Dome, Knowsley Street

The British Heart Foundation occupied the premises which once house The Dome for a short while in the early nineties. Image taken April 2012. Copyright Google Street View.

A pub so short-lived it failed to make Gordon Readyhough’s reference book on the subject, the Dome was situated on Knowsley Street in the former Gregory & Porritt’s building.  The pub’s name came from its distinctive dome-shaped roof in the centre of the premises.

The Dome opened towards the end of 1989 when a local beer drinkers’ magazine proclaimed it was offering the seldom seen (in Bolton, anyway) Bass Special Bitter on handpump. [1] However, the same magazine stated just months later that the pub was already up for sale. [2]

An estimated £600,000 was spent converting the retail premises into a pub, but it had a capacity of 250 standing and 150 seated and the pub failed as it was claimed it just didn’t have the right atmosphere.

Like Ben Topps just a few hundred yards away at the top of Bath Street, the Dome tried to capitalise on the pre-club crowd on their way to Ritzy at the top of Bridge Street. However, just a few people in a pub with a capacity of 400 people gave the pub a reputation of always being empty – even at the weekend - and within a few years it was back as retail premises.

[1] What’s Doing, the Greater Manchester beer drinkers’ magazine. February 1990 issue.

[2] What’s Doing, June 1990.