Berry Street is right behind the old British Telecom House, now Macdonald Hotel, that dominates London Road on the approach into Piccadilly. The Oddfellows Arms, a Groves & Whitnall house, sat at the top end of Berry Street, just across from the Red Lion on Travis Street. It features on the front cover of Ancoats Lad. Mick Burke, whose memories have been so useful in covering this part of town, is sat under the 'S' of Groves, seen in the 1920s, after his return from WW1 with the Eighth Battalion, Manchester Regiment. He lost a hand to shrapnel in France, and his two mates shot themselves with German rifles so they could withdraw as wounded) [1].
The Oddfellows Arms was advertised in 1862 as a beerhouse belonging to the Mayfield Brewery and closed as Groves & Whitnall house in 1926. Mick remembers "this was always a quiet area. There were no beer pumps at the Oddfellows; the beer was brought up from the cellar in an enamel jug. The Whites had it from before the Great War until it closed [2]." These days a couple of student flats sit on Berry Street, as shown below with Macdonald Hotel to the left and Piccadilly Station in the background.
The Oddfellows Arms was advertised in 1862 as a beerhouse belonging to the Mayfield Brewery and closed as Groves & Whitnall house in 1926. Mick remembers "this was always a quiet area. There were no beer pumps at the Oddfellows; the beer was brought up from the cellar in an enamel jug. The Whites had it from before the Great War until it closed [2]." These days a couple of student flats sit on Berry Street, as shown below with Macdonald Hotel to the left and Piccadilly Station in the background.
Former location of Oddfellows Arms, Berry Street. (c) Google 2010. View Larger Map.
1. Ancoats Lad, Mick Burke / Frank Heaton (1996).
2. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).
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