Location of Cronshaws Alexandra Brewery, Erskine Street. (c) googlemaps.
To the south of the city centre in Hulme between the main arterial routes of Chester Road and Princess Road was Cronshaws Alexandra Brewery on Erskine Street (the Platford and the Three Legs of Man sit on the junction of Erskine Street and Stretford Road), also facing onto Drayton Street. The map these days shows how these streets are close by but don't meet, so it looks like the development of Hulme changed the routes of these streets somewhat.
Erskine Street and Drayton Street. (c) googlemaps.
Cronshaws Alexandra Brewery, with a distinctive 120-foot high brewhouse tower, was built in 1872 by local architect James Redford. The architectural style of the brewery was described by The Builder as being "early Lombardian Gothic"; Redford used stone dressings, ornamental brickwork and panels of glazed green and red bricks to enliven the tower [1]. On 8th September 1899 Groves & Whitnall, a giant brewer in Manchester at the time, purchased the Alexandra Brewery and their tied houses. Mr W. S. Cronshaw was kept on as manager of the brewery and nine months later accepted a seat on the board of Groves & Whitnall [2]. This 1901 photo shows the Alexandra Brewery on Drayton Street just after it had changed hands from Cronshaws to Groves & Whitnall. Interestingly the photographer marked a boundary on it, possibly the Manchester-Trafford border? A 1965 photo shows the ornate buildings and tower more clearly.
I don't think there are any surviving pubs showing the Cronshaws signage, hardly surprising, over 110 years since it ceased to exist. However, we do know the Deansgate was once a Cronshaws house as was the Welsh Harp on Lees (Laystall) Street. The Kings Arms in Salford, a cracking boozer just over the river outside our boundary, was built by Schofield Cronshaw the family. Old Cronshaw bottles are highly collectible these days due the hand and arrow Cronshaws trademark as shown on the c.1910 bottle:
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