Old-fashioned little pub around the back of Piccadilly Gardens with a fiercely loyal set of customers, Mother Mac's is another pub that most people don't even know exists. It's probably named after the old landlady, Mrs Mac, and may have had a time as the Back Piccadilly. It was originally the Wellington, a Chesters as these 1967 and 1970s pictures show. The Wellington was owned and ran by James Grindrod in the mid-eighteenth century. Grindrod and his wife Elizabeth had a son Edmund who went on to manage two well known Mancunian boozers, the Bowling Green on Grafton Street in Rusholme and further afield, the Griffin in Cheadle. Another of their sons, James Newton, ran the Palace Inn in Market Street [1].
Mother Mac's is mainly frequented by oldies and characters, and is still a sound place for a quick pint, and the pub's specialities, mince and spuds or chip barms if you're lucky. The decor is as old fashioned as the pub and the walls are stained yellow from the previous days of smokers, which in itself adds to the character of the place. Some terrific old pictures of town are hung, plus there's rumours of a macabre event several decades ago where the landlord of Mother Macs murdered his wife and child by hiding their bodies in the dumb waiter and torching the place! Real ale is provided by way of Hydes bitter, which was a decent enough pint. Worth a look in for the novelty value alone of this throwback of a boozer.
1. J P Grindrod at manchester-forum.
Had a few good lock-ins in here over the years.
ReplyDeleteChris Armstrong said...
ReplyDeleteThis [Wellington] is now Mother Mac's.
5 AUGUST 2010 12:00
granata said...
Of course! Can see it in the architecture now, the Little Lever St address was misleading. Thanks Chris.
5 AUGUST 2010 20:37
My grandmother was a publican not a landlady! 2 sisters and a brother born upstairs. Cleaning lady killed as well
ReplyDeleteI worked for R Whites lemonade a subsidary of Whitbreads, I made a delivery to Mother Macs along with my uncle who was a driver at the time on the day the lanlord torched the building, the tanker driver had just filled the Vat we had finished our drop, while we were upstairs the landlord went down to the cellar and emptied the Vats, unknown to us the bodies of hts wife,2 children and the cleaner were upstairs,and from what we heard that same day was his wife and children were in the wardrobe along with the cleaner when he set fire to it with himself in the middle of the living room,the reason we heard for his actions was because Whitbread had given him notice to leave as it was being turned into a Tenancy ( info on the Tenancy was told to us by the lanlord himself)this would of left him homeless, but he was told that it would be turned into a Tenancy at some point and be expected to leave,so sad they were such a lovely family, what i can't get my head round and still can't 40yrs on, why did'nt he send his family out for the day with the takings and give the cleaner the day off, he never achieved burning down the pub as it was open months later.
ReplyDeleteI worked as a pot collector for the landlord Arthur; I was in the pub a few nights before this tragedy.
DeleteInteresting to hear that story about the pub. Just loves this pub, even after they completely
ReplyDeleteremodeled the place.
not been there for a number of years will have to check whether its still going next time I'm in the area
ReplyDeleteBest known for the famous chillie Les And Marie were the last couple before the refurb They Ran a fantastic pub For 32 Years longest Landlord and landlady in Manchester up to 2016
ReplyDeleteMy mother was a barmaid there.I worked on Piccadilly London rd in a camping shop.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the fire that morning,I rang my mum and she answered explaining that she had a cold and stayed off.A close shave and fortunate twist of fate for me and mum.shame for the victims