Tuesday, 11 April 2017

New Bridge Inn - Printers Arms, 15 Churchbank, Bolton



New Bridge Inn,Printers Arms,Churchbank,Bolton


The New Bridge Inn was originally known as the Printers Arms. It was situated on the left-hand side going down Churchbank close to where it becomes Churchgate.

There is no mention of the pub in any directories from the 1850s and the first mention we have is in 1869 when it was being run by Wilson Inman.

By 1871, John Butterworth was in charge. Born in 1832, Mr Butterworth was a cotton operative in Simpson Street in 1861.

The 1876 Bolton Directory shows Thomas Derbyshire as the landlord. At that time it was still known as the Printers Arms, possibly as a nod to the vocation of a former landlord.

The landlady in 1895 was Mary Ann Witter. She had taken over the pub with her husband Thomas a couple of years previously having run the Peacock on Kay Street for a while. By this time it had been named the New Bridge Inn presumably to commemorate the rebuilding of the bridge on Churchbank that ran over the River Croal. The pub was the last building before the bridge. 

The New Bridge was owned by Wingfield’s Silverwell Brewery whose brewery premises stood on Nelson Square. Wingfield’s later became part of the Manchester Brewery Company who wanted to rebuild another of their pubs, the Crofters Arms on St George’s Road. In what became a confusing deal the Crofters was sold to Bolton Council who then sold it on to Magee, Marshall and Co. But the council would only give planning permission to Magee's for the rebuilding of the Crofter's if the licence of the New Bridge was given up. The confusing aspect is that the New Bridge was still a Manchester Brewery pub. Nevertheless, the Crofters was re-built and the New Bridge closed in 1907. The final landlord was George Jackson, a Yorkshireman who was originally a saddler by trade.

The building subsequently became a boarding house. It was demolished in the sixties along with three other properties along that row.

[Click here for more on Wingfield's Silverwell Brewery]

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