Black Boy, Tib Street

Charles II Stuart, son of Mary Queen of Scots, nicknamed The Black Boy.

The demise of the Black Boy as a common pub name is due to its politically incorrect connotations of casual racism or the slave trade. A suggestion of its origin as a pub name, which may have particularly applied to Manchester in the past, was its association with coal mining or even chimney sweeping. According to a recent Radio 4 show on the subject however, the most likely reason for the number of Black Boy pubs in England was Charles II, his dark-hued skin and his exile during Oliver Cromwell's reign. This Black Boy was on Tib Street, a few doors down from the corner with Whittle Street, in what's now known as the Northern Quarter (there was another Black Boy on Old Millgate, now New Cathedral Street).

The 1901 national archives mention: "Notice and grounds of appeal of Alfred Barnes against refusal to grant certificate for beerhouse licence for premises in Tib Street known as the Black Boy, 21 Oct 1901." A few years earlier in 1896 magistrates convicted the tenant of organising cock fights. His pub was so popular that drinkers and onlookers would throng the doorway and block the streets in their anxiety to place their bets [1]. The Black Boy is apparently one of a number of old beerhouses which lost their licences long ago but can still be seen in the city centre, so we'll investigate forthwith. Others include the British Standard in Back Piccadilly and the Albion on Albion Street.

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1. Crime City: Manchester's Victorian Underworld, Joseph O'Neill (2008).