Former Robin Hood, St Simon Street, Salford. (c) Neil Richardson [1].
Originally the Wellington Inn, this beerhouse probably opened in the 1850s on St Simon Street along the River Irwell near Springfield Lane. It was soon renamed the Robin Hood and it passed to Groves & Whitnall towards the end of the century. A 1936 attempt to close the Robin Hood, on the grounds of it no longer being needed, was defeated when magistrates agreed with G&W that three barrels a week was good enough trade for a working class pub like this. Sadly the Robin Hood closed in the early 1960s although the empty boozer and the shop next door remained standing into the 1980s.
When the River Irwell was re-channeled the former Robin Hood actually swapped sides of the bank. It was now sat on the Lower Broughton side of the river and this top end of St Simon Street became Sherbourne Street, while the spot where the beerhouse once stood is roughly on the bottom end of Cottenham Lane today. The factory that still stands on this corner of Cottenham Lane (see inside Private White V.C. here) is just out of shot to the left in the above photo of the old Robin Hood, waiting for demolition in the '80s.
Former location of Robin Hood, Cottenham Lane, Salford. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.
1. Salford Pubs Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
My Grandfather George Arthur Slingsby had this pub in 1911 and my father was born there. Granddad also worked as a copper wire puller at a firm that was on the same street.
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