Skinners' Arms, Long Millgate

The Skinners' Arms is the first pub mentioned in The Manchester Man, the classic Manchester story of Jabez Clegg, Joshua Brookes & Co. which was published in 1896 but describes an earlier time, 1799 onwards. All other pubs mentioned in the book were real Manchester alehouses in the eighteenth century, so we can assume this one is bona fide.

The Manchester Man, Simon Clegg rescuing Jabez from the Irk. (c) Amazon.

The tanners that grafted alongside the River Irk just upstream of the Church and Chethams College, retired in the Skinners' Arms after they rescued their equipment and produce away from the flooding Irk in 1799; the one that brought Jabez Clegg floating down the river, as the Moses-esque story goes. The tanners were rewarded with a supply of ale and bread and cheese in the Skinners'. Until the flood waters receded, for the next few days the tanners couldn't return to work immediately so spent a couple of days on the ale in the Skinners' and the Queen Anne, nearby [1]. The pub is mentioned in the 1825 census as No.116 Long Millgate, off Old Church Yard, but appears to have gone by 1861 census.

1. The Manchester Man, G. Linneaus Banks (1896).