Pineapple (Sweet Home), 25 Water Street, Bolton

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 The Pineapple Inn was known as the Sweet Home in the 19^th century. It was situated at 23 Water Street, a thoroughfare which ran from Folds Road down to the River Croal on land now covered by Folds Road car park.

In 1861, Joseph Nicholson lived at the premises along with his wife Ann, four daughters and a niece. The 55-year-old Nicholson is described as a shop manager and the 1871 Census still describes the premises as a shop, but he is also described as a beer retailer in the 1869 Bolton Directory. That could mean the shop was an off-licence but it could also mean that beer was being consumed on the premises. Joseph Nicholson was still at the shop/pub according to the 1876 Directory but by 1881 he had retired and was living on Pikes Lane (Deane Road).

Two later licensees moved to the Sweet Home from Nelson’s Monument which was situated on Blackburn Road: John Flitcroft was at the Sweet Home in 1881 while John Brotherton was there from 1891 until around 1894.

It was around 1900 that the Sweet Home became the Pineapple and was bought by Halliwell’s brewery of Mount Street. Halliwell’s were bought by Magees in 1910.

The Pineapple was taken over by William Cole in the late-1890s. A native of Staffordshire, William married his second wife Sarah Ann in 1899, shortly after he had taken over the pub. He remained at the Pineapple until after the First World War and was succeeded by John and Mary Tootill formerly lodgers at the pub when the Coles were there.

The Pineapple closed in 1934 at a time when the country was recovering from recession and pubs were struggling. With Magees owning the Grapes just across the road there appeared to be no reason to have two struggling outlets within yards of each other. The Pineapple was closed and the building was demolished in the 1940s.

Only a small part of Water Street still exists. However, the part from Brown Street to Folds Road has long since been covered by the car park on Folds Road. The picture below shows Water Street with Brown Street running along the middle. Until the whole of the area was redeveloped in the sixties and seventies another part of Water Street carried on beyond the greenery in the picture.