Ancient Shepherd, Bold Street

Bold Street in 1962. This picture is from the Bolton Archives collection. Copyright Bolton Council. 

The Ancient Shepherd is on the left-hand side in the distance. Shops on the left include  Openshaw's Surgical Aid store and Orrell's DIY ("Don't hesitate - decorate!"). 

Bold Street in May 2012 (copyright Google Street View). Openshaw's and Orrell's have gone, the latter replaced by The Hub, built in 1990.



On the 1841 Census results for Bolton, Samuel Boardman of Bold Street was listed as a Mechanic. By the time the 1843 Bolton Directory was printed, Samuel was a ‘beer retailer’ and his modest home at number 11 was a beer house named the Odd Fellows Arms. Boardman ran the pub until he died in 1851, aged 49. His wife Margaret then took over.

Lawrence Kenyon was the licensee in 1871. He moved to the pub in 1865 having married another widowed landlady, Ellen Whalley. Her first husband, Gilbert Whalley, was licensee after the Boardmans.

The pub was renamed the Ancient Shepherd.  It was bought by Magee’s and it became a Greenall’s pub when they sold out in 1958. 

The Ancient Shep was sold on to Thwaites’ in the early eighties.

Ancient Shepherd in 1978

Through all that time the pub retained its unspoilt traditional look: a central entrance leading to a vault on the left-hand side and a lounge on the right. And that’s pretty much how it remained until 1998.

That’s when Thwaites decided that the Ancient  Shepherd’s licence would be put to be  better use at a new property they were developing on Nelson Square.  So in 1998 the Ancient Shepherd closed and the licence was transferred to Red On The Square. That lasted until around 2005 before becoming the Olive Press restaurant and is now Blind Tiger.

The Ancient Shepherd was sold by Thwaites and converted into small flats.  This picture, from 1990, shows the pub with its Thwaites livery and new building just finishing construction next door.