We dealt recently with the Globe Inn on Higher Bridge
Street, but there was another pub by that name over on Bridgeman Street.
Nobody will remember the Globe on Bridgeman Street as
it closed in 1869 and the licensing records don’t even report where on
the street it actually was.
The Globe was a beerhouse, one of many that sprang
up in the town as a result of the 1830 Beer House Act. Anyone could convert
part of their home into a beer house on payment of £2. That was still a decent
wedge of money in the middle of the 19th century, but it wasn’t
enough to deter many people. By 1854 there were 208 beer houses in Bolton along
with 118 fully-licensed pubs. In the following 15 years a further 121
beer houses opened up and it seems the Globe on Bridgeman Street was one of
those. [1]
However, a change in the law in 1869 made it much easier
for local magistrates to close down beer houses. They certainly went at it. A
total of 69 beer houses were immediately closed and the Globe was one of the pubs that came to an end.
Magistrates used any pretext to refuse licenses and
pubs such as the Unicorn on Deansgate, the Railway Bridge Inn on Dawes Street and
the Pen Street Arms on Pen Street disappeared almost at a whim. On the other hand,
the Music Hall Tavern on Gaskell’s Court – a short thoroughfare off Churchgate
the entrance to which can still be seen next to the Brass Cat – saw its licence
refused because four ‘loose girls’ lived there, according to the police.
But if the magistrates were looking for a reason to
close the Globe on Bridgeman Street then they didn’t have to look far. The
magistrates threw the book at the pub. The landlord allowed gambling on the
premises, the clientele included prostitutes and there was a ‘low singing room
and dancing class’ frequented by thieves and what are described as ‘loose
characters’. To add to all that there
was what was described as a ‘minor public health objection’ in that the
landlord kept pigs at the back of the pub.
The pub shut in 1869.
[1] Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog post dated 24
July 2011 and entitled Bolton In 1854. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
[2] Pubs Of Bolton 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough. Published by Neil Richardson (2000).
No comments:
Post a Comment