Seven Stars, York Street

Former location of Seven Stars, York Street. (c) googlemaps.

It's difficult to imagine the how parts of Manchester that the newer main roads scythe through must have looked in the past.  So try to envisage a bustling backstreet Renshaw & Cardwell house, the Seven Stars, at this spot where the Mancunian Way ducks under the Chester Road roundabout.  Before the ringroad this spot was the intersection of York Street (the bottom end of the street just about survives today) and Silver Street (now Silvercroft Street).  The Seven Stars closed in 1964 as a Wilsons house [1].

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Lord Napier, Great Jackson Street

Lord Napier, Great Jackson Street. (c) Kevin Gallagher at YouTube.

On this plot to the left of the modern building on Great Jackson Street was the Lord Napier public house.  The pub was only demolished in 1986 and was previously a Groves & Whitnall house, the Boilermakers Arms.  Just off the very top end of Chester Road (in the distance), the street that runs down the side of the office building is known as Silvercroft Street - simply Silver Street in the past - and on that corner used to be a chapel which would have been next door to the Lord Napier into the 1930s at least [1].

Former location of Lord Napier, Great Jackson Street. (c) Google 2011. View Larger Map.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Albion Inn, City Road

Former location of Albion Inn, City Road. (c) googlemaps.

Whereas there's still a City Road Inn on Albion Street, there used to be an Albion Inn on City Road.  In was on the south side of City Road at the bottom of the still mapped Owen Street (shown above intersecting with City Road), on the corner with Welcome Street (now beneath the Mancunian Way).  The Albion Inn closed in 1966 as a Peter Walker & Son brewery pub [1].

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Victoria Hotel, City Road

Victoria Hotel, City Road, 1951. (c) Bob Potts [1].

Yet another old pub of Hulme to have been lost to the Mancunian Way, the Victoria Hotel was on the northern side of City Road between Crown Street and Great Jackson Street.  These streets all survive today in part, albeit some with slightly altered names - City Road is now City Road East-turning-into-Jackson Crescent, and Great Jackson Street is now Great Jackson Street-turning-into-Jackson Crescent.  The map below tries to explain that.

Former location of Victoria Hotel, City Road. (c) googlemaps.

When the Victoria Hotel closed in 1964 it had been a Manchester Brewery, Walker & Homfray and finally Wilsons house.  The exact spot of the old Victoria Hotel was just south of where the curved pedestrian walkway is over the Mancunian Way.

Former location of Victoria Hotel, City Road. (c) googlemaps.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

New Millgate Hotel, Long Millgate

Former new Millgate Hotel, Long Millgate, (c) Manchester District Music Archive.

The New Millgate Hotel was next door to the Manchester Sports Guild (and Pendulum) on Long Millgate according to Lisa on Man Mates [1]. It could therefore have been this building on the right shown above - the green and while colour scheme may hint at a public house. Interestingly, the New Millgate Hotel's only mention is from a 1972 London Gazette in a list of liquidations, the registered office involved being next door to the Lass O'Gowrie on the other side of town.

New Millgate Hotel, Long Millgate. (c) London Gazette, 1972.

1. http://manmates.proboards.com.

Ivy Leaf / Willow Concert Inn, Chester Road

Former location of Ivy Leaf / Willow Concert Inn, Chester Road.

Another of Chester Road lost pubs, the Ivy Leaf closed down in 1966 having been a Cronshaws then Groves  & Whitnall house.  It was formerly the Willow Concert Inn as mentioned in The Manchester Guardian in 1872 [1].  The Ivy Leaf was on the corner of Chester Road and Bentinck Street, a street which does in fact still carry on to the right once behind the undergrowth shown in the above shot, looking down Chester Road towards Cornbrook.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Chester Road Inn, Chester Road

Former location of Chester Road Inn, Chester Road. (c) googlemaps.

Directly opposite the Egerton Arms, the Chester Road Inn was on the corner of Chester Road and Arundel Street.  It only closed in 1971 as a Groves & Whitnall house [1] and as the snap below shows, the pub would have had fine views of St. George's Church when it was still a house of worship.  The Chester Road Inn was on the left, now replaced by the bushes behind that driver's cab!

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Cross Keys, Browne Street

Former location of the Cross Keys, Browne Street (down and left). (c) googlemaps.

This narrow road off Chapel Street is for access to the Lowry Hotel complex but is now known as Dearmans Place, the official address of the Lowry.  The googlemap shows it apparently turns into Brown Street, and in the distant past this was Browne Street.  About halfway down Browne Street on the left towards the River Irwell was the Cross Keys [1].

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

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

White Lion, Wood Street

Former location of the White Lion, Wood Street, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

Just over the River Irwell into Salford, Wood Street was parallel to Salford's Quay Street where the Sun was.  In fact Wood Street is still shown on googlemaps despite being now covered by the Lowry Hotel complex.  However, its pub, the White Lion which was in the middle of a row of terraced houses taking up the width of two properties, is long gone.  The recess in the building shown on the left, below, marks the direction of Wood Street and the White Lion was on the right where the building comes across [1].

Former location of the White Lion, Wood Street, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

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

Crown & Cushion and Ducie Bridge

Crown & Cushion, Corporation Street. (c) mr.cool at skyscrapercity.

The above photo was taken in mid-April as preparations are made to demolish the Crown & Cushion.  The title of the oldest licensed premises in Manchester now passes to the English Lounge or the Sawyers Arms, which are both recorded as being licensed in the 1760s.  A bit of better news though in this article from Manchester Confidential confirms what we suspected last year - the Ducie Bridge WAS bought by the Co-Op, who have given it a 5-year stay of execution.

"The firm decided to buy the pub because it sits within the 20 acres it is planning to regenerate at part of its NOMA development... it has agreed the new lease with landlord Dave Foran, who said there were ‘no plans’ past the five year agreement, despite the pub being left off several CGIs of how NOMA might look in the future.  “We had a letter from Admiral Taverns saying they’d sold the pub and we had 28 days to get out,” said Foran.  “But the Co-op approached me and said they wanted to keep it on under a lease. What happens after that, I don’t know, but they have no plans to demolish it. Not yet anyway.”...  “The Crown and Cushion is going but they’d have nothing to gain from taking the Ducie down,” he said. “Miller Street will be one-way, then new roads will go up the back of us into Angel Meadows."

Let's hope that the confirmation of the new ring road passing up Angel Street means the Angel / Beer House is safe from the duplicitous Co-Op and council.

Ducie Bridge, Corporation Street. (c) Manchester Confidential.

Egerton Arms, Chester Road

Egerton Arms, Chester Road, 1952. (c) Bob Potts [1].

Only around the corner from the Egerton Inn, the Egerton Arms on Chester Road was one of the first pubs in Hulme, listed in 1808 [1]. Shown above in 1952, it was on the corner of Chester Road and Hargreaves Street, which today is the blocked off Angela Street.  The grassy knoll marks the spot of the old Egerton Arms which closed in 1968 as a former Manchester Brewery, Walker & Homfrays and latterly Wilsons house [1].

Former location of Egerton Arms, Chester Road. (c) googlemaps.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Egerton Inn, Egerton Street

Former location of Egerton Inn, Egerton Street. (c) googlemaps.

One of the many great things about googlemaps is that it sometimes throws up old street names that are all-but lost in the name of progress.  One example is here where Egerton Street, now lost beneath the Mancunian Way, and Worsley Street, surrounded by offices, once met.  Today this spot is marked by the spaceship style Urban Splash rental suite, but in before all this the Egerton Inn sat on the corner of Egerton Street and Worsley Street.  The Hardy's house closed in 1967 [1].

Urban Splash, Egerton Street / Worsley Street. (c) sfp-mcr.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Wilton Arms, Ellesmere Street

Former location of Wilton Arms, Ellesmere Street. (c) googlemaps.

The view above is taken from the end of Ellesmere Street, around the back of St. George's Church, looking over the Mancunian Way.  Before the ring road, Ellesmere Street continued over here, and on the left was the Wilton Arms which closed in 1966 as a Groves & Whitnall house.  Its exact location is indicated on the map below.

Former location of Wilton Arms, Ellesmere Street. (c) googlemaps.

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Crown, Mill Street

Crown, Mill Street, Ancoats, 1992. (c) Alan Winfield with permission.

The Crown was still standing on Mill Street in Ancoats in the 1980s, a modern Wilsons keg-only estate pub that had replaced the beerhouse of the same name on the corner of Kirby Street [1].  When Alan Winfield visited in 1992, John Smiths keg was on offer rather than Wilsons.  The original Crown opened in about 1860 and the closure of the new Crown must have been some time in the 1990s.  Angela Massey used to live at the Crown when it had been incorporated into the Cardroom Estate, like the nearby Cob O' Coal down Cardroom Road [2].

Ancoats and Ardwick Hospital, Old Mill Street, Ancoats. (c) Aidan O'Rourke.

The site of the Crown is the corner of Old Mill Street and Cardroom Road (then Kirby Street) where the concrete foundations are, diagonally opposite the old Ancoats and Ardwick Hospital which is being converted into flats.  On the other corner of Mill Street would have been St Jude's Church, as detailed on the Manchester History site.

1. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).
2. http://ickleweb.com/?p=630.

Sun, Quay Street

Former location of the Sun, Quay Street, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

Not to be confused with the better known and more substantial Quay Street of Manchester, this is a short street near the Lowry Hotel just over the River Irwell into Salford.  In the 1800s it linked Worsley Street to Chapel Street and still does according to googlemaps, although the railway has long since cut across the top end of Quay Street.  On the left hand side, about halfway up Quay Street was the Sun, a tiny pub just the width of one terraced house, so you can imagine inside may have been a small front vault (i.e. in the front room) and a lounge to the rear (in the kitchen) which looked like it extended out to the yard area a touch [1].  The Delinio offices under the railway arches roughly mark the location of the Sun (though its address is listed as the adjacent and parallel Yorkshire Street).

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

Waldorf Chop House, Thomas Street

Former location of Waldorf Chop House, Thomas Street. (c) googlemaps.

The Waldorf Chop House was at 54 Thomas Street in the dim and distant past.  When John Clough took over the Woseley Hotel on Gore Street in 1929, he renamed it the Waldorf Hotel, apparently in honour of the old Thomas Street premises (according to the detailed history on display in the Waldorf).
.

Former location of Waldorf Chop House, Thomas Street. (c) googlemaps.

Today 54 Thomas Street is a nondescript and scruffy-looking cash & carry shop, opposite the popular Teacup Café and 57 Thomas Street i.e. the Marble Brewery's northern quarter outpost.  The only clue to a perhaps more elegant use of the building as a chop house are the stained glass windows and detailed V-design on the awnings. 

 

Former location of Waldorf Chop House, Thomas Street. (c) googlemaps.

Admiral, Butler Street

Admiral, Butler Street (c) panoramio.

The Admiral on Butler Street just off Oldham Road was demolished a couple of years ago and was a pub we passed on many occasions but never made the plunge.  A typically uninviting looking estate pub, it was derelict for a few years, but is still shown as inhabited (though boarded up) on googlemaps.

Admiral, Butler Street. (c) Pete Taylor.

The Admiral had a reputation as a rough boozer full of 'characters' and strippers were a regular feature as recently as the late 1990s.  It's a shame that these estate pubs are lost as communities are either literally forced out due to redevelopment, or at the very least, priced out of drinking in pubs.

Admiral, Butler Street. (c) closedpubs.

Cob o' Coal / Colliers Arms, Cardroom Road / Cannel Street

Cob o' Coal, Cardroom Road, Ancoats. (c) http://ickleweb.com/?p=630.

The Cob o' Coal on Cardroom Road was, until very recently, the only remnant of the old Cardroom Estate in Ancoats, just behind the retail park on Great Ancoats Street.  It was originally a Threlfalls house, called the Colliers Arms, on what was then Cannel Street, first licensed in 1823 [1].  In more recent times it was modernised and took on its adopted nickname to become the Cob o' Coal, and the pub survived the first Ancoats clearance and was one of the Cardroom Estate's most popular pubs.


Cob o' Coal, Cardroom Road. (c) Miles Platting, Ancoats and Collyhurst Facebook [1].

The Cob o' Coal is shown here thanks to Alan Winfield at Pubs Galore with a very different colour scheme.  When the Cardroom experiment failed (due to poor street layouts, lack of access and amenities, and anti-social people making it a police no-go area) the pub remained while the council houses and flats were demolished.  

Colliers Arms, Cannel Street, 1930s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

"It’s retention is as much symbolic as anything else and we want it to be a watering hole which is a central focus for the community" said the developers. When selling the concept of the New Islington development to locals and investors, Urban Splash said.  "The Cob O’ Coal Pub has stood on this site for years. The people of Ancoats have drank there since the industrial revolution provided them with the chance to lead the world, more recently, dying industry and failing housing has made it more useful for drowning sorrows... but Ancoats is back and we think the Cob O’ Coal should be given the chance to thrive again... [3]"

Cob o' Coal, Cardroom Road. (c) Miles Platting, Ancoats and Collyhurst Facebook [1].

Sadly, it wasn't to be, as a combination of a fire (possibly - I'm sure this was reported quite recently but can't find any evidence), and probably Urban Splash changing their minds, led to the Cob O' Coal's demolition only a few years ago.

Cob o' Coal, Cardroom Road. (c) link here.

1. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).
2. www.facebook.com/groups/272836182813205/photos.

3. www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=293788.

Bank of England, Pollard Street

Bank of England, Pollard Street. (c) g.mcgarrargy at flickr.

This Ancoats boozer is the only pre-match pub we never tried out and now it's boarded up, seemingly for good, but at least while Pollard Street is closed off due to the tram line being built.  It was never the most inviting looking pub on the occasion we walked, bussed or taxied past and it was real ale free.  In the past the Bank of England would have been used by workers from the nearby mills, including the attached Ancoats Works, but it seemed to gather little trade from the nearby housing estates.

Bank of England, Pollard Street. (c) L S Wilson at geograph.org.uk.

The Bank of England was one of Ancoats' first beerhouses, licensed from 1830 and ten years later it was fully licensed with attached brewhouse.  The brewery did well, in fact it had another tied house, the Kings Arms near Miles Platting station nearby.  The brewery was sold off in the 1860s but continued as a separate business for a few years.  Mick Burke remembered the Bank of England for its urinal outside the pub on Carruthers Street [1].

Bank of England, Pollard Street, 1930s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

UPDATE:  The Bank of England sounds like it's open after all!  Another update as of 2012: it's definitely closed.

Bank of England, Pollard Street. (c) Manchester Pub Surveys [2].

1. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).

2. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres, Manchester Pub Surveys (1975).

Two Brewers, Regent Road

Two Brewers, Regent Road, Salford. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr.

Opposite the old Globe / Park Royal that is now the petrol station on Regent Road between Ordsall Lane and Oldfield Road was the 'Piazza' shops [1] which the Two Brewers pub was part of from the 1960s.  Behind the shops were flats and maisonettes built to replace the old terraced housing that stood before it.  With the old houses was an older pub, the Queens, which was demolished and replaced on an adjacent plot by the Two Brewers.  The landlord of the Queens then was Derek Jolly, and he simply left the Queens and walked up the steps and into his new pub, the Two Brewers in 1963 [2].

The Two Brewers was so-called due to the merger of the two local brewers, Threllfalls and Chesters [3].  In the 1970s the Two Brewers played host to the likes of the Brownsville Jug Band and the Oldham Tinkers.  After only two decades though, Salford Council in their wisdom decided to demolish the flats and shops to redevelop the area so the pub closed and was flattened  by about 1986 [2].  Now the Sainsbury's car park marks the spot of the old Two Brewers (and the Queens of course).

Former location of Two Brewers, Regent Road. (c) Google 2011. View Larger Map.

1. http://www.francisfrith.com/salford,lancashire/memories.

2. Salford Pubs - Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).

3. http://services.salford.gov.uk/forum/forumposts.asp?forum=22&id=66093.

Globe / Park Royal, Regent Road

Globe, Regent Road, Salford, 1980s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The Globe originally stood on Regent Road on the corner of Crowther Street before the thoroughfare was widened and the nearby Regent Flats built in the 1930s.  The old Globe was first licensed in 1843 and the Manchester Brewery owned it until 1933.  Then the Salford Corporation bought it and the Brewery (a subsidiary of Walker & Homfray's) was given £6,000 to demolish then rebuild the Globe in line with the new Regent Road.  In the 1950s the Globe was a Wilsons house and they then sold it to Burtonwood in 1980 [1]. 

Park Royal, Regent Road, Salford, 1990. (c) deltrems at flickr.

In the '80s the Salford University Student's Union took over the pub and renamed in the Park Royal, the pub reopening in January 1985.  Typically, the students turned the traditional pub's vault into a games room, and the enterprise mustn't have been a great success as the Park Royal was boarded up by the mid-1988 [1].  The pub remained closed for 6 more years before being demolished to make way for the Shell petrol station between Ordsall Lane and Oldfield Road.

Former location of Globe, Park Royal, Regent Road. (c) googlemaps.

1. Salford Pubs - Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).

Sportsmans Tavern / Queens Arms, Regent Road

Sportsmans Tavern, Regent Road, Salford. (c) deltrems at flickr. [1]

The Sportsmans Tavern was an estate style pub on the left hand side of Regent Road, just before the River Irwell as you approach Manchester city centre  This was Salford's first proper estate pub, opening in 1962 as the Queens Arms or 'Little Queens' as it was nicknamed after the small beerhouse it replaced, to avoid confusion with the 'Big Queens' down the road.

Queens Arms, Regent Road. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr.

The shots here are taken from Ordsall Lane with the Piccadilly Plaza in the background in both.  Today the Campanile Hotel sits of the site of the old Queens Arms / Sportsmans Tavern (as it was called for just its last 5 years) which was boarded up and ready for sale, or more likely demolition, in 1990 when the above snap was taken.

Former location of Sportsmans Tavern, Regent Road. (c) Google 2010. View Larger Map.

1. Salford Pubs Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).

Runcorn Brewery Inn, John Street

Across the road from the Grapes Inn on John Street, Ancoats was a brewery, first recorded in 1838 known as Runcorn Brewery operated by James and Richard Hamer.  It brewed for 20 years until the brothers left and advertised a brewery with house attached "which may be used as dwelling or beerhouse".  Brewing probably ceased but the Runcorn Brewery Inn was born and was a beerhouse until 1893 before being demolished a few years later.  St Alban's School was then built on this site (address Fawcett Street), and this mixed English, Irish and Italian Roman Catholic school seems to have lasted until around the 1970s when the retail park was planned.

St Alban's School, Ancoats, 1933. (c) www.ancoatslittleitaly.com/page5.html.

1. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).