Bus Drivers Inn, 77 Bradshawgate

McCauley’s Bar in April 2012 (copyright Google Street View). The Bus Drivers Inn was situated here until 1883 though not in the same building.

The Bus Drivers Inn was situated at 77 Bradshawgate close to the junction with Silverwell Lane. It was a beerhouse that once belonged to Frazer Finley and was transferred to Hugh Bamber in 1869. Mr Bamber formerly ran the nearby Horse and Groom.

On the 1871 census Hugh Bamber is described as a coachman and a beerseller. Indeed, at the 1869 licensing sessions at which all beerhouses had to re-apply for their licences, he claimed to have been a coachman for the local firm of Holden’s for over 20 years. That perhaps wasn’t quite correct as he was only 35 in 1871 and would have been driving a coach in his early teens if that was true.

Hugh Bamber left the Bus Drivers Inn after only a few years and Nathaniel Lomax was the licensee according to the 1876 Directory.

The pub lost its licence in 1883. The premises later became a tobacconist’s and was run for many years by Walter Toole. The original building was demolished in the 1930s and was replaced by the art deco-style building that can still be seen today. It was a branch of UCP for many years before becoming the Pizzeria Sorrento, then Toscana Ristorante. 

From 2003 to 2017 it was McCauley’s bar; however, a mass brawl at 6.30 on the morning of Sunday 14  May 2017 led to its licence being revoked.