This passage is from Angus Bethune Reach's book, Manchester and the Textile Districts in 1894. The book was made up of a series of articles which had originally been published in the Morning Chronicle:
In returning, last Sunday night, by the Oldham Road, from one of my tours, I was somewhat surprised to hear loud sounds of music and jollity which floated out of public house windows. The street was swarming with drunken men and women and with young mill girls shouting, hallooing and romping with each other. Now I am not one of those who look upon the slightest degree of social indulgence as a downright evil, but I confess, that last Sunday night in the Oldham Road astonished and grieved me. In no city have I ever witnessed scene of more open, brutal and general intemperance. The public houses and gin shops were roaring full. Rows and fights and scuffles were every moment taking place within doors and in the streets. The whole street rung with shouting and swearing, mingled with the jarring music of half a dozen bands.
There were literally hundreds of pubs along Oldham Road back in the day, evidenced by the 18 pubs that once stood on the very lower part of Oldham Road that passes alongside old Ancoats at New Cross.
The extract is from the introduction to Factory: The Story of the Record Label, Mick Middles (2009) (link).
He seems more bothered about the music than the fighting. Some things never change I suppose...
ReplyDeleteMy grandads were miners at Bradford Colliery, where The Etihad stands now. They used to tell me about pub crawling along Oldham Rd in the 1950’s/1960’s.
ReplyDeleteI love this site, by the way. Thanks for all your efforts in organising it. 👏 🙏