The Kings Arms pictured
in the early-1930s. The shot was taken by Walkers as part of a pictorial review
of their tied estate in the Bolton area. The old St Luke’s church is pictured
to the right of the pub. Its foundation stone was linked by local dignitary
Peter Ainsworth of Smithills Hall in 1869. The church opened by licence in 1871 and was
consecrated in 1874. It was destroyed by fire in the early-1970s and was
replaced by a single-story building. St Luke’s Street runs to the left of the pub. Note the separate entrance to the vault on the corner of the pub. That had long since been bricked over when this writer first drank there in the late-seventies.
The Kings Arms on
Chorley Old Road dated back to the late-1870s. A small pub, its layout was
similar to that of the Dog and Partridge on Manor Street: a small vault to the
left of the main entrance, a pool room towards the rear and a large lounge
running along the whole of the right-hand side of the pub.
The first recorded landlord was John Balshaw (1855-1894) who was already living at the pub in 1881 along with his wife Sarah. The couple married in 1876. Sarah’s family hailed from the Daubhill area and the 1871 Census has her living with her family on Swan Lane.
Oddly, the 1891 census has John and Sarah living around the corner in St Luke’s Street.
After John died in
1894, Sarah took over the pub. She met Walter Brown and the couple married in 1896,
but they remained at the Kings Arms until at least 1911. However, the pub had earned the nickname of 'Balshaw's' by which it was known locally for many years after.
The Kings was owned by Robert Wood of the Prince Arthur brewery, but it was sold to Tong’s of Deane after wartime raw material restrictions forced Wood’s to cease brewing in 1917. Tong’s in turn sold out to Walker Cain Ltd of Liverpool in 1923 and the pub fell into the hands of Tetley after they bought Walker’s in 1960. Admiral Taverns were the owners when the Kings closed in the summer of 2010. The premises were converted into offices and are now occupied by a legal firm.
The Kings Arms pictured around 1973.
The Kings Arms pictured in 2014. (copyright
Google Street View).
John Balshaw was my great grandad his daughter Contstance violet may Balshaw married John Walker Southworth my grandad and together they ran the Kings Arms.
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