Alfred The Great, 44 Noble Street

The remains of Noble Street, now a fraction of its former size, pictured in April 2012 (copyright  Google Street View). At one time there were three beer houses on this street, which linked Derby Street with Noble Road. Now it is a hotbed of religious activity with the Noble Street Independent Methodist Church clearly visible on the right and the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall at the bottom of the street.

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Updated 12 June 2019 with details of the pub's early history.

The area around Derby Street became industrialised in the middle of the 19^th century and with it came housing and then the beer houses.

Noble Street was built in the early part of the nineteenth century and an 1849 map of Bolton shows the street in much the same shape as it would be until the 1960s. Looking down from Derby Street, there was a long row of terraced houses down the left-hand side of the street. The right-hand side was also developed, though some of those buildings were later demolished to facilitate the development of a number of side streets such as Bristol Street and Claughton Street.

The Derby Ironworks backed on to the houses on the west side of Noble Street. It was built in 1854 under the name Brown, Altham and Co. later becoming Hiton and Brown. It later became a more substantial concern after it was bought by a former employee, William Crumblehulme,  but even by the 1860s it still only employed 12 men and eight boys. But the iron works was one of a number of thriving small businesses that began in the area as the nineteenth century progressed.

Although the 1855 Bolton Directory shows no beerhouses on Noble Street it is believed that the Alfred The Great was in existence from around 1851 or 1852. Certainly, by 1871 there were three licensed premises with the Alfred The Great situated at number 44 and owned by Joseph Atkinson.

Born in Sharples in 1826 Atkinson was a collier by trade and only moved into the pub business when he took over the Alfred The Great. Although Noble Street was only four miles or so from Sharples it is likely that he moved to the south side of Bolton to look for work. Atkinson’s father, also named Joseph, was a ‘banksman’ – he operated the tipping gear at the top of the pit. Atkinson’s brother, Richard, was also a collier and the family were living in the Rumworth area when Richard was married at Deane Church in 1857.

Joseph Atkinson applied for a spirits licence at the annual Brewster sessions in 1865. One of 45 applicants he was among the 43 that were refused licences. To make matters worse, the Albert on Derby Street was awarded a licence at the sessions. That made at least three pubs in the vicinity to have full licences as the Lord Nelson and Pilkington Arms were long-established inns. Having pubs nearby licensed to sell wine and spirits had a bearing on other applications. Atkinson applied once again in 1874 when it was claimed the pub had been in existence for 22 or 23 years and Atkinson had occupied it for the past 19 years. At the hearing, he claimed the house was extensive in nature and certainly his description backed that up. Along with the brewery and malting room it consisted of a vault, bar parlour, club room, sitting room, scullery and stable. There were four bedrooms. A petition in support of the application was presented and Atkinson applied to sell wine only if the magistrates declined to allow the pub to sell wines and spirits. But having the Pilkington just 300 yards away didn't help matters. The application failed once again and it was to be almost 90 years before the Alfred The Great finally received a full licence.

By the late-1860s, Joseph Atkinson added two more pubs. The Masons Arms was in Emblem Street, the next street along from Noble Street. The British Oak  was on Derby Street just a few hundred yards away. Both took their beer from the Alfred The Great. He was also the joint-owner, along with James Lees, of the Farmers Arms on Derby Street although the house had its own brewery and was never supplied. By 1880 he had added the Craven Heifer on Derby Street followed by the Nelson Hotel on Nelson Street. It wasn't bad going for a man whose illiteracy prevented him from signing his own marriage certificates with anything other than an ‘X’.

But Atkinson suffered tragedy. His first wife, Mary, died in 1858 at the tragically early age of 33. He married a widow, Alice Slater, the following year. Their son James was born in 1860 and later took over the running of the British Oak. Mary died in 1874. Finally, in 1881 and at the age of 55, Joseph married another widow, Jane Boardman.

Lost on Saturday afternoon in Emmanuel Street, a leather purse containing gold. Finder will be handsomely rewarded on restoring it to Joseph Atkinson, Alfred The Great, Noble Street, Bolton. - Bolton Evening News, 17 November 1873.

Not only were there two other beerhouses on Noble Street, as well as a whole host of hostelries on nearby Derby Street, Atkinson would have had the Methodists to deal with. In 1872, the Noble Street Independent Methodist church was built just yards away from the Alfred The Great. It was a time when there was a war on drinkers. Pub hours were curbed in 1872 – though they were still able to open for 17 hours a day - and teetotal candidates were put up for election in some council wards, though not with much success. The Independent Methodist Church, an imposing edifice compared to the tiny dwelling houses of Noble Street, made their message clear from the outset. In a move that suggested they at least had some clout within the council’s highways department, they managed to get the street running alongside the church to be named Temperance Street. That Atkinson also brewed his own beer under their noses would have further irked the teetotal Methodists.

But the Alfred The Great was involved in more wholesome pursuits. Joseph Atkinson formed a bowls club and although there was no green attached to the pub the team were members of the Bolton Bowling Association and played at greens throughout the town. Pubs that did have greens included the Bee Hive on Chorley New Road, the Gibraltar Rock on Deane Road, the Hulton Arms at Four Lane Ends and the Robin Hood on Lever Street.

Joseph Atkinson spent 44 years at the Alfred The Great. He left early in 1899 by which time he would have been around 73 years old. He moved to his son's house at the bottom of Cannon Street and he died there in January 1901.

The beer-house trade had been good to Joseph Atkinson. However, he was a very astute businessman. Shortly after his death the auction took place of the effects of one of his other businesses: a horse, two ponies and various gigs and traps which he ran from stables off Cannon Street. There was also an auction of his personal effects including four heavy Gold Albert chains. Finally, in November 1901 there was an auction of Atkinson's other interests. He had built up a portfolio of almost 50 properties. Most were situated in the area between Deane Road and Derby Street: in Defence Street, Royle Street, Cannon Street, Every Street, Punch Street and Noble Street. A little further afield there were houses on Rupert Street and Beechwood Street in Great Lever and on Wigan Road. There was also a portfolio of ground rents along with shares in local drinks companies. When the estate was liquidated it realised over £24,000 – just under £3million in today's money. The illiterate former coal miner from Sharples was one of Bolton's richest men when he died.

Both the Alfred The Great and the British Oak ended up in the hands of WT Settle, a small brewery based at the Rose and Crown,  just off Turton Street. Settle’s remained in control of the Alfred The Great until 1951 when the brewery and its seven pubs were sold to Dutton’s of Blackburn and it was as a Dutton’s house that the pub ended its days. Although the Alfred The Great was one of a number of Bolton pubs to receive full drinks licences in 1961, it was closed in 1964. Its neighbours on Noble Street, the Noble Street Tavern  and the Royal Tiger, were both long gone having closed in 1906 and 1911 respectively.

The pub building was later demolished along with much of the rest of Noble Street. The street, which at one time ran all the way down to Deane Road, was truncated to less than a quarter its size though it is still there, near the bottom end of Derby Street.

But while the pubs and brewery of Noble Street have all bitten the dust, the Independent Methodist survives after 140 years. So, too, does Temperance Street.

A recent picture of Noble Street Independent Methodist Church can be seen  here.