Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Royal / Widows Rest, Eccles New Road

Royal, Eccles New Road, Salford. (c) Salford Pubs of the 70s at flickr [1].

This pub only closed in 1999, when it had spent its last few years renamed the Widows Rest, a nickname that the boozer had held since the Victorian era due its role in reviving and consoling grievers.  The original beerhouse here on the corner of Cemetery Road and Eccles New Road was the Royal Hotel which opened in the 1860s, and the owner, Henry Bowden, argued that he needed a full licence as his was the nearest licensed premises to Weaste Cemetery.  He described how women who fainted at funerals there would have to be carried 430 yards to the Swan Hotel on Weaste Lane for a reviving glass of brandy, and a year later, he was rewarded with a full licence [1]!

Royal Hotel, Eccles New Road, Salford (right). (c) born into a steam ear. 1939. at flickr.

By the early 1900s, Hardy's Crown Brewery owned the Royal and despite their plans for a new hotel being rejected many times before after the war, they finally were granted permission to rebuilt the pub in the 1930s.  The new, bigger pub had passed to Bass North West by the 1980s and they enlarged the lounge during a refurb.  In the mid-1990s the pub was renamed the Widows Rest but it only lasted a few years and was derelict from 1999, being knocked down at some point during the mid-2000s [1].  As ever, since the demolition of this pub, nothing has been built on this corner.

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

  1. dazzerj20 December 2012 at 22:26

    this brought back a few memories, my mum and dad had this pub from 1979 to 1993

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  2. granata20 December 2012 at 22:41

    Any memories you might share or photos even? While it's not too hard to find photos of the outside of pubs, interior shots are hard to come by. Cheers.

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  3. Anonymous7 November 2016 at 12:14

    Worked there whilst at College 1982-85 (Managers name was Jerry (Gerry?)) and the place was busy night and day - then they refurbished the pub in 85' and it lost all of its character, plus because they closed sections of the pub off (Vault/Room) they lost a lot of regulars.
    Shame really... I still have fond memories of the place.
    Haven't been in Salford for over 20 years and all the places I recall from my youth are pretty much gone... School (St. Pope John Paul II) , College (De La Salle), Home (Whit Lane).

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