Quiet Woman, Bury New Road (Bradford Street), The Haulgh

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The site of the Quiet Woman/Bradford Hotel in 2014

The Quiet Woman existed as a beerhouse from 1836 to 1871. It was the predecessor to the Bradford Hotel. 

Little is known of the pub's early days although Richard Fogg (1783-1858) appears to have been a pivotal figure. Fogg was a bleacher living at Top O'Th Haulgh according to the 1841 census. However, the Bolton directory for 1843 has him down as a beerseller at The Haulgh and it seems likely that it was at the Quiet Woman.

By 1851, Fogg was still a beerseller but his address was given as Fogg's Houses in The Haulgh. The appendix of 'Houses' to a name suggested the whole of a row was owned by the same person. That was perhaps stretching the point a little as there appears to have been just the pub and an adjoining cottage that made up Fogg's Buildings.

Fogg died in 1851. The Bolton Chronicle of 3 July 1858 reported that on the day of his death the 75-year-old Fogg had brewed as usual at the brewery attached to the pub. At around eight o'clock that night he began to complain of a pain in his bowels. He went to bed at ten o'clock and died at midnight.

Fogg's wife Betty remained at the pub until 1868 when she decided to sell up. The premises were sold along with an adjoining cottage for £270 to a farmer at The Haulgh named John Marsh. The transaction was the subject of a court case in 1869 when Marsh was successfully sued by an estate agent named George Ferguson for outstanding legal fees worth £12 2 shillings. [1]

It seems that Marsh didn't run the pub himself. Rather he installed Robert Bowcock as licensee. In April 1870, Boocock was accused of permitting drunkenness at his house. PC Mosely claims to have seen six men in the front room of the Quiet Woman. All were drunk, some more than others. Three women were in the kitchen and a man named Brennan had blood flowing from his mouth. Brennan claimed that the men had come in to the house already drunk but that the three women were powerless to throw them out. However, evidence was also given that there was not enough drink in the house for the men to be drunk and that Brennan had entered the house with the intention of fighting its occupants. Even so, the court, presided over by Mayor Joseph Musgrave found that the case was proven and he fined Bowcock 20 shillings (£1) plus costs. [2]

Bowcock left soon afterwards and George Holden took over. But in January 1871 the pub was up for sale once again. It closed down shortly after it was was sold and was soon demolished. The Bradford Hotel was erected in its place and opened later that year.

[1] Bolton Evening News, 8 May 1869.

[2] Bolton Evening News, 21 April 1870.