Thursday, 10 December 2015

General Sir Robert Sale, 97 Newport Street, Bolton



Click here for the first General Sir Robert Sale.

The General Sir Robert Sale was previously on Crook Street close to the Bowling Green pub. However, it was demolished to make way for modifications to the railway, specifically an expansion of the Crook Street goods depot and improvements to the lines as they entered Great Moor Street station and the landlord, Thomas Lever, decided to move to Newport Street.

Thomas Lever had been running a beer house on Newport Street according to the 1843 Bolton Directory. With the closure of the General Sir Robert Sale he rented premises at 97 Newport Street and opened up again under the same name.

But by 1869, Thomas Lever was ready to get out of the pub business. He was now 82 years old.

“To Be Let – the Sir Robert Sale BEERHOUSE. Apply on the premises. 97 Newport Street.”

Bolton Evening News, 2 June 1869.

The pub was taken on by James Hardman. However, he was soon succeeded by John Balch, a carter whose wife Sarah came from a pub-owning family.

But rather like the original pub the General Sir Robert Sale was once again defeated by the railway. A scheme to build the Johnson Street curve linking the Bolton to Preston line with the Bolton to Blackburn line necessitated the demolition of a number of properties on Newport Street, including the General Sir Robert Sale. The pub closed in the early 1880s and a bridge over the new line was built in its place.

The bridge is still there and can be seen on this August 2015 image looking up Newport Street (copyright Google Street View).


No comments:

Post a Comment