Stage 1, Albion Street

Possibly former location of Stage 1, Albion Street. (c) dubwise-er at MDMA.

There's every possibility that Stage 1, an Albion Street club listed in 1983 [1], was in the old (and now vacant) Aqua Bar premises.  But until we confirm either way it'll have its own entry.

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?aid=7808.

Reflections, Peter Street

Reflections, Peter Street. (c) dubwise-er at MDMA.

There is a spa in the Midland Hotel called Reflections, however this may just be a coincidence, as this Reflections is in a 1983 club listing [1].  No idea whereabouts on Peter Street this was though.

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?aid=7808.

Millionaires Club, Bridge Street

Millionaires Club, Bridge Street. (c) dubwise-er at MDMA.

Not to be confused with the Millionaire Club on Marble Street run by the Stringfellows, this club was somewhere on Bridge Street in the 1980s as seen in a 1983 club listing [1].

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?aid=7808.

Annabels, Wood Street

Possible former location of Annabels, Wood Street. (c) googlemaps.

It's possible that this old nightclub was once the Beer Keller on Wood Street, just off Deansgate, down the side of the Hog's Head.  Annabels was at No.8 Wood Street in the early 1980s [1] and as the only legible number on the whole street is No.26 at the far end on the right, it's possible that Annabels was on in or under this building.  Anyone remember this one?

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?aid=7808.

Number 1 Club, Central Street

One Central Street, Central Street. (c) ASBO Allstar at flickr.

Until recently this place was best known as One Central Street, but has recently reverted back to the Number 1 Club title as a gay club.  This old basement venue was a discotheque in the 1980s, then a gay-only club in the late '80s and '90s.  It sits beneath a Grade II listed building behind the Town Hall, and despite its central location, is a bit of an unknown venue and perhaps might have wider appeal as a normal bar in this pub-free part of town.

One Central Street, Central Street. (c) whln.co.uk.

The original Number 1 Club was run by Geoff Stringfellow [1], brother the legendary Peter.  Both Stringfellows had previously been involved at the Millionaire Club.

Number 1 Club, Central Street, 1983. (c) dubwise-er at MDMA.

1. www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?aid=7818.

Duke of York, Copperas Street

Former location of Duke of York, Copperas Street. (c) googlemaps.

Parallel to Edge Street and running between High Street and Oak Street in the Northern Quarter is Copperas Street.  On this corner of what is now Hare Street, formerly Harrop Street, used to stand the Duke of York in the mid-1800s [1].  Looking down Copperas Street to the preserved Fish Market facade on High Street, the white coloured flats sit on the site of the old Duke of York.

1. Manchester (New Cross) 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Old Boars Head, Lower King Street

Former location of Old Boars Head, Lower King Street (King Street West). (c) googlemaps.

Next door to Mario Balotelli's second home, San Carlo (the old Maxwells / King's), on King Street West (formerly Lower King Street), is King's House, home to the Berrymans Lace Mawer legal firm.  In the mid-1800s, before this was built, sat the Old Bears Head.  Pork Lane was to the rear and separating the Weights and Measures Office (where San Carlo is)  from the Old Boars Head was the tiny Court Lane [1].

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Red Lion / Raven Hotel, Chapel Street

Raven Hotel (left), Chapel Street, 1930s. (c) Neil Richardson [1].

On the site of the old bus station, and before that, the Exchange Station approach, the Red Lion sat at the bottom of Chapel Street on left as you looked up the road.  The Red Lion's licence was first recorded in 1742 and by 1840 had "a bar, parlours, dining room, a large club room, twenty beds, stabling for forty horses and two lock-up coach houses [1]."  With entrances on Victoria Bridge and Chapel Street, it was big hotel, renamed the Raven Hotel in the late 1860s when it was rebuilt, as shown above.

Former location of Red Lion / Raven Hotel, Chapel Street. (c) Adam B. at flickr.

By the 1930s, Boddingtons Brewery leased the hotel of owners, the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and when Salford Corporation acquired all the land between Cathedral Approach and Victoria Bridge Street for the building of the bus station, the Raven Hotel's licence was sold to Threllfalls Brewery.  They immediately transferred it to a beerhouse of theirs and the Raven was demolished [1].  The old site of the Red Lion / Raven Hotel is roughly where the car park sign is, below, looking from the bottom of Green Gate [2].

Former location of Red Lion / Raven Hotel, Chapel Street. (c) googlemaps.

1. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
2. Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).

Old Golden Lion, Deansgate

Former location of Old Golden Lion, Deansgate. (c) googlemaps.

This building clad in scaffolding and sheeting straddles Quay Street and Atkinson Street on Deansgate.  In the mid-1800s the Old Golden Lion sat two doors up from the Royal Oak and next door but one to Cupid's Alley, which was a more romantic name for the modern day Atkinson Street [1].  Beneath the scaffolding are several businesses; the  Old Golden Lion sat just about where the Mobden Sharps is today next to the Tantune Deli & Coffee House.  

Former location of Old Golden Lion, Deansgate. (c) www.192.com / Local Data Company.

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Royal Oak, Deansgate

Former location of Royal Oak, Deansgate. (c) googlemaps.

Just across Bradshaw Gate (a long-lost little alleyway off Deansgate opposite Bootle Street that almost met up with Little Quay Street) from the Unicorn was the Royal Oak in the mid-1800s [1].  The map above shows the former location of Bradshaw Gate and the position of the Royal Oak on its north corner of Deansgate.

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Grecian's Head, Deansgate

Former location of Grecian's Head, Deansgate. (c) googlemaps.

Today just one building separates Peter Street from Bootle Street, but in the mid-1800s there were four Deansgate premises here.  The second one up from Peter Street was the Grecian's Head run by Samuel Jones and opposite was the Unicorn [1].  These days the Ellis Brigham mountain sports equipment shop sits on the site of the old Grecian's Head.

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Swan Inn, Deansgate

Former location of Swan Inn, Deansgate. (c) googlemaps.

Lad Lane was a road off Deansgate, just three premises south of Peter Street, and on the north corner was the Swan Inn [1].  This puts former location where the old and, preserved London & North East Railway Goods Depot archway is today, indicating its fate.  In the mid-1880s the Swan was kept by Robert Rowland and stood directly opposite the Grapes which lasted at least a century longer [1].

Former location of Swan Inn, Deansgate. (c) googlemaps.

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Kings Arms, Helmshore Walk / Robert Street

Kings Arms, Helmshore Walk, Chorlton-on-Medlock, 1991. (c) deltrems at flickr.

The Kings Arms sits on Helmshore Walk on the delightfully named Skerry Close, well hidden between Upper Brook Street and Ardwick Green, just off the Mancunian Way.  The pub survived slum clearance, as it was originally on Robert Street before the razing this part of Chorlton-on-Medlock and the building of grim flats and council houses.  Although these days something of a forgotten old pub, the place holds a significance for modern day Manchester ale aficionados, as it was at the Kings Arms where Brendon Dobbin started the West Coast Brewery microbrewery in 1989, famed at the time for its stout and strong, hoppy Yakima Grande pale ale.  Dobbin went on to set up the Marble Arch as a brew pub and he also helped design and install the brewery plant [1] - so is partly to thank for the revitalisation of the "Manchester Pale Ale" styles we're enjoying today then.  The pub closed some years ago, and as a trading brew pub was apparently blighted by the scallies from the local estates.  The story wasn't much different in the 1950s when Bill Carroll took over and "...bad characters had driven away most of the customers, so a firm hand was needed to get the pub back to a profitable footing" [2].  

Kings Arms, Helmshore Walk, Chorlton-on-Medlock. (c) googlemaps.

1. www.steelcitybrewing.co.uk/gen_midatlantic.htm
2. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

Old Shears, Greengate

Old Shears, Greengate, Salford. (c) deltrems at flickr.

Described as a dinner time, factory workers type boozer in the 1970s, the Old Shears offered hand-pulled Wilsons plus Carlsberg and Watneys Red for the less discerning drinker [1].  The Old Shears on Greengate, just over the River Irwell into the neighbouring city, can be traced back to about 1760.  The pub was also named the Rising Sun (1805-1809) and the Iron Bridge Tavern (1824).  Wilsons Brewery took the Old Shears in the 1940s and it thrived until the late 1970s when the nearby bus stations at Chapel Street and under the Greengate arches closed, and the new Trinity Way ring road cut Greengate in half.  The pub shut for good in 1987 and was derelict and roofless until its demolition in 1993 [2].  Its location was on Greengate just at the end of New Bridge Street where the car park is now.  Back in the mid 1800s it would have faced the old Green Gate fruit & veg market here at Salford Cross / Market Cross [3].

Former location of Old Shears, Greengate, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

Stu Forster remembers "...whilst frequenting Manchester in the early-mid-'80s this pub became an institution.  When the Hacienda closed its doors at 2am, we would knock landlord Barry Johnson up out of bed and sup beer, play pool and pump the jukebox till daylight.  We would often return on Sunday afternoons when other boozers locked their doors at 2pm, again supping beer till the pubs in town opened again at 7pm.  I remember jumping in a cab at about 9am one Saturday morning and saying 'take me to the Old Shears in Greengate'.  The cabbie replied 'do you like antique beer?'.  Great days [4]".

1. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford Pub City Centres (1975). 
2. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greenate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
3. Manchester Victoria 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2009).
4. www.flickr.com/photos/deltrems/2671236402/.

Trevelyan Hotel, Corporation Street

The Trevelyan Hotel only exists in the form of this line drawing from the archives.  This depiction of the hotel on Corporation Street is described as "from Memus, vol 7, page 29" in the 1880s [1].  Looks like the Trevelyan goes back further than the 1915 and 1849 maps on which it's not listed...

1. http://images.manchester.gov.uk/.

Prince of Wales, Oldfield Road

Prince of Wales, Oldfield Road, 1992. (c) deltrems at flickr.

Down Oldfield Road from the St Phillips Hotel (later Jollies), was the Prince of Wales at No.165.  It was pulled down at some point in the 1990s despite being a still popular pub in the preceding decades, and has been replaced with "The Fusion" apartments on the corner of Middlewood Street (note how the brick wall - the start of the railway bridge - is still the same).  In the 1970s it was described as a "good Northern end-of-the-street-pub" with Tetley bitter and mild on beer engines and Skol and Guinness on keg [1].

Former location of Prince of Wales, Oldfield Road, Salford. (c) googlemaps.

The Prince of Wales was originally a shop when Samuel Lord opened it as the fully licensed Railway and Drovers Inn.  By 1845 the pub had assumed the Prince of Wales name although in the directory it was listed as the Prince of Wales and Yorkshire House in the 1860s-'70s.  The pub was rebuilt in the early 20th century by Cornbrook Brewery and included a shop next door which was a hairdressers then funeral parlour.  By 1949 the Prince of Wales was included in th Hampson Street compulsory purchase area but it was spared following a change of plans and Bass Charrington had it in the 1960s when they incorporated the shop into the pub.  A final stint as a freehouse from 1985 saw it last until closure and demolition in 2001 [2].  

1. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres (1975). 

2. Salford Pubs - Part Two: Including Islington, Ordsall Lane and Ordsall, Oldfield Road, Regent Road and Broughton, Neil Richardson (2003).

Jollies / St Phillips Hotel, Oldfield Road

Jollies, Oldfield Road, Salford, 1989. (c) deltrems at flickr.

This old pub was still standing derelict when we did our Salford pub crawl last year, but it's since been demolished.  Originally the St Phillips Hotel, Jollies is yet another to add to the Chapel Street - Crescent pubs death knoll (despite being just off The Crescent on Oldfield Road on the corner of Factory Lane).   

St Phillips Hotel, Oldfield Road, Salford. (c) Salford_66 at flickr.

In the above photo from Salford 1940-1965 by Roy Bullock there is a "....e of Wales", apparently next door, which is probably the the Prince of Wales, which is odd, as there was recently a Prince of Wales further down Oldfield Road.  

Jollies / St Phillips Hotel, Oldfield Road, Salford, 2008. (c) Adam B at flickr.

Angel Hotel / Lowry's Bar / Finney's, Chapel Street

Bell Tower, Chapel Street, 1990. (c) deltrems at flickr.

The still standing Bell Tower was built as the Angel Hotel in 1901, replacing the old Angel which had stood here, the last on Chapel Street on an area which has been known as Broken Bank, White Cross Bank and Bank Parade.  The pub dates back to 1760 and in 1801 it was taken over by Richard Kay who moved there from the Castle Inn, Hunts Bank.  In 1889 local brewers Watson & Woodhead took the pub before it was decided, in 1898, to build a new, improved Angel.  The old pub, a five-roomed boozer, was replaced by a three-room plus dining room hotel.  Walker & Homfray took over in 1902 then Wilsons in the 1950s before closing as a pub in the late 1970s or early '80s [1].  By this time the pub had become atmosphere and character-free according to the 1975 Pub Guide; only push button Wilsons and Watneys Red Barrell available [2].  Regal Knight Hotels converted the Angel Hotel into the Bell Tower Hotel in 1987, with its traditional Lowry's Bar and an attached wine bar called Finney's.  The hotel closed for good in 1998 [1].

Bell Tower, Chapel Street. (c) googlemaps.

1. Salford Pubs - Part One: the Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).
2. The Manchester Pub Guide, Manchester & Salford City Centres (1975). 

Name that basement bar

This low-budget but great video for Kalima's 1984 track "The Smiling Hour" on Factory Records (FAC 87) was released on the Factory Shorts VHS and more recently LTM's Umbrellas In The Sun DVD. 

It features some great '80s footage of central Manchester and what appears to be a Manchester basement bar.

The starring couple - including Ann Quigley of Kalima - had originally met on Church Street with its fruit and veg markets.

After which the girl descends into a bar where a few lads (members of A Certain Ratio) are supping bottled Guinness and her fella is behind the bar.  

Anyone recognise the place?

Tallow Tub / Dog & Partridge, Chapel Street

Tallow Tub, Chapel Street. (c) deltrems at flickr.

The Tallow Tub on the corner of Chapel Street and Deal Street in Salford was pulled down in 1992 despite being a Grade II listed building and opposition from CAMRA and the Victorian Society.  As with so many of Salford's pubs, a once thriving locals boozer was pulled down as the area decayed.

Tallow Tub, Chapel Street. (c) deltrems at flickr.

The Threlfall's Brewery which you can see behind the pub was re-developed by Whitbread and that meant the end for the Tallow Tub which can be traced back to 1802 when it was the Dog & Partridge [1].  Predictably, nothing has really been done with the site of the pub except to close off Deal Street.

Former location of Tallow Tub, Chapel Street. (c) googlemaps.

In the early 1800s the pub was known as the Two Boards or Three Boards, reverting to the Dog & Partiridge, then adopting the Jolly Crofters name in 1825.  It was the Spinners Arms by 1829, named after the woollen mill on Deal Street, then the Queens Arms in 1840.  Licensee John Higgin was also a tallow chandler and the pub was nicknamed the Tallow Tub by the 1850s.

Tallow Tub, Chapel Street. (c) Salfordonline.

Threlfalls took over the Queens Arms towards the end of the nineteenth century and the Tallow Tub was officially renamed in 1969 [1].  Thanks to deltrems at flickr we have a photo of the pub out of the office window opposite, a 'Blue Bus' of Horwich trundling past.

Tallow Tub, Chapel Street, 1992. (c) deltrems at flickr.

1. Salford Pubs - Part One: The Old Town, including Chapel Street, Greengate and the Adelphi, Neil Richardson (2003).

Cornbrook Inn, Chester Road

Cornbrook Inn, Chester Road, 1990. (c) deltrems at flickr.

Shown above in 1990, the Cornbrook Inn is no more but unlike its old neighbour, the former Turville / Commercial on the right, it has been pulled down.  The Cornbrook Inn was a Peter Walker & Son brewery pub and a Vaux house when it was demolished in 1996 [1].  The Cornbrook kept its original brown and blue tiling until its demolition.  Inside it was a two-roomed pub around a central bar offering Vaux Bitter and Vaux Samson Bitter [2].

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).

2. www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/74741.

Unicorn, Deansgate

Former location of the Unicorn, Deansgate. (c) googlemaps.

The Unicorn was on the corner of Deansgate and Bradshaw Gate - a small street only four properties long opposite Bootle Street - in the 1800s [1].  The Unicorn was next door-but-two to the Dog Inn on the corner of Quay Street and the Royal Oak was on the other side of Bradshaw Gate [1].

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).

Sun Inn, Gartside Street

Former location of Sun Inn, Gartside Street. (c) googlemaps.

The Sun Inn sat on the site of the award-winning [1] (but ugly as sin) Manchester Civil Justice Centre, either side of Gartside Street and Water Street, off Bridge Street [2].  The George & Dragon was opposite on Gartside Street (left in the above shot).

Manchester Civil Justice Centre. (c) Core Architect.

1. Manchester City Centre 1849, Alan Godfrey Maps (2008).
2. www.e-architect.co.uk/manchester/manchester_law_courts.htm.

Oasis / 2 J's / Sloopy's / Yer Father's Moustache / Reubens, Lloyd Street

Ex- 2 J's / Oasis / Sloopy's / Yer Father's Moustache / Reubens, Lloyd Street. (c) googlemaps.

This legendary 1960s venue opened as 2 J's in 1960 as a conversion of an old warehouse on the corner of Lloyd Street and Albert Square, as detailed in the fine little book, The Manchester Musical History Tour by Phill Gatenby and Craig Gill [1].  A coffee shop by day, a jazz club by night, the place only lasted a year and was sold by its owners, the two J's (Jack Jackson and John Collier), and The Oasis was born by new owners, John Orr, Rick Dixon and Hugh Goodwin.  Like so many clubs of the time, it was alcohol-free, but these places played such a key - yet largely unheralded - role in Manchester's history they should be included.

Oasis flyer. (c) Manchester Beat.

Luminaries such as The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart and The Beatles played the Oasis, as well as local heroes like the Hollies, Freddie & The Dreamers and Herman's Hermits.  For a time the club was so popular it had its own magazine, The Northern Beat Scene.  Later in the '60s, the Oasis turned into Sloopy's, then the bizarrely named Yer Father's Moustache.  By 1972 it was Ruebens, but it was soon demolished to make way for the council's ugly Brazennose House and with that, Manchester's once premier venue was lost forever [1].

Yer Father's Moustache flyer. (c) Manchester Beat.

1. The Manchester Musical Histtory Tour, Phill Gatenby & Craig Gill (2011).
2. www.manchesterbeat.com/venues/manchester_cbd/oasis/oasis.php.

Turville / Commercial Hotel, Chester Road

A few yards down Chester Road towards town from the Railway and still open Pomona Palace, is this imposing former pub on the corner with Ellesmere Street.  The Commercial Hotel still had two Bass signs hanging until recently whose head shots hint at a more recent name.

Commercial Hotel, Chester Road, Hulme. (c) Google 2011 - View Larger Map.

Indeed, Bob Potts' book confirms that the Commercial Hotel later became the Turville and then the Last Hop [1].  The pub dates back to the 1870s and was granted a spirits licence in 1896.  Its prominent location and fine architecture led to this "unusual and distinctive building" being listed in 1994 [2].  From British Listed Buildings, the Turville: "Red brick with sandstone dressings, slate roof.  Fanciful Italianate style.  Two storeys with cellar and attic, 7-bay side walls, with sill-band and very prominent cornice to ground floor, arcaded windows to 1st floor...[2]."

1. The Old Pubs of Hulme & Chorlton-on-Medlock, Bob Potts (1997).
2. www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-388008-turville-public-house-manchester.

Railway, Pomona Strand

Railway, Pomona Strand, Cornbrook, 2006. (c) Steve Brough.

This is one of my favourite lost pubs for a few reasons.  Firstly because it's not quite lost, still part-standing defiantly in this run down area between Old Trafford and town, its sign still proudly displaying Bass but with trees and bushes growing in the open air vault and lounge.  See Alan Winfield's photo at Pubs Galore for the Railway in happier times.

Railway, Pomona Strand / Dinton Street, Cornbrook, 2006. (c) Steve Brough.

It's also hidden from view despite being just off one of the main roads in Manchester, the A56 Chester Road, just around the corner from the still open Pomona Palace.  You would be able to see it from Chester Road but for the wooden fence covering the side of the old pub facing onto Pomona Strand these days.  However, as recently as 2006 the the front was viewable.

Railway, Pomona Strand, Cornbrook, 2006. (c) Steve Brough.

The corner location of the Railway (left) on Pomona Strand and Dinton Street, and its proximity to the Pomona Palace (far right), is best seen from above.  The Railway is probably only a regular sighting for those who use Cornbrook tram station, including the few fools who often jump on an Eccles tram from town, despite being Sale-bound, just for the sake of it to take in the views from the isolated stop.  

Railway, Pomona Strand, Cornbrook - from Cornbrook tram stop. (c) Pubs of Manchester.