Pubs of Manchester

All pubs within the city centre and beyond.
A history of Manchester's hundreds of lost pubs.

Sunday 9 January 2011

Red Lion, Bolton Street


Former site of Red Lion, Bolton Street, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

Where Trinity Way crosses Chapel Street at this corner, Bolton Street (having branched north off Gore Street) used to meet Chapel Street.  On this corner was the Red Lion, named after the Red Lion which used to stand on Market Street in Manchester that was lost due to street widening in 1821 [1].  The tenant of the Mancunian Red Lion, Laura Knight, came to Salford and took over and family member Nancy named the newly built pub, opening in 1823.  Interestingly, the pub is named "The Red Lion PH and Excise Office" on the 1848 map and next door on Chapel Street is the Letter Receiving Office, giving some insight into the important role that the Red Lion played in mid-1800s Salford [1].  Across the road from the Red Lion was Bolton Street Baths, and a few yards down the street towards the railway line, New Bailey Prison and the River Irwell was the "New Jerusalem Temple  (Swedenborgian)".  The Red Lion was a Walkers & Homfray house in the 1950s then Wilsons Brewery had it in the '60s.  A compulsary purchase order for the creation of the Mancunian Way-Trinity Way inner ring road led to its demolition in 1978 [2].  Not to be confused with the Red Lion / Raven Hotel at the bottom end of Chapel Street, this Red Lion was a working man's Wilsons pub with a long, horseshoe-shaped bar.  On offer was Wilsons bitter and mild from beer engines plus the usual Guinness as well as Watney's Red keg [3].

1. New Bailey & Ordsall Lane 1848, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).
2. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
3. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres (1975).

8 comments:

  1. My dad's mother's family (Youd) ran a pub in Bolton St, never knew its name. Wonder if this were it. His mother died when he was 4 and the story goes that he was brought up by his dad's neighbors rather than move to the pub.

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    1. Weaste Cemetery.
      Private Samuel Youde. King's Shropshire Light Infantry 7th Battalion. Service number 43290
      Died of wounds in France Nov 1st 1918 in his 21st year.
      His father and mother managed the Bleachers Arms on 11-13 Bolton Street which is where Samuel and his family lived.
      His father was originally from Higher Kinnerton in Wales while his mother was born in Broughton.
      He had three sisters, Maggie, Ethel and Edith and a brother, Thomas.
      Buried at Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille

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    2. I don't know how to post photos on here which is the reason I can't post a photo of Samuel's grave.

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    3. if you have a photo I'd really appreciate it if you could email it to me via mrduncan1@rcn.com
      Thanks.

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    4. Edith was, or would have been, my Grandma. She died when my Dad was 5.

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  2. Most likely is the Red Lion, although no mention of Youd in the Red Lion's history.

    There was a Bleachers Arms a bit further down Bolton Street from the Red Lion - possibly a beerhouse as it doesn't appear on the 1848 map

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    1. Yeah. confirmed all this in the intervening years though little, if any, more. A distant cousin reckons she came across a picture of the Bleachers Arms in a book but we’ve lost any trace of it. I visited the site last year, felt the vibe, but as in the above picture it’s just an NCP lot these days. An excuse to visit the Egerton Arms really. PD.

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    2. Hi, Samuel Youd was my Great Uncle, I have a picture of the Youd grave at Weaste cemetery and one of Samuel Youd's grave in France, please get in touch if you would like, regards, Jean

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