were particularly aware of this kind of Britain in 1977, despite John Bulmer's work for the Sunday Times.  Perhaps I was just far too young to notice it of course, but nevertheless it remains true, surely, that this kind of reality is not one widely pedalled in the nostalgia business.  Even ‘Life On Mars’ and ‘Control struggled to truly capture this kind of strange wasteland.  What images will people look back on as capturing some essence of 2010?  And will those images evoke a world as alien as these two do?

Broadway Inn, Joseph Holts house. (c) John Bulmer at How to be a Retronaut

There is no other clue as to the Broadway Inn's location other than the clearances that are going on around it and the fact it's a Joseph Holt house.  I suspect that the Broadway Inn was in Orsdall, Salford, and in common with council policy, was originally spared demolition whilst the terraced houses around it were demolished in the '60s and '70s.  It didn't last that long though, as it appears that a new Broadway Inn was built in its place, on or near the site of the original, possibly as part of the redevelopment which would eventually become Salford Quays.  The fact that today's Broadway Inn is modern and a Holt's house is the only real evidence for this conclusion, so if anyone can clear this one up, please let us know.

Broadway Inn, Broadway, Ordsall. (c) Salford_66 at flickr.


UPDATE:


The Broadway Inn was originally on the corner of Broadway and West Clowes Street having opened in 1878.  First licensee was Moses Bayley and the next few included Richard Gibson and William Whiteley.  It became a Holt's house in 1886 and the brewery extended it to include the house next door a couple of years later.  Seen below in the 1970s, the Clowes Hotel can been seen in the background on Trafford Road.

Broadway Inn, Broadway, Ordsall, 1970s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The tenant now was Harry Nichols who kept the Broadway Inn until the 1940s, followed by George Bramley and John Hayes in the '50s and Fred McCormick in the '60s.  The location on the corner of Broadway and West Clowes Street is confirmed in the below snap from the late Neil Richardson's book (pub number 163 being the Clowes Hotel, now gone).  As we suspected, all the terraced houses on Broadway were demolished in the 1970s and on 5th December 1980, Holt's opened the new Broadway Inn on the same site [1]

Former (and present) location of Broadway Inn, Broadway, Ordsall. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

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

Le Roca, Lower Mosely Street

Le Roca, Lower Mosely Street. (c) ManchesterBeat.

Le Roca looks to have been a tiny basement club next door to the Concert Inn on Lower Mosely Street, opposite the Midland Hotel.  Pictured above in 1972, you can see it was part-gents hairstylists (not just any old barber's) hinting at the exclusive and trendy soul club it probably was (to feature on the Manchester Beat website it must have been).

1. www.manchesterbeat.com.

Brazennose Club, Brazennose Street

Brazennose Street, 1961. (c) www.manchesteronline.co.uk.

The Brazennose Club was at 19 Brazennose Street way back when this pedestrianised and quiet little street off Albert Square was a bustling thoroughfare.  William Fisher (1831-1910) moved to Manchester from London and was manager or proprietor of several pubs in town, including the Brazennose Club from 1877-1881 [1].  Twenty-odd years earlier than William's time, the premises was John Barlow's joinery [2].  Today number 19 is Philpotts sandwich shop.  In the 1960s the famous Twisted Wheel club was across the road from the old Brazennose Club's location, and today the street is notable for Lincoln Square and its statues of  Princess Diana and of course Abraham Lincoln himself (roughly where the Brazennose Club would have been).

Brazennose Street, 1961. (c) www.manchesteronline.co.uk.

1. Personal communication, Gaynor Browne, William Fisher's great granddaughter-in-law.

2. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Red Lion, Bolton Street

Former site of Red Lion, Bolton Street, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

Where Trinity Way crosses Chapel Street at this corner, Bolton Street (having branched north off Gore Street) used to meet Chapel Street.  On this corner was the Red Lion, named after the Red Lion which used to stand on Market Street in Manchester that was lost due to street widening in 1821 [1].  The tenant of the Mancunian Red Lion, Laura Knight, came to Salford and took over and family member Nancy named the newly built pub, opening in 1823.  Interestingly, the pub is named "The Red Lion PH and Excise Office" on the 1848 map and next door on Chapel Street is the Letter Receiving Office, giving some insight into the important role that the Red Lion played in mid-1800s Salford [1].  Across the road from the Red Lion was Bolton Street Baths, and a few yards down the street towards the railway line, New Bailey Prison and the River Irwell was the "New Jerusalem Temple  (Swedenborgian)".  The Red Lion was a Walkers & Homfray house in the 1950s then Wilsons Brewery had it in the '60s.  A compulsary purchase order for the creation of the Mancunian Way-Trinity Way inner ring road led to its demolition in 1978 [2].  Not to be confused with the Red Lion / Raven Hotel at the bottom end of Chapel Street, this Red Lion was a working man's Wilsons pub with a long, horseshoe-shaped bar.  On offer was Wilsons bitter and mild from beer engines plus the usual Guinness as well as Watney's Red keg [3].

1. New Bailey & Ordsall Lane 1848, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).
2. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
3. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres (1975).

Ladyman's Hotel / Commercial Hotel, Bridge Street

Ladyman's Hotel, Bridge Street, extract from Manchester As It Is, Benjamin Love [1].

This hotel was half way down Bridge Street on the left hand side from Deansgate (see map at ManchesterHistory [1]).  Originally the Ladyman's Hotel, several societies of Victorian Manchester used to meet here, including the Choral and Harmonic Society who held their concerts and annual ball, and the rather seedy-sounding Gentleman's Glee Club.  However, the dilapidated state of the main room at the Ladyman, partly caused by a fire, caused the Gentleman's Club to remove to the Clarence Hotel and it eventually ended up at the Albion Club [2].  The hotel finished its time as the Commercial Hotel under John Hayward in the mid-1800s [3].  After its closure the hotel became the London Music Hall, then the Queen's Theatre after a fire and rebuild, and finally the Royal Amphitheature and Circus.  This itself was demolished around 1911 [4] and now the Masonic Hall stands in its place.

Queen's Theatre, former Ladyman's / Commercial Hotel. (c) ManchesterHistory.net [1].

1. http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/queensbridge.html.

2. Manchester as it is, Benjamin Love (1839).
3. Manchester City Centre 1894, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008)
4. www.arthurlloyd.co.uk.

Mendel's Hotel, Bridge Street

Former location of Mendel's Hotel, Bridge Street. (c) googlemaps.

Mendel's Hotel (named after proprietor, the father of Sam Mendel) on Bridge Street was on this corner of Dolefield in the early part of the 1800s.  Where today we see the Manchester Civil Justice Centre in the background, two hundred years ago there was a similar building of justice adjacent to Mendel's Hotel - the Police Court [1].  Mendel's opened in anticipation of increased footfall from passengers travelling between Market Street and the Liverpool Road Bus (stagecoach) station, as Bridge Street was on the main thoroughfare between these two transport hubs.  However, custom never lived up to expectation and it was closed, being occupied as a Children's Hospital, and then by a furnishing company [1].  By 1849 it was a nondescript carpet warehouse [2]. 

Mendel's Hotel, Bridge Street, extract from Manchester As It Is, Benjamin Love [3].

1. Manchester Notes and Queries, Ed. J. H. Nodal (1878).
2. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).
3. Manchester as it is, Benjamin Love (1839).

Higher Turk's Head, Shudehill

Former location of Higher Turk's Head, Shudehill. (c) googlemaps.

The Lower Turk's Head on Shudehill is one of Manchester's most distinctive closed pubs, as thankfully it appears to be being kept in good nick while it waits to be sold and either reopen as a pub, or, more likely, become retail or flats.  Further up Shudehill on the other side, past Hanover Street, was the Higher Turks Head, run by William Pilling in 1848 [1].  It was four doors up from Hanover Street which puts its old location in the right hand side of the Premier Convenience Store shown above (on the left is the side of the Nosh restaurant, formerly Smithfields / New Smithfield).

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009). 

St Michael's Tavern, Blakeley (Dantzic) Street

Former location of St Michaels Tavern, Dantzic (Blakeley) Street. (c) googlemaps.

This corner of the top end of Dantzic Street and the bottom of Angel Street is known as St Michael's Square on modern maps, named after the church that used to stand near here.  The St Michael's Tavern took the name of the church, on the corner of what was then Blakeley Street.  The CIS Tower can be seen in the background, as can the flats on Angel Street on the left; the Angel / Beer House is just out of shot.  In the coming years this corner may see much more traffic than it does today, as the plan is divert some of the inner ring road away from Miller Street and up Corporation Street and Angel Street as part of the Co-Op Complex masterplan which has already seen off the Crown & Cushion.  

St. Michael's Flags, some time in the 1970s or '80s. (c) TBC.

The church also gave its name to the St Michael's Flags, the mass burial grounds that were the resting place of so many of the city's poor in the burgeoning days of the Industrial Revolution.  The council have grassed over St Michael's Flags in recent years and now Angel Meadow Park is a popular inner city park.  I suppose many of the dog walkers and picnicking youngsters that frequent the park are unaware that beneath their feet lie the remains of thousands (which, it's rumoured, used to sometimes poke up from between the flags .

1. Manchester New Cross 1949, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Saddle Inn, Blackfriars Street

Former location of Saddle Inn, Blackfriars Street. (c) googlemaps.

On the opposite corner to the sadly closed Black Lion (far right, above) is an empty plot where the Saddle Inn once stood on the corner of Blackfriars Street and Chapel Street.  Diagonally opposite the Saddle Inn, and opposite the Black Lion, is the Salford Trinity Church, in front of which used to be the Flat Iron Fish, Fruit & Vegetable Market [1].

Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Crown & Cushion 1741-2011

Crown & Cushion, Corporation Street. (c) MEN.

The rumours were true.  The Crown & Cushion - Manchester's oldest continually licensed premises - has closed its doors for good after 270 years.

Last orders for historic city centre pub set to be demolished for a roundabout

Crown & Cushion, Corporation Street. (c) Crown & Cusion Facebook.

Broosters, Piccadilly

Broosters, Piccadilly. (c) www.soul-source.co.uk.

Broosters on Piccadilly was a bar and club from the early '80s.  Its address on Piccadilly as listed on this Northern Soul All Dayer flyer on the Soul Source website suggests it would have been near to where the Piccadilly Tavern is today.

1. www.soul-source.co.uk.

Continental, Oxford Road

Efthimious Michael. (c) Manchester Evening News.

The owner of the original Conti Club, the Continental, on Oxford Road, Efthimous Michael, sadly passed away this week.  Michael ran the Conti for more than 50 years, firstly helping his Greek-Cypriot uncle run the club in 1946 after the serving in war.  By 1965, Michael and his brother Andrew had taken over and ran the Oxford Road club.  The original Continental was famous for its student and doctors and nurses nights, due to its proximity to St Mary's Hospital.  The club moved / expanded (were the Conti and the New Continental open at the same time in the 1980s?) to Harter Street in the late 1960s and the New Continental continued under the stewardship of Michael until its closure in 2001 [1].

1. http://menmedia.co.uk.

Pickwick, Brook Street

Pickwick, Brook Street, 1951. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Pickwick was another pub, like its neighbour a few doors up (Upper) Brook Street, the Royal Oak Inn, that was lost in 1965 due to redevelopments [1].  Named after the Dicken's novel, The Pickwick was also a Wilson's house that was a door or two away from Grosvenor Street, so its location would have been where the blanked whitewashed building is in the below shot.

Former location of Pickwick, Upper Brook Street. (c) googlemaps.

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

Royal Oak, Brook Street

The Royal Oak Inn was on the corner of Boundary Street East and Brook Street, as seen here and here as a Wilson's house in 1959 but it closed in 1965 [1].  The reason for this is evident; (Upper) Brook Street is now pretty unrecognisable due to redevelopment and the site of the old Royal Oak Inn was on the left in the below shot, now no more than an access road for the University's Materials Science Centre.

Former location of Royal Oak Inn, Upper Brook Street. (c) googlemaps.

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

Stage & Radio Club / Senator / Wetherbys / Cuba Café, Port Street

Stage & Radio Club, Port Street, 1966. (c) Manchester Libraries hosted at Facebook.

The Stage & Radio Club is shown above in 1966, listed as Dean Street, just off Newton Street and Port Street.  The sign says "Cunninghams Ales" and later in the '70s it may be been the Senator, while in the '80s it was Wetherby's under Tony Millward (named after the racecourse).  These days the venue is Cuba Café, a quirky little late night salsa club which we've used for a late drink in the past, as well as attending a few decent parties.  In early 2011, the Port Street Beer House from the people at Common (one of the Northern Quarter's finer bars) is opening in this little block, between the Crown & Anchor and Cuba Café, and it promises to be a belting addition to a rather jaded area of town...

Cuba Café, Port Street, formerly Stage & Radio Club. (c) googlemaps.

Websites:  www.cubacafe.co.uk and http://portstreetbeerhouse.co.uk.

Hunting Lodge, Oxford Street

Former location of Hunting Lodge, Oxford Road. (c) googlemaps.

The Hunting Lodge opened in 1971 at corner of Oxford Road and Hulme Street.  It was something of an informal club as it wasn't open during the day but Margaret Emmot at the Manchester District Music Archive remembers "frequenting the Hunting Lodge many times in the '70s and early '80s.  Stairs led you up to a large room with a bar, pool table, dart board and football table.  Don't recall seeing any live bands there just a jukebox in the corner" [2].  This great shot of Oxford Road from the 1960s doesn't quite show the place.  The Hunting Lodge closed at some point in the late '80s, and is now Cotswold outdoor clothing shop, as shown below.

Former location of Hunting Lodge, Oxford Road. (c) googlemaps.

The 1975 guide mentions the gaudy neon Watney's Red sign that used to light up the street outside.  Inside were jukeboxes, TV table tennis, a colour TV and a piano.  The ground floor bar served Watney's and Wilson's beers, while there was a restaurant on the first floor with a night club / disco above that [3].  

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

2. www.mdmarchive.co.uk.
3. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres (1975).

Bundle of Sticks, Boundary Street East

Former location of Bundle of Sticks, Boundary Street East. (c) googlemaps.

The Bundle of Sticks beerhouse was listed at 21 Boundary Street East opposite the Kings Arms in the 1871 census.  When the licencee, Sarah Mellor, was refused a beer licence in 1876, the Bundle of Sticks closed for good but happily its name lived on as regulars took both their trade and the nickname over the road to the Kings Arms [1].  Part of the beerhouse was incorporated into the Steam Brewery building, which is now the closed Scubar, previously the Old Steam Brewery and Green McNally's, on York Street.

Scubar, York Street. (c) googlemaps.

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

Kings Arms, Boundary Street East

Kings Arms, Boundary Street East, 1950s. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Kings Arms closed in 1966 on Boundary Street East, a street which used to run parallel to Grosvenor Street, adjacent to the Aquatic Centre on Oxford Road and leading to the where the now closed Scubar sits on York Street.  Pictured above in the 1950s (Oxford Road in the background), the Kings Arms at No.58 was nicknamed the Bundle of Sticks, which stems from the old beerhouse which used to stand across the street but was refused a beer licence in the late 1800s; it's thought that regulars from the Bundle of Sticks then took their trade to the Kings Arms, and with it, the nickname.  Another possible explanation could be that it comes from the Friendly Society which used to meet in the Kings Arms - their 'Unity' sign was a bundle of sticks fastened together with the motto 'Unity Is Strength' [1].

Former Boundary Street East. (c) googlemaps.

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

Town Hall Tavern, Jenkinson Street

Approximate former site of Town Hall Tavern, Jenskinson Street. (c) googlemaps.

Not be be confused with the ever-popular Town Hall Tavern on Tib Lane in the city centre, this Town Hall Tavern was named after the Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall on Cavendish Street (as seen here in 1972).  Jenkinson Street is (still, just about, as a pedestrianised route) a short street running behind here which then also veers off to the left - seen here in 1956 and 1959.  The Town Hall Tavern was a Joseph Holt house directly behind the main town hall [1] so its location may have been roughly where the building is behind the aerial walkway.  This painting from 1894 shows the grandeur of this area of town in Victorian times compared to today as shown below; it was probably around this time the Town Hall Tavern was lost.

Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall. (c) googlemaps.

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

Paragon Inn, Oxford Road

Former location of Paragon Inn, Oxford Road. (c) Google 2011. View Larger Map.

The Paragon Inn at 59 Oxford Road was a Groves & Whitnall house that closed in 1967 to make way for the BBC building [1].  It stood a short distance opposite and before Chester Street, so would have been between the two trees in the above shot.

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

Aunty's Bar, Oxford Road

Aunt's Bar, Oxford Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, 1966. (c) Bob Potts [1].

A couple of doors down from the Clarendon Inn was Aunty's Bar, pictured above in 1966, around the time that the Mancunian Way opened, as seen in the distance.  Aunty's Bar was just one of the many pubs around this part of Oxford Road that were lost in 1969 when the Manchester Metropolitan University expanded.  The premises was previously known as Burton Ale Stores before 1931, which sounds like more of an off-trade place than a pub.  From 1931-1969 as Aunty's Bar it was a Thomas Salt, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton and Tetley's house [2].

Aunty's Bar was known as the Irish Labour Exchange by locals, as Irishmen could obtain employment there off the cuff with Irish building trade sub-contractors.  While welcoming to the Irish, the permanent handwritten "No Women" sign between the inner doors [2] hinted at a less than tolerant attitude in here!  The former location of Aunty's Bar was where this MMU building stands.

Former location of Aunty's Bar, Oxford Road. (c) Google 2014. View Larger Map.

1. The Old Pubs of Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1984).
2. The Old Pubs of Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Artillery Arms, Lower Chatham Street

Artillery Arms, Lower Chatham Street, 1965. (c) Bob Potts [1].

The Artillery Arms was a classic-looking Threllfalls house on the corner of Lower Chatham Street and Hadfield Street (now gone) just off Cavendish Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock.  Its licence was suspended in 1969 and was the last of the pubs on Lower Chatham Street to be demolished to make way for the University's expansion.  The 1881 census shows that James Byrom Royle and his wife Margaret kept the Artillery Arms at 62-64 Lower Chatham Street; the Royle family had the pub until 1890 [1].  These days a block of student accommodation sits on the former site of the Artillery Arms, opposite the ugly modern St. Augustine's RC Church.

Former location of Artillery Arms, Lower Chatham Street (left). (c) googlemaps.

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

City of ghosts

"Manchester is not a city of ghosts.  Unromantic as ever, it quickly moves on from the past.  

There is no museum in the city celebrating Karl Marx, who lived with Engels in the city while they researched Das Kapital, and changed the history of the world; there is no museum for Alan Turing, who invented the computer in the city; most people know nothing of the city's radical past or the suffragettes; it's all been obliterated and bulldozed away like most of the Victorian city.

The past means nothing in the world's first modern city."

(c) John Robb.


The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1976-1996, John Robb (2009).