Cotton Tree, 15 Prince Street, Bolton

 

The Cotton Tree pictured in 2009. Copyright Google.

Opened: 27 April 1966

Closed: 12 September 2024.

Housing clearances in the area to the north of Bolton town centre of the sixties and seventies saw a number of pubs swept away. The were few replacements, but one new pub was the Cotton Tree on Prince Street. This was one of four pubs to have had that name; the others were situated in Edgar Street, Lever Street and there was even a Cotton Tree on Moor Lane that closed in 1869.

The first landlord of the new Cotton Tree was Peter Salmon who was the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel on Stewart directly before moving to the new pub.

The Cotton Tree opened on 27 April 1966. It was designed by local architect Norman Nightingale and built by another local company, Townsons, for Magee, Marshall and Co. By that stage Magees were part of Greenall Whitley and after Magees closed in October 1970 the pub was supplied from Greenall's Warrington brewery.

When the pub first opened there was a contemporary cotton tree mural at the front entrance and a lounge on one side of the premises with thick carpets, comfortable seating and heavy curtains. On the other side was a public bar that was described at the time as “comparatively spartan” but with facilities for darts and dominoes. There was also a function room for private parties. Somewhat tellingly, the pub's beer was kept in a refrigerated store behind both the lounge and public bars. This was at a time when traditional cask-conditioned beer was being phased out in favour of cold, fizzy, pasteurised beer and we can find only a brief period in the nineties when real ale was sold at the pub.

Ad from April 1973

The Cotton Tree became noted for its live music. Some of the acts appearing there towards the end of 1973 included the Dave Bennet Duo, Strangers Duo and Kinwood and Lee. A folk club opened in 1977 and featured performances from such local folk singers as Bernard Wrigley, Rona, The Hometowners and Brian Osborne. There was also a DJ training school at the pub in 1980 and in 1981 rock gigs began on a Friday night and that continued for a number of years afterwards. Many of the bands were locally based and a sample, taken from Issue 2 of local music fanzine Town Hall Steps and which covered the summer of 1982, included Warrior, Night Train, Cliche, Criminal Fingers, Deadly Embrace, Bronx, Deadgiveaway and Wolfpack.

1977

The pub received a refit in 1985, but live music nights continued. There was an eclectic mix with folk on a Thursday – the re-formed Cloggie's Folk Club which had taken place at the Victory Hotel in the mid-seventies – heavy rock on a Friday and the pub's resident organist on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Ad from July 1997

But by 1987 the pub was losing money and was moved by Greenalls from a managed house to a tenanted pub. In November 1992 it was sold by Greenalls to another Warrington-based brewery, Burtonwood. They installed a new landlady, Paula Marsh, who had previously run the Alma on Bradshawgate. Under her tenancy the Cotton Tree became very much a community pub. Paula and her husband Phil put on activities such as line dancing classes and karate training. At one point they were feeding a hot meal every day for up to 50 local people.

Paula Marsh left the Cotton Tree in 2007. The pub was refurbished and again put on live music, particularly jazz concerts. But in June 2014 it closed and was temporarily de-licensed after being put up for auction. By then it was owned by Marstons following their purchase of the Burtonwood tied estate in 2004; however, it was bought by Creative Pubs and Bars Ltd and was immediately re-licensed and re-opened. Real ale even made a brief appearance for the first time in the pub's history.

The end for the Cotton Tree came in 2024 when a planning application was lodged to convert the pub into a children's nursery. It closed in September 2024.

Even though the pub rarely sold real ale it does have a page on the Campaign For Real Ale's website that contains a number of links to historical articles and photographs.

Flamingo Cabaret Club / Bolton Social Services Club / West Ward Conservative Club, 70-72 Clarence Street, Bolton

 

This small car park marks the site of 70-72 Clarence Street and the Flamingo Club. In the distance can be seen St George's school which later became Ben Topps pub.

Autumn 1881 – West Ward Conservative Club is opened at 70-72 Clarence Street.

June 1920 – The club was put up for sale and was bought by St George's church but it was another year before the Conservative Club moved out.

July 1955 – Bolton Social Services Club opened at the premises.

April 1960 – Bolton Social Services Club wound up by Howcroft's Brewery (Bolton) Ltd after defaulting on a loan.

September 1960 – Gabriel Adedeji rents the building from Howcroft's and opens the Flamingo Club.

September 1961 – The Flamingo Club is raided by police following complaints from residents.

January 1962 – Club struck off.

Clarence Street once linked Vernon Street with Kay Street and from the 1840s onwards it was lined with houses built originally for Bolton's middle and upper classes. Many of the houses were swept away in the clearances of the sixties and seventies and for the construction of Topp Way which opened in 1982.

Two of the grand houses on Clarence Street, numbers 70 and 72, were combined to created the West Ward Conservative Club which opened in the autumn of 1881, but in 1920 the club was put up for sale. The building was sold to St George's church who used the premises as a church house. Despite the sale it took a year for West Ward Conservatives to move out. They then led a nomadic existence for much of the next two decades before operating another club at 50 Clarence Street from 1939 until 1958.

In 1955 St George's put 70-72 Clarence Street up for sale. It was bought by the Bolton Social Services Club, which was looking for new premises after its former base – the old National Fire Service Club on Crown Street - was compulsorily purchased for demolition. The Social Services Club had been formed in 1944 and it looked as though it might have to be dissolved, but the £2000 cost of purchasing the building was raised by a loan from local brewery Howcroft's and a further £600 was spent on decorations. There was a billiard room with two tables, a concert room that could seat 200 people, a committee room, a lounge, and six rooms of living accommodation for the steward and stewardess. There were also dart boards, a radiogram and a wireless.

The club opened in July 1955 and soon became known for its sporting events. It was active in local darts and snooker leagues and was included on the 1956 UK tour undertaken by Irish snooker champion Jack Rae. The club hosted a popular annual handicap snooker competition for local players, but despite the spacious living accommodation it had difficulty holding on to stewards. One couple left after a customer got into the living quarters while the club was open and stole a purse belonging to the stewardess. When challenged he claimed he was looking for the toilet.

In April 1960 the Social Services Club was the subject of a winding-up order from Howcroft's after defaulting on its loan and it was forced to close.

Howcroft's were now the owners of 70-72 Clarence Street but they needed to find a use for the building. Enter Gabriel Adedeji – also known as Gabriel Kayode – who in November 1958 had opened the Silvery Moon cafe at 72 Folds Road. He did a deal with Howcroft's to rent 70/72 Clarence Street for £4 a week.

Ad from October 1960

The Flamingo Cabaret Club opened on 29 September 1960 with music from the Fred Lang Trio. Bassist Fred Lang was joined by Derek Higman on piano and Fred Berry on drums. Vocalist and compere for the evening was Eddie Earl. Both acts were to make numerous appearances at the Flamingo.The Fred Lang Trio – later a quartet - was well-known in the area having made regular appearances at the Barbecue Club during that establishment's short-lived existence at 50 Clarence Street in the late-fifties.

The Flamingo put on a special New Year's party for members' children in January 1961 and rock and roll sessions on Friday nights began the following month.

But the club was soon in trouble with local residents. In August 1961 a letter and petition was handed in to the town's chief constable from 35 householders living in the Clarence Street area. The residents said they would refuse to pay their rents and rates if nothing was done about the noise and bad behaviour coming from the club's customers. They claimed that the previous weekend they had made four calls to the police about trouble. Fights were going on late on Saturday night and at midnight on Sunday. They claimed there were 17-year-old girls leaving the club with black people at 4.45 in the morning and shouting in the street. “We the residents wish to complain about our front doors being used as toilets, street fighting in the early hours, filthy language, people pounding on the club's doors at 11.30pm AND being admitted,” the residents wrote. They went on to complain about police being refused admission to the club despite waiting outside for 35 minutes. Other people who couldn't gain admission responded by throwing a brick through the window of a car parked on Palace Street. The letter ended: “So we will leave the matter in your hands for the moment and hope something is done.”

Something was done. The Flamingo was put under surveillance and on 23 September 1961 – less than two months after the residents' wrote to the chief constable – the club was raided. It was a Saturday night, the premises were crowded and drinks were being consumed, but it was 11.25pm and last orders should have been at 10.30. The police later said that the club was in a state of chaos. Broken glass was everywhere and they had to bring in 16 or 17 police officers to restore order. Almost 20 people aged between 23 and 41 years old appeared in court and were fined £3 each for drinking outside permitted hours, although over 60 people were in the club. Four more failed to appear but were also found guilty and fined. One man was found guilty for giving a false name and address and another was found guilty after pleading not guilty.

Gabriel Adedeji managed to get his case adjourned and it was early January 1962 before it was heard. He claimed that two plain-clothes policemen had offered to keep him out of trouble if he paid them £10 a week. He also said that they had accepted free beer from him. The police officers denied Adedeji's allegations and said that they had visited the club half a dozen times during September 1961 and had been served after hours each time. Adedeji's defence was that the club was a social centre for West African students and that political meetings and social gatherings “of a harmless nature” had been held there apart from the Saturday night riff-raff. He was fined £61 and the club was struck off the register. The premises later became a picture production business.

There was another Flamingo Club, this one on Egerton Street in Farnworth. It opened in September 1961 but was entirely unconnected with the Clarence Street business.

Bees Knees (Copperfields, Jack's, Casino Club), Crompton Way, Bolton

 

The site of the Bees Knees, June 2024. Copyright Google. The hairdressing salon at the former front entrance is named after the former nightclub. A supermarket occupies much of the rear of the premises.

6 December 1934 – Crompton Cinema opens.

March 1959 – the cinema closes and is put up for sale.

9 June 1961 – Casino Club opened by Howcroft's Brewery (Bolton) Ltd.

February 1972 – Casino Club (Bolton) Ltd collapses into liquidation. The club is sold to Douglas Flood And Partners (later known as First House Leisure Group). It is reopened as Copperfield's.

16 January 1976 – Club's name changes to the Bees Knees.

January 1981 – Bees Knees closes and the premises are put up for sale.

Crompton Way, the road linking Blackburn Road and Bury Road, was built at a cost of £230,000 and was opened on 24 April 1928. The new road opened up residential and commercial opportunities along its length, so in December 1934 Crompton Way Cinema Ltd, a company that had offered shares to the Bolton public, opened the Crompton Cinema close to the new road's junction with Tonge Moor Road. The cinema had a capacity of 1200 people and had installed special equipment to be able to show the new 'talkie' pictures. Within months it had been sold to a Mr Hall of Blackpool and in 1938 it was sold again, this time to the Rialto company.

The arrival of television in Bolton in 1949 sounded the death knell for many local cinemas and the Crompton closed as a cinema in March 1959. It was up for sale for over 18 months, but in 1961 came reports that the former cinema could become a club.

At the end of May 1961 it was revealed that local brewery Howcroft's (Brewery) Bolton Ltd were spending £20,000 on turning the premises into a nightclub, the Casino. Just a few weeks earlier 19 people had been killed in a fire at the Top Storey nightclub on Crown Street in the centre of town. However, director Atherton Howcroft who, along with his brother Jack ran the brewery, was at pains to point out that the Casino would be “the opposite of the Top Storey,” which had been a small club in the attic of a warehouse. He promised “real family entertainment” although by that he meant there would be much to appeal to women as well as to men. Patrons would be greeted by a fountain at the front entrance; much of the £20,000 had been spent on lush decorations; the stalls of the old cinema had been flattened and chairs and tables had been set out, but there was a space in front for a dance floor.

Atherton Howcroft's father Thomas was a pub landlord at the Park in Farnworth in 1911 before moving to the Seven Stars in Little Lever. He bought the Rothwell Street Tavern, situated off Derby Street, in 1920 and was of sufficient means to pay cash for that pub while still keeping hold of the Seven Stars. The Seven Stars would eventually be Howcroft Brewery's only tied pub. Thomas Howcroft had tried to auction the Seven Stars in 1919 but he was then sued by the auctioneer for refusing to pay his bill. During the ensuing trial it emerged that Howcroft had paid for people to attend the auction and make fake bids in order to drive up the price. It didn't reach its reserve and was withdrawn. In 1923 he was wealthy enough to be one of the first people ever to fly to the FA Cup Final when he was one of seven passengers who travelled by a chartered aircraft from Chorlton aerodrome in Manchester to London for Bolton Wanderers' victory over West Ham United. In 1937 he bought the Model Brewery on Spa Road after the Bolton And District Clubs Brewery went out of business. In terms of scale it was a huge step up from the small brewery at the back of the Rothwell Street Tavern. But Thomas Howcroft had his eye on taking over the clubs business that the Model Brewery's previous occupants had concentrated on. He and his wife Alice moved to an off-licence on the premises and he lived there until he died in 1955.

As for Atherton Howcroft he was described many years later as “like Lord Sugar but worse.” In 1935, when he was due to appear in court on a charge of speeding, he failed to turn up to the hearing but instead sent a telegram informing the court of absence and which ended in a cheery “Regards to all!” He was fined anyway.

Any fears that the Bolton public over the safety of nightclubs were dispelled on 9 June 1961 when 1500 people turned up for the opening night of the Casino. One local dignitary remarked that this was “the answer to staying at home and watching TV”. Popular singer Rosemary Squires was the headline act along with six support acts.

The word 'Casino' evokes images of gambling and by 1961 restrictions on ways for punters to lose their money were already being loosened. Even before the club opened Atherton Howcroft had hinted that bingo would be a part of its offering and within two weeks of the opening night he was reporting that jackpots of £100 had been offered. The club imported a roulette wheel from France in March 1962 and even employed a croupier who had worked in Las Vegas.

Ad from January 1966

The club attracted big names: jazzman Johnny Dankworth played in 1962, top pop group Brian Poole and The Tremeloes were there in 1965, Lonnie Donegan and Tom Jones both appeared in 1966. Soul singer Geno Washington recorded a live album at the club. But getting quality acts was a difficult task made worse by the fact that there just weren't enough of them around: “It's not just the top stars who are in short supply – there aren't enough quality acts to meet demands of club circuits like ours,” Atherton Howcroft told trade newspaper The Stage in March 1964. His club was putting on acts five or six nights a week.

In July 1965 there was an incident late one night that resulted in police and fire fighters being called to the club. A dance organised by Bolton Cricket Club was taking place, but a notice written in crayon posted on the front door stated there would be no admittance to anyone after 10.45pm regardless of whether they had a ticket. About 150 people milled about outside the club, but tensions were heightened when firefighters turned up to deal with what turned out to be a fake 999 call. Around 20 police arrived to disperse both the disappointed ticket-holders and the Castle Hill Residents Association which was demonstrating against the club's application to open late on a Wednesday night. Reverend John William Evans of Tonge Moor Congregational Church, who lived eight yards from the club, denied that anyone from his group had made the 999 call.

By 1967 the Bolton Casino was one of five such clubs owned by the Howcroft brothers, but a decision was made on health grounds to sell the clubs at Westhoughton, Burnley and Blackpool. Only the Bolton and Wigan Casinos were retained. “Both Mr Jack and Mr Atherton have had rather severe heart problems and they have decided to rid of some of their more distant properties which are obviously more difficult to keep under surveillance,” the brothers' secretary told the Bolton Evening News (11 January 1967) in that deferential tone you often find in family-run firms. But perhaps the cracks were beginning to appear in the business. Howcroft's closed the Model Brewery on Spa Road in May 1969 after the company merged with B. Cunningham and Co of Warrington. Like Howcroft's, Cunningham's brewed mainly for the club trade. “Our amalgamation will consolidate our strength,” a spokesman for Cunningham's said. But the merged business had collapsed by the end of the year and was wound up in 1970.

Atherton Howcroft died on 18 November 1971 at his home on Belmont Road. He was 62. The following year, in February 1972, Casino Club (Bolton), the limited company set up to run the Casino went into voluntary liquidation along with its associated company Casino Club (Wigan) Ltd. Both clubs were advertised as going concerns and the Bolton club continued to trade even changing its name to Jack's, after Jack Howcroft, Atherton's brother. It was bought by Douglas Flood And Partners and re-opened as Copperfield's on 8 March 1972. The Lancashire correspondent of The Stage expressed some surprise given the club's proximity to Blighty's in Farnworth, also owned by Dougie Flood. The lease on the Wigan Casino club was bought by its manager, Gerry Marshall. From 1973 to 1981 it became noted for its all-night Northern Soul sessions.

Ad from March 1972

Like the Casino, Copperfields operated as a cabaret club with acts appearing alongside the club's resident band the Graham Warner Sound. A refurbishment took place during the summer of 1972 and the club reopened in September of that year. But the entertainment was very middle-of-the-road and was squarely aimed at people over the age of 30. Syd Lawrence and his Orchestra appeared early on as did Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen and local favourites the Reg Coates Experience.

But the entertainment market was changing and in January 1976 there was another change of name, this time to the Bees Knees, as well as a change of format. Instead of having nightly cabaret artists and a resident band the Bees Knees became a disco with cabaret turns appearing only occasionally.

May 1977

That same year two neighbouring semi-detached houses near the club on Crompton Way, both less than 50 years old, were bought by First House, as Douglas Flood And Partners were now known. The houses were demolished to make way for a car park for the club but there was a battle between First House and the council after it emerged that planning permission was required before the conversion could take place. It was only resolved six months later despite complaints from local residents. First House withdrew an application to stay open until 1am on Thursday and Friday nights as a goodwill gesture to the local community.

The Bees Knees closed at the beginning of 1981. Douglas Flood said: “We have closed down in order to gives ourselves a chance to formulate our plans.” Interested parties includes a chain of DIY stores and a supermarket group. Mr Flood suggested that if the premises didn't sell he might combine the existing disco with a squash court and other leisure facilities. It took over a year for the sale to go through and the former club opened as a Kwik Save supermarket in 1983.

Aquarius Club (Yorkie's Bar, Edbro Social Club, Daubhill Social Club, Daubhill Athletic FC), Tabley Road, Bolton

On the left is the Aquarius Club pictured in 1974. On the right is the site of the Aquarius Club pictured 51 years later in 2025 (copyright Google).

1949 – Daubhill Athletic are formed at Willows Park. The club were banned from playing by the Lancashire Football Association between 1958 and 1961.

1961 – Daubhill Athletic revived and enter the Bolton Combination.

1963 – Daubhill Athletic Social Club is opened. An extension is built later that year.

1965 – Daubhill Athletic cease playing; however, the club remains open. The name Daubhill Athletic was revived by an unconnected Sunday League team between 1976 and 1996.

1969 – The club becomes Edbro Social Club.

1972 – The club is sold again and becomes the Aquarius Club.

1983 – The Aquarius is bought by Tony York and becomes Yorkies Cabaret Club.

1984 – Yorkie's closes down. The club catches fire in July of that year.

In September 1949 Daubhill Athletic Football Club played the first match at their Willows Park ground. The club had been formed earlier that year by Alf Sharrock and his brother Harry after the works team they played for at Swan Lane No 3 Mill refused to allow outsiders to play. Alf and Harry found an old shale pit at the back of Rumworth Park and spent six months moving 400 tonnes of rubbish and making the pit into something suitable for football. On Saturday 24 September 1949 Ald A Booth, JP performed a short opening ceremony before Daubhill took on Knowles Ltd in a first round tie in the Bolton Combination's Brown Cup competition. The visitors' F. Gaskell scored the opening goal in a 1-1 draw.

Alf was nothing if not ambitious and before too long the club had moved from the Bolton Combination up to the West Lancashire League. It also ran a summer football competition in which matches were played in the evening every April onwards. All matches were played at Willows Park with some attendances over 1000 for games in the latter stages of the competition.

A summer league organised for local youths brought Alf Sharrock and Daubhill Athletic treasurer Fred Riley into conflict with the Lancashire Football Association. The LFA were dead against summer football and in 1958 Alf and Fred were banned by the association; Daubhill Athletic were expelled from the West Lancashire League as a result and Willows Park was forbidden from hosting official football matches. Despite that the Daubhill Athletic Cup competition continued to take place. It was contested by scratch teams playing under names copied from top European clubs such as Real Madrid and Red Star.

The LFA ban was to last three years and was lifted in 1961, but plans had been made even before the ban for the construction of a clubhouse. In 1955 Daubhill Athletic was incorporated into a limited company, Daubhill Enterprises Ltd (later the Daubhill Development Company Ltd) and the company rented out garages on the site of The Willows with the aim of raising money to build up financial reserves.

In May 1962 Bolton Council gave the club permission to build its clubhouse which was opened in the early part of 1963 A 60-foot extension was added later that year. However, the football team lasted only four seasons after the LFA ban was lifted and it withdrew from Division 2A of the Bolton Combination in 1965. Apparently, the decision of three team members to emigrate to Australia led to the the team's demise as they could no longer raise eleven players.

Ad from August 1963

Despite the end of the football team Daubhill Athletic Social Club, as it was now called, continued much like any other working men's or political club in the town. There were bingo nights, dancing to artistes at the weekend; a resident rhythm club played modern popular songs and the club had its own compere. Financially it was supported by a daily draw organised by its development association. The 'Athletic' name was eventually dropped and the club was simply known as the Daubhill Social Club in local newspaper ads; however, to locals it was simply as 'The Shed'.

The size of the club made it a popular venue for the finals of darts competitions, both at local and county level, By 1965 the football ground was used every Sunday for dog-training sessions for all breeds organised by the Bolton Alsatian Club.

November 1968 

In 1968 four youths broke into the club and stole £350 in cash and 1000 cigarettes from a dispensing machine.

In 1969 the Daubhill Sports Club became the Edbro Sports and Social Club. Edbro operated engineering works on five sites across the south side of Bolton; it employed over 500 people and ran a thriving sports club that was looking for permanent premises. But although the club operated in much the same way as it had done as the Daubhill Social Club, Edbro's tenure lasted only three years and the premises were sold once again in the autumn of 1972.

The newly renamed Aquarius Club opened on 7 December 1972 with an appearance by popular cabaret singer Sheila Buxton. It was open until 1.30am six nights a week and it wasn't long before there were problems with the neighbours.

In January 1974 Bolton Council brought a case against the Aquarius under the Noise Abatement Act; however, the case was adjourned after the club's owners agreed to install an 'electronic orange' to cut noise levels. The Council agreed to give the club time to see if the equipment worked properly. But the problem didn't end there. Two months later the club's licence was up for renewal. There were 30 objections, mainly from people living nearby who complained about the noise coming from inside the club and from the sound of people driving their cars away late at night.

December 1972

The club paid for the services of a solicitor to fight its case, but what happened next was a PR disaster. Managing director John Hollingsworth wrote to each of the 30 objectors, many of them old age pensioners, threatening to sue them for the legal expenses he had run up fighting their objection.

“A considerable expense was involved by my Company in defending the case which would not have occurred had it not been for your objections,” he wrote

He then suggested that each person might have to pay £30 towards his legal costs – the equivalent of around £300 in 2026. Local councillor Roland Carr suggested that Mr Hollingsworth had no grounds to sue the objectors and the matter ended there. When approached by the Bolton Evening News Mr Hollingsworth admitted sending the letter but refused to comment further.

Ad from February 1975

There was more trouble for the Aquarius later in 1974. Police arrived at 11.15pm on a Sunday night and found over 50 people in the club enjoying a late drink. The club was only licensed until 10.30 on Sundays and in any case drinks could only be sold to members of the Aquarius Sunday Club. Mr Hollingsworth was fined £810 while bar manager George Greenfield was fined £421. Both fines were later reduced on appeal.

Acts appearing at the club during 1975 included Bernard Manning and Wayne Fontana, while the Christmas dance organised at the club by Deane Rangers Football Club included an appearance by Cannon and Ball. The Bolton Organ Society held monthly meetings at the Aquarius that included concerts and demonstrations of new models and those continued for a number of years.

In December 1976 the Aquarius was bought by local pools winner Danny Carr and his business partner Tommy Ivers of Creeme Entertainments. “We want to create a working man's theatre club – nothing too elaborate,” Mr Ivers told the Bolton Evening News (16 December 1976). “We want to concentrate on live entertainment featuring popular acts in the area but we will incorporate a disco as well.” A change of name was an option although that never transpired.

September 1980

By the late-seventies the Aquarius was putting on midweek rock gigs; former Cream drummer Ginger Baker appeared with his band Energy in November 1979, local radio personality Mike Sweeney played at the club with his band the Salford Jets in May 1980 and sixties psychedelic rockers Atomic Rooster appeared there in November 1980.

August 1980

But it's clear that the early-eighties were a difficult time for the Aquarius. People were heading to town rather than staying local and that had an obvious effect on trade.

In March 1981 the company that owned the club, Ledondale (Aquarius) Ltd, applied for planning permission to hold an outdoor market on the site. The application was rejected because councillors wanted to keep such retailing in the town centre and were unhappy about the effect of too much traffic on local access roads. In December 1981 the company applied to demolish the clubhouse and redevelop the land for housing. Again, the plan was rejected, but it was clear the club was struggling.

The Aquarius was also getting the wrong sort of reporting in the local press. In March 1982 police had to call in reinforcements to break up a fight in the club's car park; in July of that year police were called to reports of fighting both inside and outside the club, and just a few weeks after that a man was glassed in the face after protecting a teenage girl who was being pestered by another boy.

In December 1982 the Aquarius received a blow when its late licence was revoked. Ironically, given that the club's then owners were fined in 1974 for opening late on a Sunday, this time they lost their late licence for not being open often enough. Their licence at that time required the club to be open six nights a week; however, they were only opening on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The late licence had been in operation since the Aquarius opened in 1972.

In February 1983 Ledondale sold the Aquarius to theatrical agent Tony York. He was planning to spend £100,000 on what he was calling Yorkie's Cabaret Bar as soon as he could obtain a late licence. He would be open six nights a week with one night set aside for a possible “stag” presentation. “The theme will be New York and there will be plenty of razz-matazz,” he told the Bolton Evening News (10 February 1983). “We want a decent club here and I am full of confidence that we will succeed.”

Unfortunately he didn't. By June 1984 and after being open for little more than a year, the club was up for sale once again. It was destroyed by fire the following month and in December thieves broke in to the derelict building and stole a one-armed bandit and a fridge worth a total of £400. The rest of the club was eventually demolished and housing built on the site by the Irwell Valley Housing Association which was granted outline planning permission in December 1985 to build 29 homes and 31 flats for elderly people.

Bromilow Arms ("Bonnie Lasses"), Lostock Lane, Bolton

 

The Bromilow  Arms pictured in 2009. Copyright Google.

The Bromilow Arms, also known as the 'Bonnie Lasses' or the 'Three Bonnie Lasses', was opened by the Bromilow family in 1851. It was run by family members until the 1920s when it was sold to local brewer William Tong's. It later became a Walker's pub, then Tetley Walker, and it closed for good in 2012.

In 1851 James Bromilow was a farmer and beerseller at Plat Brow (later spelt Platt Brow), the slight incline that forms part of Lostock Lane. In July 1867 he was brought before magistrates at Bolton accused of having his pub open at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning. PC Kenyon visited the premises and found two men in an area used for storing beer. Bromilow called witnesses to testify that one of the men was his son and the other was a lodger at the pub. The magistrates dismissed the case on a technicality as the consumption of beer by residents wasn't covered by licensing laws.

Oddly, neither the 1861 or 1871 Census returns show that James Bromilow had a son. However, he did have three daughters. The pub's nickname was “The Bonnie Lasses”, although an 1886 report of a bowling match on the pub's green referred to it as “The Three Bonnie Lasses”.  The lasses in question were: Alice (born 1834), Ann (born 1843) and Ellen (born 1845). Only Ellen married and that was to her cousin, also named James Bromilow, who lived at nearby Stone House Farm. Alice Bromilow took over the pub on the death of her father with the pub passing to Ann after Alice died in 1894. In 1901 it was transferred to Ellen's husband, James Bromilow, with cousins William Shaw and Eliza Barlow taking over on James's death in 1912.

By July 1920 the Bromilow Arms was appearing in advertisements by local brewery Tong's, something that suggests the pub had been sold. During that month Tong's secured a raft of hours extensions on the occasion of the Royal Lancashire Show being held in Bolton. In those days pubs usually had to close between 3pm and 5.30pm in the afternoon, but Tong's obtained an afternoon extension for over 30 pubs, including the Bromilow, for the three days of the show. The pubs could also open at 10 in the morning although last orders in the evening remained at 10pm.

Despite the sale to Tong's the Bromilow was still being run by a distant relative of James Bromilow, in this case James Barlow, a cousin of Eliza Barlow. Before the Great War, James's son William was employed as a coal miner at Lostock Colliery. He attempted to join the army in 1916 but it was 1918 before he was finally called up. In October of that year – just a month before the Armistice – he sustained horrific injuries from a shell explosion in France. He spent three years in hospital and underwent 30 operations to completely rebuild the right side of his face. But on being discharged he discovered that his place of work had closed down and he endured 16 months of unemployment before asking the Bolton Evening News to help him find work.

The Bromilow became a Walker's pub after they took over Tong's in 1923. Walker's merged with the Leeds firm of Joshua Tetley in 1960 to become Tetley Walker. This became part of Allied Breweries the following year.

In April 1961 licensee Elizabeth McCracken was fined £4 and 10 shillings (£4.50 in decimal money) after police found three customers in the Bromilow at 11.16 one Friday night. Mrs McCracken said that the three men had been playing darts and had lingered with their drinks and that the bar was closed and locked when the police arrived. The three men were fined £2 each. Mrs McCracken left the pub that same month. She was the latest in a rapid turnover of licensees and had been the sixth in the eleven years since Edna Holden took over from Margaret Lawton in the summer of 1950.

Ad from April 1963

By 1962 the Bromilow was being run by Kathleen Parker who tried a different approach to attract custom. In 1960 pubs in Bolton were allowed to have musicians without the need for a special licence, the first time this had happened since 1912. There were restrictions on the number of musicians and no amplification was allowed, but a number of pubs began to employ keyboard players and sometimes drummers. Mrs Parker put on free-and-easy concerts three nights a week, but it seems that the concerts weren't well-attended. In 1963 she appeared in court on a charge of serving liquor outside licensing hours after police arrived at 11.50 one Saturday night. She was fined £10 but told the magistrates that she had handed in her notice at the brewery. The pub was selling only one barrel of beer per week – that's 288 pints over a seven-day period. It was making no money and she was worse off than when she took over.

Kathleen Parker's case shows how difficult it was for the Bromilow. This was a pub with very little in the way of immediate local trade. There were no nearby houses although the British Aerospace factory a few hundred yards away would have brought in some lunchtime trade, but in some regards it's a wonder that the pub survived for so long. But survive it did. Mrs Parker was succeeded by Frank Pollard and his wife Dinah who spent 12 years at the Bromilow from 1964 to 1976.

Plans were lodged in November 1972 for land next to the pub to be used for the sale of caravans but the application was rejected by the council.

By 1976 the Bromilow was being run by Ken Humphries. Formerly the general manager of an electronics company Ken devised a darts scoring machine which was believed to be the first of its kind. He had already sold three machines at a cost of £100 each (the equivalent of over £700 in 2026). This electronic calculator was already in use at the pub whose darts team had won both the local and regional Tetley championships as well as the Tetley Challenge Cup.

Ad from 1982.

In the mid-nineties the Bromilow received a boost when it was announced that Bolton Wanderers would be moving to a new stadium at the Middlebrook development just half a mile away. The Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association formed a Horwich branch at the pub in 1995, two years before the club finally made its move.

Having the Wanderers on its doorstep gave the Bromilow a new lease of life. The pub was packed on match days and even gained a reputation as being a friendly outlet for away supporters. But 20-odd good days a years doesn't make a viable business and the Bromilow closed in August 2011. It reopened three months later in November; however, it closed permanently in August 2012 ending over 160 years of history. It became a private residence with apartments being built on the former bowling green and also to the rear of the pub building.

The pub still has a dedicated page on the website of the Campaign for Real Ale. The page has links to article on the pub in Camra publications as well as links to other photographic archives.

Tempest Arms, 1110 Chorley Old Road, Bolton

 

The Tempest Arms pictured in July 2016. Copyright Google.

The Tempest Arms opened around 1850 and closed in 2022.

In 1841 Richard Pendlebury was a shopkeeper in Horrobin Fold, small hamlet off Chorley Old Road, but by 1851 he was also selling beer at a new building, the Tempest Arms. The name was a tribute to the Tempest family who owned land in the area.

In December 1853 Richard Pendlebury picked up a fine for allowing after-hours drinking at his house. In response he levelled a series of allegations against the police officer concerned, a PC Bradley. One of the claims was that PC Bradley demanded money from a number of licensees in the Heaton area so he could shut down illegal drinking dens; however, none of the named licensees would give evidence in court against the police officer and the action failed. 

Richard Pendlebury died in 1864 and the Tempest passed to his wife Hannah. In 1868 she successfully applied for a full licence for the pub enabling her to sell wine and spirits. Previously the pub had only been able to sell beer. A petition supporting the application was accepted by the magistrates and there was no opposition. Her timing was impeccable. A new licensing law was passed the following year that made full licences far more difficult to obtain.

When Hannah Pendlebury died in 1870 her eldest daughter, also named Hannah, took over as landlady. The younger Hannah Pendlebury married Henry Holt in 1872. In those days a woman's property passed to her husband on marriage so he became the licensee of the Tempest. But Henry and Hannah Holt left the pub trade in 1873 to become farmers in Blackrod. Henry's twin brother Charles took over as landlord until the pub was sold in 1875.

The Tempest had a bowling green to the rear and this became popular not only with locals but with bowling clubs in pubs further afield many of whom would have an annual day out at the Tempest involving a series of matches to determine their champion. The green was run for a while on a subscription basis. The green was still showing on maps in the sixties but was later built on.

Ad from 1900.

There was great excitement in 1881 when a cab driver coming down Chorley Old Road noticed some clothing next to a lodge at Shipton Mill. Fearing a suicide police were called and the lodge was 'dragged'. A library card was found inside one of the items of clothing containing the name of Robert Brown and an address at Howcroft Street, Daubhill. An officer was sent to the address where he found Mr Brown calmly sitting by the fire reading a newspaper. It transpired that he had been to a party at the Tempest the previous night. After leaving the pub he undressed at the side of the lodge believing that he was at home and getting into bed. While he admitted to drinking seven or eight pints he claimed he wasn't drunk and that his beer had been drugged! 

In 1892 the Tempest's landlord of 16 years, John Longworth, died at the pub. His wife Ellen took over and became notable for acts of charity in support local causes. The area around Delph Hill and Doffocker contained a number of coal mines and a strike in 1893 brought great strife. Ellen Longworth opened a soup kitchen at the Tempest to help striking miners and their families. She also put on a Rose Queen Festival the following year. Upward of a hundred children were given tea and group photographs were taken on the pub's bowling green. There was then a procession along Chorley Old Road which was lined with hundreds of spectators. The children then walked back to the pub where they sang songs and played games. Each child was given a small bag containing nuts, biscuits, fruit and sweets.

The Tempest brewed its own beer for many years, but by 1909 it was advertising beers from local brewer Halliwell's. It became a Sharman's pub in 1922 but by 1930 it was serving beers from Shaw's in Leigh following their takeover of Sharman's.

For many years a large depiction of the crest of the Tempest family was displayed on the side of the pub along with family's motto “Lowf as thou fyndes” - “Laugh as you find”. It was particularly visible to travellers on the local tram route after it was extended along Chorley Old Road. So well known was the motto that in 1923 a postcard addressed to “Mine Host, Lowf as though Fyndes” was successfully delivered to the pub.

On the morning of Wednesday 18 September 1935 the landlord of the Tempest Arms, Jack Hampson, left the pub along with his dog, telling his wife Hilda that he was going to the hairdresser and then to the bank. He was spotted in the bank some time between ten and eleven o'clock that morning, but Hilda never saw him again. The mystery was deepened by the fact that the dog returned to the pub alone. Two weeks later, on 2 October, the Bolton Evening News ran a follow-up story on the disappearance. But there was still no sign of Jack, a man well-known in the licensed trade having previously run the Grapes in Stoneclough. His parents had previously been licensees of the Blue Boar on Churchgate. A mysterious woman was said to have stopped Jack and Hilda's son in New Hall Lane, Heaton, and told him that his father had written to say that he would be home that afternoon. Efforts had failed to trace the woman. Six months later, BBC Radio broadcast an SOS message calling for Mr Hampson to contact Townley's Hospital (now the Royal Bolton Hospital) where his wife was dangerously ill. There was no response to the message and Hilda died a few days later on 28 April 1936. There are no definitive records as to what happened to Jack Hampson.

Ad from March 1937

The Hampsons were succeeded as licensees of the Tempest Arms by John Rothwell Murray. Mr Murray spent 18 years in charge before handing over to his son-in-law, Roy Wood, and retiring to Blackpool. In April 1954 Mr Murray's wife Ann travelled to Bolton to help out Mr Wood at the Tempest and also to visit her daughter, Mr Wood's wife, who was ill in hospital. When she returned to Blackpool she found the body of her husband hanging in the hall. His aunt, Miss Clara Murray, was dead in a bath upstairs. The inquest heard that Mr Murray and his wife had retired to Blackpool to look after his aunt, a woman who had brought him up from the age of 8. But later in life Miss Murray had suffered from problems with her mental health. She had tried to drown herself the previous year and been placed in a mental institution, but Mr Murray visited her regularly and would often bring her home to spend the weekend with him and his wife. Even then, she spoke about wanting to drown herself and he had joked with her about it to try and talk her out of it. He had never shown any signs of mental health problems and did not drink much. A police detective told the inquest that officers had found a sheaf of notes at the house. One, from Miss Murray to Ann Murray said: “It's my fault. Poor Jack, I made him do it. I've been a rotter all my life. Forgive me, Annie. I have robbed you of your husband.” One note from Mr Murray said: “Well, she did it after all. What could I do? The end of it all. Goodbye.” Another note from Mr Murray said: “You are not to blame for anything. You are a true wife. Marry a good man next time – JRM”.

In 1960 it became easier for pubs to put on musical acts without a special licence. Music had been banned in most pubs since 1912 and the decision by Bolton Council to relax the rule came in the face of competition from pubs in neighbouring towns where the rule did not apply. Many pubs put on small acts such as an organist and a drummer, but in 1964 the Tempest was advertising local band The Cotton Pickers on Friday and Sunday nights as well as Fabulous Ernie on Sunday lunchtimes. Entertainment was to become a staple at the Tempest Arms for many years to come.

June 1972

From 1931 the Tempest was a Peter Walker pub. This Warrington-based brewery became part of Allied Breweries in 1960 but as Allied retreated from owning pubs in the nineties the Tempest was bought by Anchor Inns (Northern) Ltd. By 2010 it was part of the Heineken-owned Star Pubs and Bars group but was later sold again, this time to Admiral Taverns. Certainly it wasn't one for the real ale purists. A 1981 listing of Bolton's real ale pubs showed that it was a keg-only outlet and it failed to make the 1989 Camra publication Beer In Bolton for the same reason. Real ale made brief returns in 2013 and 2019 but was withdrawn due to poor sales.

Ad from June 1983.

Covid eventually killed the Tempest Arms. The pub closed in 2022 and the building was put up for sale. Plans were lodged with Bolton Council in 2023 to convert the premises into a nursery. A fire broke out inside the building in 2024 and fresh plans were lodged to convert it into nursery premises. 

More on the Tempest Arms can be found on the pub's page on the website of the Bolton branch of the Campaign for Real ale.

Irish Labour Club, 13/15 Lorne Street, Bolton

 

Lorne Street pictured in 2024. The club is believed to have been reached via the door behind the blue dumpster in the foreground.

Lorne Street in Bolton town centre – not to be confused with Lorne Street at Moses Gate in Farnworth – is a narrow thoroughfare that runs between Bridge Street and Market Street. There are no properties on Lorne Street itself today, although access can be gained to properties on Corporation Street and Deansgate. But in years gone by the upper storeys of properties on Corporation Street were considered to be separate and had addresses on Lorne Street.

Number 13 Lorne Street was, for a few years from the late-1880s until around 1892, the headquarters of the Bolton Home Rule Club. The club was in existence by 1877 when it held a St Patrick's Day dance at its then club room at the Palatine Buildings on Knowsley Street. Its aim was to campaign for home rule for Ireland and in 1879 it was addressed by the Irish nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell. A limited company, the Bolton Home Rule Club Company, was formed in 1882 and premises were purchased at 89 Town Hall Square. But by 1888 the club was at 13 Lorne Street before moving a few doors down to number 3 in 1892. Bolton Socialist Party were based at number 13 from 1899 before moving in 1904 to Wood Street, still the home of what is known as Bolton Socialist Club.

A dance academy was based at 13 Lorne Street from 1919 until 1921. Around this time the Bolton Home Rule Club faded away as the goal of Irish self-determination was realised, albeit in bloody circumstances. But by 1921 a new left-wing organisation, the Irish Labour Club, had taken up residence at 13 Lorne Street and they were to remain there for over 30 years.

In 1927 the club made the brave move of applying for a licence extension until 1.45 am to celebrate St Patrick's Day. In those days the national day of Ireland was celebrated almost exclusively by the Irish diaspora and by people with Irish roots. As far back as 1907 the Bolton Evening News bemoaned the fact that celebrations had become much more muted, and in 1925 a columnist complained that “St Patrick's Day in England, these times, is a dull affair, completely lacking the old times.” The writer went on to comment that perhaps there might be “a little extra treating” both at the Irish Labour Club and the Brown Cow pub on Bradshawgate (knocked down in 1966 to become part of The Trotters). But in 1927 the club made its audacious attempt to secure almost four hours of extra drinking time on 17 March. Such extensions were usually very difficult to come by. The club's representative, Mr T McCormick, told magistrates that it had 350 members but that only around 100 would be present. Ticket sales would be restricted to members only; none would be sold after midday on the day itself and there would be no admittance after 10pm. While around 25 to 30 non-members would be present they would not be allowed to buy drinks. “It is a jollification for the Irish people of Bolton,” Mr McCormick said. The Chief Constable remarked that while it might be an unusual application he had no objections and the extension was granted.

Ad from Christmas 1926

In 1932 one of the club's founders, Mark Tierney, died aged 77. Well-known in local Labour, trade union and Roman Catholic circles he was a past member and honorary life president of Bolton Trades Council.

In 1943, a customer at the club, Elizabeth Johnson, was found guilty of stealing a wallet, an Army pay book, a fountain pen and a pack of cigarettes from the tunics of two Canadian soldiers who had gone to drink at the club. A detective who visited her at her home in Bury the following day noticed that she was smoking the same brand of cigarettes that had been stolen from the soldiers. “I had had plenty of drink,” she said. She was sentenced to three months' hard labour.

In 1954 he club acted as host for the Lancashire Federation of Irish Democratic League Clubs at a social evening to be held at the Fleece Hotel on Bradshawgate.

In 1955 the Bolton Evening News wrote an article on the Irish Labour Club as part of a series on clubs in the town. Steward Joe Foye said there was never any trouble in the place and if there was “I just stop his tap – that's punishment enough”. He added: “We like to have things quiet here... despite having among our members some really fit fellows we get along very well.” He also got out a copy of the club's membership card and its one stipulation. 'I, the understand, being of Irish birth or proved Irish descent,” - that was it. Club secretary Pat Ferguson claimed that the club had been one of the first in Bolton to install a TV set (television arrived in Bolton the week before Christmas 1949). “I think the members appreciate it,” he said. There was also a billiard table as well as dominoes. The club had operated a soldiers' fund during the second world war. “For the lads who were away it was one of the best funds in the town. I think we can say that with certainty,” Mr Ferguson said. “Like most clubs in the town we keep plodding alone. We've no financial worries and the membership – around 400 – is flourishing.”

Ad from 1958

But it wasn't to last. An advertisement in the Bolton Evening News of 16 June 1958 announced a general meeting for the Irish Labour Club. However, the club's address was given as “late 13/15 Lorne Street” and the meeting was to be held at the Blue Boar on Deansgate, a pub that, in the fifties, had strong Irish connections. It sounds as though, for whatever reason, the club had lost its premises.

In February 1995 the Evening News' Looking Back column featured a query about the club. This led to two local Labour councillors with Irish connections, Councillor Martin Donaghy - originally from County Armagh - and Councillor Noel Spencer, whose family were originally from Ireland, to try and hunt down the former club. They went to offices on Corporation Street that were formerly occupied by the Bolton Journal (and, we believe, the Bolton Chronicle after it was revived in the late-seventies). At first the two men could find no trace of the premises, but when they looked through a hole in the ceiling they realised that the ceiling was false and that a wood-panelled room was behind it. Councillor Spencer remembered the panelling when he visited the club in the 1940s.

If Corporation Chambers is the site of the former Irish Labour Club that puts it in premises currently (2026) occupied by Neoartist Studios.