Shepherd Inn, Chapel Street

Shepherd Inn, Chapel Street. (c) David Lewis at archiveplus flickr under Creative Commons [1].

The area just north-east of Piccadilly Station bounded by Store Street, the Mancunian Way and Great Ancoats Street was heavily populated before slum clearance in the 1930s. The area with Chapel Street (now Chapeltown Street) running through it was nicknamed "The Dardanelles". This part, close to the station, was described as: "a commune, and some of the chief pubs were the Shepherd on Chapel Street, 'Harry Horner's' (the King Billy on Boad Street) and 'Betsy Royle's. The Railway on Chapel Street near Hetherington's works was always called Abigail's [2]."

Shepherd Inn, Chapel Street (top right). (c) Old Maps [3].

The Shepherd "was a Chesters house and all the rough characters used to go in the side vault called the Carrot Yard which was supposed to be a women's room." The Carrot Yard was probably named because the railway horses were stabled around the corner and carrots would be delivered to them here. As Mick Burke remembers: "Chesters beers had a big following in those days.  It used to be mentioned that you got a pension from the brewery if you could remember the number of pints you'd drunk at the age of sixty.  There was a special ward for Chesters cases in Crumpsall Hospital!  It was terrible stuff, black as Spanish (liquorice) [4]."

Former location of Shepherd Inn, Chapeltown Street. (c) Google 2015. View Larger Map.

1. www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/sets/72157644916552829.
2. Ancoats Lad, Mick Burke / Frank Heaton (1996).
3. www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/385236/397987/13/100874.

4. The Old Pubs of Ancoats, Neil Richardson (1987).