Exchange Tavern / Parker's Rest, St Mary's Gate

Exchange Tavern, St Mary's Gate. (c) Digital Archives (www.digitalarchives.co.uk) [1].

This pub isn't marked on the 1849 map but 'Ye Old Exchange Taverne' can be seen on the Goad's 1880 Fire Insurance map of Manchester, as shown here, courtesy of  Digital Archives [1]) and Andrew Simpson at the Chorlton History blog [2].  The pub was at 16-18 St Mary's Gate and was named after the nearby Royal Exchange, the upgraded version of which now houses the Royal Exchange Theatre.

Location of Exchange Tavern / Parker's Rest, St Mary's Gate. (c) Alan Godfrey Maps [3].

In 1839 the building was owned by Frederick Cope who was a wine and spirit merchant in partnership with his brother Richard.  They had various outlets, including the still surviving Sawyers Arms, and eventually they opened the Exchange Tavern, perhaps initially as a beerhouse.  When the Copes sold the pub to the Parker family in the 1890s, they renamed it Parker's Rest and it was then described it as a restaurant.  The 1849 map above shows Cope's Court to the rear of the pub, named after the family [3].

Exchange Tavern, St Mary's Gate. (c) Digital Archives (www.digitalarchives.co.uk) [1].

St Mary's Gate and Exchange Street were badly bomb-damaged in WWII, possibly in the Christmas blitz of 1940, but this illustration of St Mary's Gate shows the block that housed the Exchange Tavern - the pub was on the right, the Royal Exchange in the distance.  More recent bomb damage in the area, by the IRA in 1996, also saw the buildings on St Mary's Gate receive further face-lifts.  Thanks to Andrew Simpson for the history of this almost-forgotten pub [2].

1. Digital Archives - www.digitalarchives.co.uk.
2. Andrew Simpson - http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com.
3. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).