The Cross Keys was one of
Bolton’s oldest pubs. It stood at the junction of Cross Street and Kay Street for over 130 years. It was certainly in existence by 1800 and by 1818 it was
owned by the Wallwork family. Joseph Wallwork was the licensee.
Much later, in
1850, while Joseph was at the Rope and Anchor on Kay Street, his daughter Ellen
married a bookkeeper named Evan Dixon. The couple ran the Cross Keys for a
while and were certainly there by 1855.
The Cross Keys was also
owned by the Entwisle family. Abraham Entwisle was there in 1828, but he was at
the Lord Nelson on Derby Street by 1836 and his son John was running the Cross
Keys.
The Entwisles were
succeeded by Henry Lea who was at the pub in 1848. He had gone by the following
year and according to the 1851 Census he was a journeyman brewer living in
Howell Croft with his wife Elizabeth, who was a greengrocer. Henry died in
1853.
By 1909 the Cross Keys
was owned by Tong’s Brewery and was run by Joseph Walkden. He died in 1909 and
his widow, Sarah Ann married a local mill manager named James Pickering in 1912. She
continued to run the pub for some years after at least until 1924.
The Bromley Cross brewer
Hamers bought the pub from Tong’s. In 1935 the area around the Cross Street
junction with Kay Street was earmarked for council housing and the Cross Keys
was to be demolished. Hamers transferred the pub’s full licence to the Railway
at the corner of Newport Street and Trinity Street.
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