Royal Oak, Cross Lane

Royal Oak, Cross Lane, Salford, 1950s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The Royal Oak was next door to the Golden Gate on Cross Lane in Salford.  While the Golden Gate building is still standing, the Royal Oak is long-gone.  It was known as the "Mad House" to locals, so you can imagine the sort of characters that would have used this pub.  The pub originated in the 1880s when a dining rooms and the beer shop next door combined to form the Royal Oak beerhouse.  Wilsons Brewery acquired it in the 1890s and they rebuilt the pub as it was described as being "in a ruinous state".  The new Royal Oak was completed in 1900, in line with the Craven Heifer next door.  The pub included a lobby and bar to the right, tap room and parlour to the left. The Royal Oak closed in 1970 as part of the Windsor estate compulsory purchase scheme, although next door somehow survived this [1].

Former location of Royal Oak, Cross Lane, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

1. Salford Pubs - Part Three: Including Cross Lane, Broad Street, Hanky Park, the Height, Brindleheath, Charlestown and Weaste, Neil Richardson (2003).