Old Fleece, Oak Street

Former location of Royal Oak, Oak Street (2). (c) googlemaps.

In the 1800s Oak Street ran uninterrupted from Thomas Street to Swan Street and had three pubs, all on the right hand side.  The Fleece was at the bottom on the corner of Thomas Street; the Royal Oak was at the top end (2 on the map).  The middle pub was the Old Fleece, presumably established prior to the one down the street.  It was on the corner of Oak Street and Whittle Street as seen by 3 on the map, and was three doors up from the little Oak Street Chapel [1].  Opposite the Old Fleece in the 1840s was a cotton mill, crammed in amongst the houses and Smithfield Market.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Royal Oak, Oak Street

Former location of Royal Oak, Oak Street (2). (c) googlemaps.

Oak Street is split in two by the little council estate (or is it sheltered housing?) in the Northern Quarter these days, but in the 1800s it ran from Thomas Street to Swan Street and had three pubs, all on the right hand side.  There was the Fleece, its namesake the Old Fleece (3 on the map) and, at the top end, just before Foundry Lane, was the Royal Oak (2 on the map).  The Royal Oak was next door to the Oil Cloth Manufactory on Scholes Street and on the same block as the Manchester Union Industrial Workhouse which was on the corner of Scholes Street and Tib Street [1].

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Man in the Moon, Scholes Street

Former location of Man in the Moon, Scholes Street (1). (c) googlemaps.

Scholes Street used to run parallel to Foundry Lane and Whittle Street, from Tib Street to meet Coop Street.  In the mid-1800s on the corner of Scholes Street and Coop Street (1 on the map) was the brilliantly named Man in the Moon (more than a century before "one small step for Man...") [1].  The Man in the Moon faced the huge Smithfield Market so would have been popular with traders and hawkers.  The site of the pub is now on the edge of that odd little Northern Quarter council estate.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Peel's Arms Inn, Mason Street

Former location of Peel's Arms Inn, Mason Street. (c) googlemaps.

On this corner of Mason Street and Cable Street, just off Swan Street where the Smithfield Market Hall is, was the Peel's Arms Inn in the 1800s [1].  As with so many old pubs in this area, its fate is now a car park.  The Peel's Arms joins the Hat & Feathers, Red Bull and Marsland's Arms in the Mason Street lost pubs list.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Cross Keys Inn, Cross (Keys) Street

Former location of Cross Keys Inn, Cross (Keys) Street. (c) googlemaps.

Today Cross Keys Street, back in the 1800s, simply Cross Street [1].  This is one of Manchester's lesser known streets and it's named after the pub that used to stand on it.  Third door down Cross (Keys) Street off Swan Street was the Cross Keys Inn, putting it where the low-rise building starts on the above shot.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Gallery, Peter Street

Gallery, Peter Street. (c) techno.de.

The Gallery used to be a basement bar and gig venue beneath where Bar 38 (still to do, unfortunately) is on Peter Street.

The Gallery, Peter Street, 1985. (c) Manchester District Music Archive.

There's plenty of photos of the inside at the Manchester District Music Archive, but none of the externals.  The Gallery was below the row of old buildings which once stood here... can't find any photos of the old row.

Former location of The Gallery, Peter Street. (c) googlemaps.

Saracen's Head, Rochdale Road

Former location of Saracen's Head, Rochdale Road. (c) googlemaps.

This flat-iron building on the corner of Rochdale Road and Sudell Street sure looks like it could have been an old pub or hotel but as of yet we have no evidence that it was.  However, opposite this corner used to be the Saracen's Head, on Rochdale Road, just to the right of the no entry sign [1].  The Saracen's Head was licensed from 1816 to 1904 as a Threlfall's house [2].  In the 18th century, Sudell Street was known as Church Street as St George's Church was down the road; the church and the coal wharves of Oldham Road Railway Station are long lost beneath the Royal Mail car park.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).
2. The Old Pubs of Rochale Road and Neighbourhood - Manchester, Neil Richardson (1985).

Marsland's Arms Inn, Mason Street

Former location of Marsland's Arms Inn, Mason Street. (c) googlemaps.

Behind this wall is nowt but a car park for the Royal Mail sorting offices and clinic that sits on the former site  of the Oldham Road Railway Station.  The area used to be crammed full of terraced and back-to-back houses, and three doors further down Mason Street from here used to be the Marsland's Arms Inn on the right, on the corner with Foundry Lane [1].  The above shot shows the rooftops of the Marble Arch (left) and old Mamas (centre-left) on Rochdale Road (neither pub existed when the Marsland's did).

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Land of Burns, Lees Street

Former location of Land of Burns, Lees Street. (c) googlemaps.

Opposite Oldham Road from Bengal Street today is the Chinese supermarket and restaurant, with the huge Royal Mail sorting office to the north.  Oldham Road Railway Station and Oldham Road Police Station used to sit on the site of the sorting office and Lees Street was in front of the station, continuing from Bengal Street, across to meet Rochdale Road.  The Land of Burns was about eight doors down Lees Street on the left on the corner with Back Thompson Street, roughly where Cassidy Close is today [1].

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Dickens, Oldham Street

Possible former location of Dickens, Oldham Street. (c) www.dickensclub.co.uk.

This gay bar / club was was on Oldham Street in the 1970s and '80s.  On the recently created website, Dickens Club is described as 74a Oldham Street, which - if the numbering system is correct - is actually this building on the left (No.72 is clearly shown on the right), a couple of doors up from the Castle (No.66).

Possible former location of Dickens, 74a Oldham Street. (c) googlemaps..

Website:  www.dickensclub.co.uk.

Cromford Club, Cromford Court

The Cromford Club was run by Paddy McGrath, an ex-boxer and friend to the famous - many sons of Manchester were his aquintance, from Matt Busby and his United players who wined and dined there, to Anthony H Wilson.  Cromford Court was just off Market Street, on the right as you walked down towards Deansgate, just past Pall Mall which is on your left.  Here is a photo looking into Cromford Court from Market Street in 1944, the Fatted Calf was off to the left.  The Cromford Club, seen here in the 1950s (you can just about see the sign above the arch), was one of Manchester's first late night venues in the early 1950s and was often difficult to get into, remaining a popular haunt for the stars until its closure and demolition due to the Arndale Centre's arrival in the mid '70s.

Star Inn, New Bailey Street

Former location of Star Inn, New Bailey Street. (c) googlemaps.

The Star Inn was run by William John Smith in the 1850s, Martha Baker from next doors' Yorkshire Stingo in the 1860s and Joseph Downing by 1881 [1].  That year the Star was demolished for the railway extension, so it was probably where the gap is in the above picture, next to the railway pillar.  Next door to the Star, was an unknown beerhouse that lasted from the 1830s to the 1860s before it became an eating house.  The daughters of Downing, the Star's final licensee, all worked as waitresses in this restaurant before it too was pulled [1].

1. Salford Pubs - Part 1: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).

Yorkshire Stingo, New Bailey Street

Former location of Yorkshire Stingo, New Bailey Street. (c) googlemaps.

This oddly named place a couple of doors down from the Wellington / Pen & Wig (there was a Yorkshire Stingo in London; Stingo being an old White Rose term for strong ale, as Sam Smith's brewery demonstrate) was a "beerhouse and chop house with cigar shop attached" as advertised in 1849 [1].  John Armer, the tenant, was followed by John Hutchinson before the Yorkshire Stingo changed name, first to the Kendal House in 1856 then to the Rifleman Inn a year later.  By 1858 John Baker had taken over before Martha Baker was its last licensee in the 1860s.  She left to take over at the Star Inn next door and the beerhouse became a pawnshop [1].  The Stingo used to stand on the left side of the brown building in the above shot; the Star Inn to the immediate left in the gap, the Wellington / Pen & Wig a couple of doors down where the Spar is.

1. Salford Pubs - Part 1: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).

Boardroom, Portland Street

Boardroom, Portland Street, 1970s. (c) Manchester Pub Surveys [1].

The Boardroom deserves its own entry as this refurbished venue's had so many name changes over the last couple of decades, it would get lost in amongst the Blue Parrot, Che, Huxters, AM:PM, Hugo Mash etc.  Seen here in 1975, the Boardroom was within the walls of County Hall (now Westminster House) on the corner of Minshull Street and Portland Street.  It was one of my first drinking haunts within the town centre in the 1980s, a Webster's house back then.  Then it was a long thin pub with no windows on the Portland Street frontage, and frequented by young scallies who liked to drink too much at a young age, before staggering off drunkenly home on the last train.  The Boardroom was a pre-match haunt for many and also boasted a bank of Space Invader arcade machines, a rarity in town in the '80s [2].  The place closed in the early '90s I guess, and following a refit and installation of windows, began its time as a succession of crappy bars in this seemingly cursed location.

1. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres, Manchester Pub Surveys (1975).
2. Phil Blinkhorn at www.aidan.co.uk.

138. Piccadilly Tavern, Piccadilly

Piccadilly Tavern, Piccadilly. (c) localdatacompany.

The Piccailly Tavern (formerly the Goose On Piccadilly), looks like a replica of the nearby Wetherspoons and indeed, I suspect shares many of the clientele.  It was therefore with reservations that we headed there, and not with any confidence that there would be any drinkable beer, if indeed we could actually get near the bar due to the assorted notrites usually in attendance.  We were to be surprised though.  Not only was the bar fairly clear, the clientele mixed and fairly so as you would expect for a Sunday afternoon, but they did have two real ales on albeit just one bitter and one mild.  We sampled a pint of the bitter - Rite Flanker - and a superb drop it was as well.  Kept well and served excellently through a swan neck pump, this was a bit of shock to the system, as was CAMRA corner, where we actually felt obliged to stand.  Now we ain't about to start frequenting this place on a regular basis, but it's not bad for a pint of two, and was certainly better than we expected.

Piccadilly Tavern, Piccadilly. (c) beerintheevening.

137. Edwards, Portland Street

Edwards, Portland Street. (c) manchesterbars.

Currently called Edwards but has previously been Night & Day amongst other various names and guises, but seems settled on this particular chain now.  If you are not familiar with the Edwards chain, think Wetherspoons but with dearer drinks and less old people, because that pretty much sums it up.  As with the previous three pubs of the day, no real ale, and by now we're fed up with Guinness so it's a quick bottle of Desperados to liven the palate.  Bottle drinking isn't our normal choice but in this instance was justified and at least resulted in a sharp exit, leaving the diners to it.  It's not that Edwards is a terrible place, it's just very, very bland.

136. Blue Parrot / Che / Huxters / AM:PM / Hugo Mash, Portland Street

Che, Portland Street. (c) googlemaps.

And so onto the Blue Parrot, formerly Hugo Mash, AM:PM, Huxter's, Che and more famously before a complete rebuild, the Boardroom.  Nowadays it's aimed at an altogether different market from the Boardroom days, though I suspect that what it aims for and what it gets could be two very different things due to its close proximity to Edwards, Bar Rogue / Wave and Yates's.

AM:PM, Portland Street. (c) barblog.

It has tried to re-invent itself as the Blue Parrot Bar & Grill, and one end was very nicely decked out for diners, and you could be forgiven for thinking this was a swanky restaurant if you were having a beer here at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon as we were.  Alas the bottles of rosé for £6 give it away as not quite all that in truth.  Maybe in time they will manage to change the perception, they certainly appear to be trying hard, but it will always be difficult in this rea of town.

Huxter's, Portland Street. (c) carling.

As for the bar itself, long bar, no real ale and a very uninspiring bottled beer choice means it doesn't exactly tick all the right boxes for us beer drinkers.  Add to this the latest trend for settees all over the show, and you would think it would possibly struggle for standing areas when busy.  Again, an inoffensive enough place, there is a call for these type of bars, but they just aren't for us.

Website:  www.blueparrotmanchester.co.uk.

135. Bar Rogue (Wave) / Saturdays, Portland Street

Bar Rogue, Portland Street. (c) studentgrill.

Bar Rogue name is quite apt for this bar with adjoining door to the grim and disreputable Britannia Hotel which now blights the once proud and still impressive old Watts warehouse.  Signs everywhere proclaim all day, every day drinks deals on just about everything, but we find out in reality, this isn't the case as "the City match is on" - erm, in London.  Anyway, that apart, once again, no real ale, so Guinness it is.  Sat over three levels, its a reasonable looking place but a bit sterile.  Good seating at the slightly grimy windows overlooking Portland Street, but you just couldn't get away from the hotel residents bar feel about the place.  I'm sure with its cheap drinks promotions, perhaps when there is no football on, Bar Rogue is attractive to the older people who for some reason seem to lap up John Smiths Smooth, but for beer hunters, nah, not for us.  The place expands to incorporate the adjacent Bar Wave - all part of the same, dreary place, so thankfully we can cross that off our to-do list.  Going back a decade or more and this place was known as Saturdays nightclub.

Bar Rogue, Portland Street. (c) hotelconnect.

Website:  www.bar-rogue.co.uk.

134. Tribeca, Sackville Street

Tribeca, Sackville Street. (c) googlemaps.

Noon on a Sunday probably isn't the best day for trying out yuppyish night-time music bars, but to our surprise Tribeca was open so we thought we'd pop in just for the one.  Indeed the floors were still wet from mopping but we didn't let this deter us from our first tipple of the day.  As you would expect, there was no real ale, so it was Guinness for me.  However credit where credit's due, they did at least have bottles of Bombardier so that was the beer of choice for my mate.

Tribeca, Sackville Street. (c) whathappenedlastnight.

The bar itself is set on three levels with the bed area (I kid you not) down below and the Purple Room as a seperate private function area set up above the main bar area.  It's your typical trendy bar with its settees and large tables taking up much of the room leaving little room for standing.  A bit of a waste of space if I'm honest.  With its location on the fringe of the Gay Vilage and overlooking Sackville Park (more recently known as Sackville Gardens and Whitworth Gardens) with its Alan Turing Memorial statue, you could be forgiven for thinking that Tribeca is a gay bar.  But I'm told that it has a mixed crowd of both gay and straights and that it is one of the more pleasant bars in this vicinity in the evening.

Website:  www.tribeca-bar.co.uk.

Barbirolli / Pitcher & Piano, Lower Mosley Street

Barbirolli, Lower Mosley Street. (c) markydeedrop at skyscrapercity.

Barbirolli off Barbirolli Square, Lower Mosley Street, in the former Pitcher & Piano recently closed its doors less than a years' trading.  V1 Leisure had purchased the lease from Marston's in December 2009, but they were liquidated in September.  We never got to try it out as Barbirolli, but as the Pitcher & Piano it was typically dull, overpriced affair (most expensive real ale in town), albeit with a pleasant waterside location.  The Pitcher & Piano chain has since moved to another (less pleasant) canal-side spot at Deansgate Locks.

Pitcher & Piano, Lower Mosley Street, 2007. (c) markydeedrop at skyscrapercity.

In this form, Barbirolli is no loss, but maybe if someone with a bit of acumen took it over and offered decent ales and interesting bottled beers, this location could make a go of it.  Its proximity to the Bridgewater Hall, Midland Hotel, GMEX - and classic pubs like the Britons Protection and Peveril of the Peak - suggest it could thrive.

Barbirolli, Lower Mosley Street, 2009. (c) City Life.

Guest Pub - Waggon & Horses, Sale

Waggon & Horses, Cross Street, Sale. (c) Pub Curmudgeon at Closed Pubs.

This is a first for us, a guest closed pub.  The Waggon & Horses is a forlorn looking derelict pub on Cross Street, Sale, the A56 from Altricham to Manchester.  It is only a few yards up the road from our favourite, the Volunteer.  Thanks to a recent visit from the intrepid explorer, x1franpl* at the marvellous 28dayslater*, we can see the inside of this sorry old boozer. 

Waggon & Horses, Sale, 2010. (c) x1franpl at 28dayslater.

Anyone fancy a game of pool?

Waggon & Horses, Sale, 2010. (c) x1franpl at 28dayslater.

The walls are adorned in these weird and wonderful chalk drawings; this one celebrates a couple of back-in-the-day ales, Websters and Theakstons:

Waggon & Horses, Sale, 2010. (c) x1franpl at 28dayslater.

On the same thread on 28dayslater, Lurkenator* supplies us with some brilliant old photos of the Waggon & Horses in happier times.  Firstly, over a century ago showing the Chester Road in all its Victorian splendour (in contrast to the disgraceful eyesore that the run down shops and tattoo parlours of Cross Street offer today).

Waggon & Horses, Sale, 1900. (c) Lurkenator at 28dayslater.

The Waggon & Horses was a Wilsons house in the 1970s:


Waggon & Horses, Sale, 1977. (c) Lurkenator at 28dayslater.

Here's the landlord Stan pulling a pint of Wilsons:


Stan in the Waggon & Horses, Sale, 1977. (c) Lurkenator at 28dayslater.

By 1982 the Waggon & Horses was a freehouse, "Purveyors of fine Cask Conditioned Beer" as the sign proudly states:

Waggon & Horses, Sale, 1982. (c) Lurkenator at 28dayslater.

Having been been shut now for about a decade, the pub has been allowed to rot and is now clearly ruined beyond repair.  Shame on its owners for letting it deteriorate like this, but someone really needs to put it out of its misery.  RIP the Waggon & Horses.

* If there is an issue with the images being hosted here, please comment or drop us a line!

Cobden Arms, Oldham Street

Former location of Cobden Arms, Oldham Street. (c) googlemaps.

Next door-but-one to the Castle (then the Crown & Anchor) used to to be the Cobden Arms on the corner of Oldham Street and Warwick Street [1].  The left hand side of this 'United Footwear' shop marks the spot of the old Cobden Arms. 

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Wheat Sheaf, Tib Street

Former location of Wheat Sheaf, Tib Street. (c) googlemaps.

At the top of Tib Street on the left, second-to-last building, was the Wheatsheaf in the mid-1800s [1].  Today this car park marks the spot.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Noble House, Blantyre Street

Strange one this.  Noble House was either a separate pub or bar but part of the now derelict Jackson's Wharf complex in the Castlefield Basin, or is an old name for the Jackson's Wharf pub itself.  It's listed in several old directories, so until we find out more it's got its own entry.

Athenaeum, York Street

Athenaeum, York Street. (c) lookingatbuildings.

"One of the worst pubs in Manchester... in one of the best buildings" is how many will remember Athenaeum now its doors have closed.  Others may recall its time as a haunt for football 'lads,' while those who remember it from the start may recall its heyday in the '90s when it was very much on the city centre circuit.  Along with the likes of Rothwells, All Bar One and Reform, Athenaeum was, for a short time in the '90s, a place to be seen.  Sadly, it ended in 2010 as a cheap and not-even-cheerful sub-Wetherspoons "great value pub" type place which attracted few customers, and even then these were of the down-and-out and scally variety.  

Athenaeum, York Street. (c) Rick II at flickr.

This imposing red sandstone dome-topped corner building has such a fine history though.  The Parrs Bank Building was designed by Charles Heathcote in 1902 and is a fine example of Edwardian Baroque with some art nouveau detailing particularly in the wrought ironwork.  The interior is spectacularly tiled in green and cream with marble  pillars and it would have been one of Manchester's most opulent banking halls.  It will hopefully look the part when the pub is finished its conversion into Brown's, an upmarket Mitchell & Butler chain restaurant.  In the 1960s, before it became a pub, it may actually have been called Brown's (no connection), also a restaurant.

Athenaeum, York Street. (c) manchesterconfidential.

The Athenaeum has been in the news recently as a fire broke out as it was being refurbished [1]. The video gives you an idea of the grand nature of the building.  The upper floors which house offices were unharmed but it appears the transformation of the pub into Brown's restaurant was affected mostly with the fire starting - possibly deliberately - in the basement, and spreading to the lower floor.

Video of fire in former Athenaeum, York Street, 2010. (c) menmedia.

1. http://menmedia.co.uk

Windmill Hotel, Lower King Street (West)

Former location of Windmill Hotel, Lower King Street (West). (c) googlemaps.

This rather pleasant little square bordered by Bridge Street, St Mary's Parsonage and King Street West is generally used by office workers for a spot of dinner, being a bit off the beaten track for shoppers.  You can cut across it when passing from Manchester into Salford if you're heading for a booze in Kings Arms or New Oxford, or indeed you have to pass through it if you're heading towards the late night Mojo bar.  In the 1880s a large hotel, the Windmill Hotel, stood here, backing onto the long-gone Windmill Street, which used to run in front of the shops in today's photo [1].

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Comet Inn, Lower King Street (West)

Former location of Comet Inn, Lower King Street (West). (c) googlemaps.

These days this grim 1960s building on King Street West houses some low-brow shops including a Greggs, but in the mid 1880s, the Comet Inn stood here.  To the rear of the pub was Garden Lane; to the right was Lofthouse Court and the street itself was known as Lower King Street [1].

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Vine Tavern, Albert Street

Former location of Vine Tavern, Albert Street. (c) googlemaps.

Opposite and slightly further along the long-lost Albert Street from the Old Hare & Hounds was the Vine Tavern.  On a triangle of buildings between Albert Street, Gas Street and Bridge Street, now represented by an NCP car park, the Vine Tavern was adjacent to Manchester Gas Works Reserve Station No.1 which used to stand where this ugly grey concrete tower is today [1].

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Old Hare & Hounds, Albert Street

Former location of Old Hare & Hounds, Albert Street. (c) googlemaps.

On the way out of Manchester city centre down Bridge Street towards Salford Central Station, just before you get to the Albert Bridge over the River Irwell, on the right is an NCP car park.  A couple of hundred years ago Albert Street went down here, running parallel to the river, to join up with St Mary's Parsonage [1].    On the left down Albert Street and adjacent to the Albert Mill which was on the corner of Bridge Street, was the Old Hare & Hounds pub, backing right onto the river. 

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Spread Eagle Inn, Long Millgate

Former location of Spread Eagle Inn, Long Millgate (2). (c) googlemaps.

Five doors up from the Pheasant Inn on Long Millgate was the Spread Eagle Inn, marked 2 on the map.  The Spread Eagle also faced the Free Grammar School which was part of Chethams and also backed onto two courts, Ditchfield Court and Woollam's Court [1].  It was kept by Ellen Schofield in the 1850s as shown in the Slater's Directory [1].

1. Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Pheasant Inn, Long Millgate

Former location of Pheasant Inn, Long Millgate (1). (c) googlemaps.

These days Long Millgate is nothing more than a walkway between Chethams and Urbis from the Cathedral to Victoria Station.  A hundred and sixty-odd years ago all these Manchester institutions - except Urbis - were established and Long Millgate had several of pubs and beerhouses.  The 1849 map shows only two.  The Pheasant was opposite  the Chethams School Master's House and Free Grammar School (1 on the map) and run by John Faulkner in the mid-1850s [1].

1. Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Old Pack Horse, Apple Market

Former location of Old Pack Horse, Apple Market (Fennel Street).

This pedestrianised part of Fennel Street was once known as Apple Market, unsurprisingly, on account of the fruit markets which used to be held here in front of the cathedral from 1769 onwards [1].  Next to the Chetham Gates off Victoria Street (once Hunts Bank) was the Black Moors Head and its larger neighbour, the Old Pack Horse [2].  The Old Pack Horse was next door-but-one to the gates in the above shot and these two pubs probably replaced the Three Tuns Alehouse which stood here previously.

1. www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41404
2. Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Black Moors Head, Apple Market (Fennel Street)

Former location of Black Moors Head, Apple Market (Fennel Street). (c) googlemaps.

Adjacent to the Chetham gates on Fennel Street off Victoria Street (formerly Hunts Bank) are some inconspicuous bushes.  In the 1800s when this area was known as Cathedral Yard, where the bushes are used to stand two pubs; the Black Moors Head and to its right, the Old Pack Horse.  The latter was the larger pub with the Black Moors Head being only one bay wide [1].  The other old Apple Market pub, the Three Tuns Alehouse, was probably knocked down some time after 1820 for the building of these pubs and the Chetham School Master's Houses, which were next to the Old Pack Horse, long-demolished [1].

1. Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).