Queen Anne/Central Hotel, Chancery Lane

New Look in 2012 at the entrance to the Crompton Place shopping centre (copyright Google Street View) looking up from Mealhouse Lane. Chancery Lane once led from this point on Mealhouse Lane right up to Great Moor Street and the Queen Anne was the first building on the left-hand side. 

The Queen Anne was situated at 1-3 Chancery Lane in the centre of Bolton where the Crompton Place shopping centre now stands. The pub dated back to the 18^th century and the list of alehouses from 1778 shows pub as being owned by George Taylor. The Bolton map of 1793 shows the building as the only one on that side of Chancery Lane.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries its upper room, known as the Assembly Room, was used as a meeting place by many local societies and institutions. One such meeting, held in 1825, led to the formation of the Bolton Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of the University of Bolton.

The magisterial business of town was also conducted at the Queen Anne at that time. Session courts were held there and the local Boroughreeve had his office thereabouts. Court business was transferred to premises in nearby Bowkers Row by the 1840s. [1]

The Queen Anne became the Central Hotel in 1895 but it closed after its licence was refused at the February licensing sessions of 1911. The premises were described as ‘ill-conducted’ and the licensee ‘unsatisfactory’.

The building was subsequently used as the women’s and juveniles’ departments of the Employment Exchange as an office of the Ministry of Pensions Office, as a bottle store for a local brewery, and as an accountant’s office. In 1946 the Bolton Journal and Guardian and the photo department of Tillotson’s Newspapers Ltd took over upper room while the ground floor became Tillotson’s canteen. By then the Bolton Evening news and Journal series had taken up residence on Mealhouse Lane, just next door.

The building was demolished in the late-sixties ready for the construction of the Arndale Centre which opened in 1971. Chancery Lane still exists with its entry opposite St Patrick’s RC church. In former times the street ran all the way down to Mealhouse Lane but is now truncated just past the entrance to the J2 nightclub by the building at the top of Nelson Square.

In the 1890s, the Central Hotel was owned by Wingfield’s Silverwell Brewery. The company began as a wine and spirit merchants by Thomas Wingfield, a Shropshire man who had moved to Bolton to start his business.  In the late-1820s the company had its offices in Chancery Lane with Wingfield living in Mawdesley Street. A brewery was added on Nelson Square in the latter part of the nineteenth century and Wingfield’s soon built up a tied estate that stretched as far as Preston (the Olde Three Crowns on Deansgate was another Wingfield pub).

One of Thomas Wingfield’s descendents, Thomas Rowland Wingfield, was in charge by the 1890s and in October 1896 he set up the company of Wingfield’s Silverwell Brewery to take over the business of the brewery and the wine and spirit merchants. In September 1899 the company was wound up having been taken over by the rapidly-expanding Manchester Brewery Company although Gordon Readyhough states that Wingfield’s wine and spirit merchants was still trading into the thirties. [2] It eventually became part of another wine merchant, Ross Munro, whose entry in phone directories as late as 1953 (and possibly later) stated that the firm incorporated Frederick Wingfields. The firm's offices were at 3 Victoria Square and 49 Chancery Lane.

The brewery was situated on Nelson Square, one of the properties in between the Pack Horse at the Bradshawgate end and the Levers Arms Hotel at the Bowkers Row end. The Pack Horse was extended to the top of Nelson Square in 1952 and now stands on the site.

There is an excellent photograph here of Wingfield’s staff pictured outside the brewery on Nelson Square in the late-nineteenth century. If you zoom in on the image the original Pack Horse building can be seen at the right-hand end of the row.

[1] Bolton Town Centre, A Modern History. Part Two: Bradshawgate, Great Moor Street and Newport Street, 1900-1998. Published by Neil Richardson (1998).

[2] Pubs Of Bolton 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough. Published by Neil Richardson (2000).

Uncle Tom's Cabin/The New Cabin, 270-272 Lever Street

The former Uncle Tom's Cabin, pictured in May 2014 (Copyright Lost Pubs Of Bolton).

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – or the New Cabin as it was later known – was situated at 270-272 Lever Street, Bolton.

The pub dated back to the late-nineteenth century and was initially a single property standing at the corner of Lever Street and Slaterfield.

A pivotal figure in the early story of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was Henry Hilton, a man with pubs and brewing running through his veins. Like his father before him Henry Hilton was a brewer. Both his wives – he was widowed at a young age – were the daughters of publicans. By the time he married for the second time in 1867, five years after his first marriage, he had gone from being a brewer to a licensed victualler – possibly at Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Hilton ran the pub for a number of years and in 1894 he engaged William Green as brewer. Again there was a connection with the trade. Green had previously worked as a wholesale ale and porter dealer based in Great Lever. Perhaps more importantly, he had also married Hilton’s daughter, Sarah, in 1892. But by 1900, William Green was being described as a ‘retired publican’ – despite not yet being 40 - and he and Sarah living on nearby Rishton Lane.

Hilton’s other daughter, Emily, also married someone from the pub trade. Her husband was Wilbraham Leach, the landlord of the Clifton Arms on Newport Street and a member of the Leach family, who owned the Albert Inn pub and brewery on Derby Street. Leach succeeded William Green as the landlord of Uncle Tom’s Cabin around 1898, but like William Green he didn’t last long in the post and by 1904 he and Emily were living in Blackpool where Wilbraham Leach was described as a ‘gentleman’. The couple spent the rest of their lives in Blackpool where they died within a few months of each other in 1927.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the last pubs in Bolton to brew its own ales. Uncle Tom’s Cabin Brewery Ltd was formed to take over the brewing side of the business but it was wound up in 1937 [1] and the pub was sold to the Bromley Cross brewer John Hamer.

In 1951, Hamer’s sold out to Dutton’s of Blackburn and the new owners successfully applied for Uncle Tom’s Cabin to obtain a full drinks licence in 1953. Dutton’s were taken over by Whitbread in 1964. In turn, Whitbread got out of the pub-owning business in 2002 when it sold its tied estate, by then renamed Laurel Inns, to Enterprise Inns plc.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was renamed the New Cabin in the 1990s and it remained a local pub for the residents of the surrounding streets, but the pub closed down in 2011. According to Bolton Council’s empty property spreadsheet of April 2014, Enterprise Inns still owned the building. The first floor has been converted into offices and is now occupied by a firm of accountants. The ground floor was still ‘to let’ at time of writing (May 2014).

[1] London Gazette, 25 June 1937.  Retrieved 5 May 2014. 

Albert Inn, 46-48 Poplar Street

A photo of the development on the top of Bangor Street seen in April 2012 (copyright Google Street View). Prince Street can be seen in the distance. While both streets existed in the Albert’s time none of the residential buildings remain. Poplar Street has gone. The Albert stood at the junction of Poplar Street and Duke Street. The site of the pub is roughly halfway between the entrance gate and Prince  Street, approximately where the buildings on the left are now situated.

The area around Prince Street was developed from the 1860s onwards. Prior to that there was just School Hill House, the School Hill Chemical Works and a few houses on side of Prince Street heading up from Higher Bridge Street.

The construction of the Albert Mills by Barlow and Jones in 1851 was in some way the catalyst for the development of the area in order to provide homes for workers close to their employment. Other cotton mills were subsequently built in nearby Vernon Street.

In working-class areas such as this the pubs – or certainly the beer houses – weren’t far behind. The Albert Inn on Poplar Street was one such beer house Named after mill it was built in the late-1860s/early-1870s and was one of a number of licensed premises that sprang up in the area.

The Bolton brewer of William Tong bought the Albert and the pub became a Walker’s house when they took over Tong’s in 1923.

The end for the Albert came in strange circumstances in February 1952 when the police objected to the renewal of its licence on the grounds that it was a “redundant pub”. True, in the area nowadays bounded by Topp Way, School Hill, Prince Street and Higher Bridge Street there was also the Rainforth, the School Hill Hotel, the Rock House, the Hearts Of Oak and the Mitre, while the Haydock Arms had closed two years previously, but it was a strange call for the police to make. Whatever – the magistrates listened to the police and the Albert closed.

The Bolton Evening News captured the Albert Inn shortly before its closure. The image can be seen here. The pub’s address was 46-48 Poplar Street suggesting it was knocked into number 48 from number 46. This was done in the early part of the twentieth century. Evidence can be seen on the image from the bricked up doorway next to the pub’s entrance.

Green's Arms, 25 St Helens Road

The top of Adelaide Street as its junction with St Helens Road pictured in May 2014 (Copyright Lost Pubs Of Bolton). The Green's Arms fronted St Helens Road on the corner with Adelaide Street. The road lay-out has been changed to curve the corner at the top of Adelaide Street so that anyone taking a left turn onto the main road is probably driving through at least part of the site of the Greens Arms.

As we’ve seen with the British Oak as Derby Street became more populated the pubs began to open. Some, such as the Pike View, the Albert  and the Farmer’s Arms have closed in living memory. Others, such as the Stanley Arms and the Lord Nelson closed much earlier.

The Green's Arms falls into the latter. Situated on the corner of Adelaide Street and St Helens Road the Green's Arms was owned for much of its early existence by Fairhurst’s Brewery of Wigan. Fairhurst’s was opened by James Fairhurst in 1858 and was passed on to his son Thomas.  But when Thomas died in 1920 his wife sold the brewery and its 11 pubs at auction. Six ended up with Walker Cain Ltd of Warrington, however, five pubs – including the Green's Arms – ended up in the hands of Magee, Marshall & Co whose brewery was situated on Cricket Street less than half a mile away from the pub.

The Green's became a Greenall Whitley house in 1958 when Magee’s was taken over but it is likely that it was still being supplied from Cricket Street until around 1970. That was the year Magee’s closed and, according to Gordon Readyhough, the Greens Arms closed as well. [1]

The whole area fronting St Helens Road from Adelaide Street to Barrier Street was demolished soon after the pub was closed along with Stamford Street, Joseph Street, Barrier Street and Derwent Street. Industrial units were subsequently built on the site.

Greens Arms pictured in the 1960s

[1] Bolton Pubs 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough. Published by Neil Richardson (2000).

Dog and Snipe, Folds Road

Folds Road pictured in May 2012 (Copyright Google Street View). The Dog and Snipe was situated on the corner of Turton Street, which goes up to the right of the traffic signals. Folds Road was widened in the mid-seventies and the pub was demolished as part of the widening of the junction with Turton Street. The actual site of the pub was at the filter on to Folds Road by the traffic lights.

The Dog and Snipe was situated at 181 Folds Road, Bolton, on the corner of Turton Street.

The pub was a beerhouse dating back to at least 1849 it appeared on the list of Little Bolton beerhouses. The brewery was in existence by 1888 and brewer Samuel Smith moved to the pub towards the end of the nineteenth century. Smith expanded the business beyond the Dog and Snipe to include the Lodge Bank Tavern on Bridgeman Street as well as a small number of pubs in Bolton and Horwich. The  Northfield  Club on Bankfield Street, Deane was one of those.

Samuel Smith was succeeded by his son – also named Samuel – and he appears to have run the business until 1935 when the pub, the brewery and the small tied estate were sold to Dutton’s of Blackburn.

The Dog and Snipe obtained a full drinks licence in 1961 and became a Whitbread pub when they took over Dutton’s in 1964. The pub closed in 1973 along with a number of other properties including the nearby Waterloo Tavern.

There are appear to be no photos of the Dog and Snipe. In 2000 the Bolton Evening News published an appeal from a reader asking for photos of the pub from one of Samuel Smith’s descendents though there is nothing to suggest the appeal was successful. 

British Oak, 212 Derby Street

The view from the truncated end of Cricket Street towards Derby Street in May 2014 (Copyright Lost Pubs Of Bolton 2014). The British Oak was situated on the corner of Bamber Street which, while it was opposite Cricket Street, wasn’t directly so. The pub was situated in the gap between the two houses on the other side of Derby Street. The area behind the railing on the left – where the ‘Units To Let’ sign can be seen – was once the site of the Crown Hotel.

The Derby Street area of Bolton began to be populated towards the end of the 18^th century. However, the rate of population was quite slow so by the middle of the 19^th century there were no buildings on the left-hand side of the road going out of town from Rothwell Street to High Street. Noble Street was already in existence along with the Derby Mill and the Salt Houses close to Emmanuel Church.

Fast forward a little more than 40 years to 1891 and the whole of the area was built up. Noble Street and the Derby Mill were still there but from Rothwell Street to High Street there were buildings on either side of the road.

Inevitably, as the working classes headed out of the crowded centre of Bolton, public houses sprang up. The 1853 Bolton Directory shows four pubs and nine beerhouses on Derby Street [1] and it is highly likely that one of those beerhouses was the British Oak.

The pub was situated on the right-hand side of Derby Street at number 212, opposite what is now the local branch of the Natwest Bank. Gordon Readyhough tells us that by the 1870s the British Oak was owned by one Joseph Atkinson, who also had a pub called the Alfred The Great on Noble Street, though the licensee in 1871 was one John  Lowe. Atkinson appears to have sold out to WT Settle of the Rose & Crown Brewery on Cross Street, situated just off Turton Street in a transaction that took place in the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century. [2]

In the meantime the operation at another beerhouse, directly opposite the British Oak, had grown to something more substantial. David Magee (or McGee as he was born) had taken over the Crown Hotel and, as he had brewed at the Good Samaritan brewhouse a little further down Derby Street, he bought some land behind the pub and built what was eventually a brewery capable of supplying over 300 outlets – the Crown Brewery of Magee, Marshall and Co. The British Oak must have felt like the tank on Magee’s lawn.

Despite being owned by Settle’s until 1951 there is evidence that the British Oak was a brewpub itself. Joseph Atkinson was a brewer by trade and it is highly likely that he brewed for the British Oak as well as the Alfred The Great. Settle’s, on the other hand, was a very small operation and the 1932 Bolton Directory listed the British Oak as one of Bolton’s seven remaining brewpubs.

World War Two would have ended the British Oak’s time as a brewpub – assuming it was still in operation by 1939 – as the brewing industry was hit by a chronic shortage of raw materials.

In 1951 Settle’s sold out to Dutton’s brewery of Blackburn. In 1961 the British Oak received a full licence which enabled it to sell wine and spirits as well as beer, but the pub closed a few years later and was subsequently demolished as part of the general clearance of old housing in the area.

[1] Four Bolton Directories: 1821/2, 1836, 1843, 1853. Reprinted by Neil Richardson (1982).

[2] Pubs Of Bolton 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough. Published by Neil Richardson (2000).

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Cattle Market, Orlando Street

The Cattle Market Hotel was one of the 12 Bolton pub closures of 2013. It closed early in the summer of that year after around 150 years as a pub.

The Cattle Market dated back to around the 1860s and was originally known as the Spotted Cow. [1] However, the 1871 Bolton Directory shows at  as being named the Craven  Heifer. It changed its name to the Cattle Market some time later to reflect the presence of regular cattle sales in the area leading over towards Lever Street. [2] [3]

The pub was one of the Earl Of Bradford’s Bolton properties until being taken over by Threlfalls of Salford. Whitbread took over Threlfall’s in 1967 and the Cattle Market was a Whitbread pub until at least the late-nineties. [4]

The Cattle Market’s address was number 6 Orlando Street and the numbering suggests that it was initially the third of four properties.  However, as long ago as 1891 it was being shown on maps as one property occupying the same space as it does today, so if there was any extension into neighbouring properties it took place in its early years as a pub.

An early landlord was Jonas Grisdale. In the 1841 census Mr Grisdale is shown as being a beer seller at a beerhouse on the corner of Moor Lane and Middle Street, opposite where the market now is. In the 1853 directory he was the landlord of the Black Horse on Blackhorse Street and he later moved to the Cattle Market. His son Timothy Grisdale became a prominent Chairman of the local board for Westhoughton from 1878 to 1879.

Jonas Grisdale died at the beginning of 1872 and a chain of events ensued that might have given the impression that the pub was cursed.

Grisdale's wife Martha continued to run the pub. A little more than a year after Jonas's death she re-married, this time to Daniel Brayshay, a Wiganer. However, at the end of 1875 Martha also died. Daniel Brayshaw remained in Bolton but married a widow from his home town, Elizabeth Atkinson, at 42 some 17 years younger than  Daniel. They married in January 1877 but Daniel died that same summer. 

The pub was run by a number of years by the Higson family and was a popular and friendly pre-match watering hole for Bolton Wanderers matches at Burnden Park. However, the Wanderers’ move to the Reebok Stadium in 1997 was the cue for the Higsons to call it a day. The new licensees looked to another source of potential customers. The former Edbro factory on Foundry Street had just been replaced by the Orlando Village. The Cattle Market dropped its prices to entice thirsty students, a ploy that had some success. 

If that policy continued to this day maybe we wouldn’t be writing about the Cattle Market as a lost pub. The students drifted away and anecdotal evidence suggests that word of mouth among new arrivals at Orlando Village made it clear that students weren’t exactly made to feel welcome.

The Cattle Market closed in early 2013 and was sold during that same summer. Bolton council’s empty property list in April 2014 showed the new owners as a local firm named Aishmany LLP.  That same month a planning application was received from Aishmany LLP for the demolition of the Cattle Market and the erection of a six-storey building (including mezzanine floor), comprising offices, a restaurant/cafe, and ground floor offices and shop. The application was granted, with conditions, in August 2014. [5] 

Demolition was scheduled for September 2014, but the pub was set alight in the early hours of 3 September, probably in a deliberate act of arson. [6]

The Cattle Market in April 2014. Image copyright Lost Pubs Of Bolton 2014

Images of the pub from 2009 can be seen here and here. An image from 2008 can be seen here.

The rear of the Cattle Market during demolition, 30 September 2014. 


[1] Bolton Pubs 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough. Published by Neil Richardson (2000).

[2] See St Mark’s website for reports on the Easter shows of the 1870s. Retrieved 1 May 2014.

[3] An abattoir existed on Lever Street until at least the 1980s. This writer remembers a barmaid in the Little John telling him of how her early-morning walk to work down Lever Street was frequently punctuated by the screams of dying cows coming from the abattoir.

[4] Products from breweries once owned by Whitbread were still amongst those available at the Cattle Market on Roy Caswell’s last visit in 2009. This included Whitbread Trophy Bitter, a beer that was still being brewed as late as 2014.    Retrieved 1 May 2014.
[5] Bolton Council planning portal. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
[6] Bolton News, 3 September 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.