British Queen, Ellor Street

British Queen, Ellor Street, Hanky Park, Salford. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

The British Queen, on the corner of Bootle Street and Ellor Street in Hanky Park, opened in about 1855 and by 1899 was a Chesters house.  The beerhouse lasted until the 1960 Ellor Street No.4 slum clearance saw it served a compulsory purchase order.  Like the other Ellor Street pubs, the British Queen lasted until 'Black Sunday' (18/4/1963) when it closed straight after the dinnertime session (12-2pm).  The Salford City Reporter: "The pumps were empty and the bottle shelves were bare [1]."  

The fantastic shot above, entitled "Like islands in a sea of rubble", shows the British Queen in April 1963 just before demolition surrounded by rubble (pub demolition theory).  The drastic redevelopment of this part of Pendleton, Salford practically wiped the Hanky Park district off the map.  Churchill Way runs slightly south of where Ellor Street used to run off Cross Lane, so the British Queen would have been roughly where the Kiwi Street high rise flats stand.

Former location of British Queen, Churchill Way. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

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