Rushton Arms, 28 Wareing Street, Bolton

Follow @LostPubsBolton

This access road running off Deane Road between the STEM Centre on the right and the University Of Bolton's Motor Engineering Centre on the left is all that is left of Wareing Street. The original houses in the area were demolished in the 1960s and replaced by council housing. These were demolished in 2010 when plans were revealed for the conversion of the whole area into Bolton's education quarter.

The Rushton Arms was a typical back-street pub the likes of which have largely died out. It was situated at 28 Wareing Street (sometimes spelled Waring Street) off Deane Road.

Pubs were often named after prominent figures, whether they may be national or local, and it is likely that the Rushton Arms was named after Thomas Lever Rushton, a prominent town councillor. Rushton represented Exchange Ward from 1846 to 1852 and from 1868 to 1874. He was then an Alderman for the ward from 1874 to 1883. Rushton was a solicitor by profession but he also founded the firm of Rushton and Eckersley, an iron forging business whose works occupied land that was later the site of Moor Lane bus station. However, he is best remembered for instigating the construction of the Market Hall which opened in December 1855. That perhaps gives us a clue as to the age of the pub that bore his name.

The Rushton Arms opened in the middle of the 19^th century and the first reference we have is in 1857 when landlord John Smith was up in front of the court accused of having his pub open at twenty to eight on a Sunday morning. Police claimed they had seen six or eight men wait at a side window at the pub and after waiting a short while they were given entry. When the police officers went up to the window a woman shook her head at them but they were given entry anyway. However, no beer was noticed when they entered the pub. The court heard from Jane Askew, John Smith's sister, who had been staying with him for the past three weeks. She claimed to have been cleaning the pub and opened the door to let in some fresh air. Six or eight men walked in but she refused to serve them. They then asked for their wedding glasses (Smith had got married during the week). Smith came downstairs and told them to return at opening time. They then left. Jane Askew then claimed that when she saw the two policemen she shook her head as she did not know them. She also claimed that one of the policemen went round to the back of the pub, let himself in, then let in the other policemen by the front door. The magistrates admitted that there was some doubt in the case and dismissed the charges. [Bolton Chronicle, 18 July 1857].

Smith had left the Rushton Arms by the time of the 1861 census. The pub was occupied at that time by John Cooling along with his wife and a lodger. Later in the 1860s, Thomas Blackley moved in. A former iron moulder he was there until his death in 1879.

A notice appeared in the Bolton Evening News of 24 February 1902 offering the Rushton Arms for sale. At that time the owner of the building had an agreement with the Manchester brewery of J. G. Swales and Co Ltd who leased the pub and installed tenants*. However, the lease was due to expire the following month and the owner of the building decided to sell up. It was stated in the ad that the pub had been under the same ownership for almost half a century. Properties numbered 49, 51, 53, 55 and 57 Wellington Street were also included in the sale. Although all the properties were nominally in separate streets they were effectively one block of buildings. The Rushton Arms' front was in Wareing Street but it was actually the side of the block. The ad describes the pub as a substantial three-storey building that had obviously been built as licensed premises:

“The house has frontages of 41ft 6in and 28ft respectively, is of lofty elevation, good appearance and condition, well fixtured, prominently situated in favourable business position and contains centre lobby, Bar and Vault, Tap Room, Kitchen, Scullery, Assembly Room, six bedrooms, two Landings, five Cellars, Brewhouse, Yard and conveniences and is free from reproach. Apportioned chief rent £3 15s 0d, Contents of site 316 square yards.”

The pub was bought by the firm of J. Hamer who were based at the Volunteer Inn, Bromley Cross. Hamer's were in the process of expanding their tied estate and were always on the lookout for pubs. Their only other outlet in the area was an off-licence in nearby Ellesmere Street.

Hamer's ownership of the Rushton Arms was only brief. In 1913 the licensing justices referred six houses to the compensation authority on the grounds that the pubs were no longer needed and all six closed down later that year. The Rushton had the Corporation Tavern as a neighbour just a back street away along with a whole host of pubs along Deane Road.

The other pubs closed down at that time were the Harp Tavern on Moor Lane, the Foresters Arms on Blackburn Road, the Black Lion on Turton Street, the Phoenix Tavern on Phoenix Street, and the Mount Pleasant Inn on Mill Street.

* Swales supplied a small number of pubs in Bolton. Some of our senior drinkers may remember their products from the Prince William on Bradshawgate or the Lodge Bank Tavern on Bridgeman Street. The brewery and its 38 pubs was bought by Boddington's in 1970.

Windmill, 60 Deane Road, Bolton

Follow @LostPubsBolton

The Windmill was situated on Deane Road on the corner of Wareing Street. Its early address was given as Blackburn Street which was the name given to the bottom end of Deane Road.

The first mention we have of the pub is in the 1848 Bolton Directory where the landlord's name is given as James Wardle. A James Wardle was living in Kay Street according to the 1841 census where was working as a brewer. There is also a James Wardle listed as a beerseller, also on Kay Street, according to the 1843 Bolton Directory so it is possible that he moved across Bolton a few years later and set up the Windmill. However, the 1849 licensing list gives Henry Isherwood as the landlord – and the pub's name as the Wind Mill.

In 1852 there was an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a full licence for the Windmill. The building was actually owned by the Morris family and rented to Henry Isherwood. Representatives of the late Nathaniel Morris – who died just a few weeks before the licence hearing - applied for a licence which would enable the pub to sell wines and spirits as well as beer. The application was heard along with eight others at the annual Brewster Sessions. However, there was determined opposition. The borough coroner, Mr Taylor, gave a long address against any new licences and presented petitions from a public meeting. His arguments won the day and the magistrates rejected all nine applications.

Nathaniel Morris's widow Margaret applied once again for a full licence in 1854 and this continued on an annual basis even after her death in 1868. In all cases the application was thrown out although Mrs Morris failed to appear at the 1864 hearing. [Bolton Chronicle 29 August 1864]. All the applications by the pub failed and the Windmill remained a beerhouse until 1962.

In November 1873 the Windmill was sold for £1380. [Bolton Evening News, 27 November 1873]. That's the equivalent of £147,000 at 2018 prices. The newspaper report at the time suggested 14 lots of various properties and given that there are no other reports of the Windmill being sold prior to that there's a good chance that these properties were a portfolio built up by the Morrises. The 1841 census shows them living and working as shopkeepers on Bradshaw Street, a narrow thoroughfare at the back of Bradshawgate that can still be seen today running to the rear of the Alma. But the Morrises appear to have invested their money in property and the £5800 realised from the 1873 sale is worth over £600,000 today.

In 1904, the Windmill was one of six pubs to be granted a semi-billiards licence and to continue the sporting theme, in 1908 it was announced as one of a number of pubs from where Bolton United Harriers commenced their Saturday runs. [Bolton Evening News, 12 September 1908. The Windmill run was scheduled for 13 February 1909 with a "3pm start rain or fine"].

The Windmill became a Sharman's house in the early part of the 20^th century. Sharman's were taken over by the Leigh firm of George Shaw in 1927 before becoming part of the Peter Walker company in September 1931. It became a Tetley Walker pub in 1961 and closed in the early-seventies as part of the demolition of that end of Deane Road. New housing was built in the area but it was redeveloped again from 2010 onwards and Bolton College's STEM Centre opened in 2014 on the site formerly occupied by the Windmill.

“On Tuesday evening there was a brief but dashing thunderstorm; the water poured down profusely until the streets, windows and walls smoked and seethed with the heat and the battering.....The sign in front of the Windmill beerhouse on Blackburn Street, Great Bolton, was either struck or knocked down by the electric fluid, or blown to the ground by the high wind which prevailed.” - Bolton Chronicle, 19 June 1858.

An ad from the 1890s for the Windmill. Thomas Haddock (1852-1909) spent the best part of a decade at the pub. By 1901 he was living at Broom Terrace where he was described as a retired publican.

Woodmans Cottage, 2 Deane Road, Bolton

Follow @LostPubsBolton

Two views of the Woodmans Cottage. The 1950s shot at the top shows the pub on the left with Moor Lane bending away in the distance. The Old Three Tuns Hotel can just be seen on the right. The second view (below) is from August 2015 (copyright Google Street View) and shows roughly the same sport.

The Woodmans Cottage was situated at the junction of three thoroughfares: Deane Road, Moor Lane and Derby Street. Its address was variously given as Moor Lane, Blackburn Street and finally, 2 Deane Road. While that suggests it was the first building on the road it was actually part of a block that ran from Stanley Street South to Lupton Street. Its next door neighbour for many years was Kay's pawnbrokers (as can be seen in the image at the top of the page).

The area from where Deane Road meets Mayor Street right down to the junction of Moor Lane and Deansgate was one of the most densely-pubbed areas of Bolton in the middle of the nineteenth century. So much so that when local magistrates were given powers to close down beerhouses in 1869 they targeted that area – Moor Lane in particular.

However, the Woodmans Cottage was one of the first beerhouses in the area after an Act Of Parliament passed in 1830 made it easier to open licenced premises selling beer only. It was certainly in existence by the mid-1830s. Jonathan Haslam appears in the 1836 Bolton Directory as a beer seller on Moor Lane a few doors along from the junction with Stanley Street which ties in with the site of the Woodmans Cottage. At that time, his only competition came from the Britannia Hotel, just across the road, the Old Three Tuns, a little further down from the Britannia,  and the Dog and Partridge at the junction of Partridge Street next to the railway bridge.

Jonathan Haslam died in 1845 at the age of 65. By 1849 John Cooper was running the Woodmans Cottage though by 1851 he was at the White Hart on Pikes Lane. By 1861, his wife Jane was at Broom House on Deane Church Lane where she was described as a 'fundholder' – or living off her investments. Presumably, John Cooper had passed away.

William Parkinson was at the pub by 1853, but by 1861 it was run by Samuel Openshaw. He previously ran the Horse and Vulcan, a pub further along Blackburn Street, as the lower end of Deane Road was then known. However, by 1861 he was brewer and beerseller at the Woodmans Cottage where he lived with his wife Sarah. Sadly, Sarah died in 1866 aged just 32. Samuel married Ann Barnes in 1867 and by 1871 he was at the Gibraltar Rock further up Pikes Lane. He died in 1874. 

The future of the Woodmans Cottage came under threat at the licensing renewals of 1900. Three local inhabitants plus members of the local temperance party objected to the pub's licence being renewed. They claimed the pub's closure would be “for the good of the town”. [1] The licensee at the time was Ralph Hall. He had only been at the pub for a few years and no offences had been reported against the house for over 30 years. Quite what Mr Hall had done to raise the ire of the temperance party isn't reported, but the magistrates agreed to renew its licence only if he was dismissed. By 1901 he was living with his in-laws in nearby Shaw Street and was working as a carder in a local cotton mill.

Ralph Hall was succeeded by Walter Copple – or, more likely, by his wife Annie. Walter was a coach painter by trade and he was still painting coaches while he was at the pub. Annie Copple had been brought up in the pub trade – her father ran the Mill Hill Tavern  amongst others – so it's more likely that she ran the pub. The couple went on to run the Queen Anne on Junction Road (by 1911) and the Swiss Hotel on Southern Street in Halliwell (certainly by 1918 and he was still there in 1924).  Walter had retired to Osborne Grove, off Chorley Old Road, by the time he died in 1928 at the age of 64. 

Interestingly, in 1924, Walter Copple's nephew, Walter Tyrer Copple, ran a cabinet-making business from premises on Moor Lane just a few doors down and on the same row as the Woodmans Cottage.

By the early twentieth century, the Woodmans Cottage had become a rare tied house in Bolton for the Openshaw Brewery Company of West Gorton in Manchester. Openshaw was taken over by the Hope and Anchor Breweries Ltd of Sheffield in 1957. Hope and Anchor was later to become part of the Bass empire. However, the Woodmans Cottage didn't get that far. It closed in 1959. The property was demolished in the late-sixties and for many years the site formed part of the Stanley Street car park next to the fire station (opened 1971).

Construction of the Bolton Sixth Form College building began in 2009 on the site of the car park. It was completed in 2010 and the furthest extremity of the complex next to the fire station marks the site of Woodmans Cottage.

[1] Manchester Courier and Lancashire Advertiser, 28 September 1900.

White Hart (Carringtons), 155 Deane Road, Bolton

Follow @LostPubsBolton

The White Hart in a picture taken as part of a survey of Tetley pubs in Bolton around 1974. Image: Gerard Fagan/Bolton Lancs Bygone Days Facebook group.

The White Hart was situated at the corner of Deane Road and Cannon Street. According to Gordon Readyhough's book Bolton Pubs 1800-2000, the pub dated back to 1808. It was one of the principal inns on the road leading out of Bolton towards Deane, Westhoughton and Wigan.

In 1818 the licensee was James Pendlebury who owned the pub for at least a decade. It was during Mr Pendlebury's tenure that a bowling green was opened on land behind the pub a little further up Cannon Street. It was used as such for around 50 years until the land was sold for housing. Houses to the north of Royle Street were built on the old green.

By the time of the 1836 directory Thomas Welsby was the landlord and according to the 1841 census it was owned Thomas Johnson. However, both Mr Johnson's predecessors still lived in the area. Thomas Welsby was in business with his son on nearby Cannon Street where they described themselves as 'manufacturers'. However, James Pendlebury appeared to be operating in somewhat reduced circumstances. Now aged 65 he was a cotton spinner living behind the pub on Back Blacburn Street, as that part of Deane Road was then known.

One former landlord had even less luck. John Forshaw was at the pub in the late-1840s, but he was hauled in front of a debtors' court in 1851. He had left the White Hart – a fully-licensed public house – to run the St Patrick's Tavern, a beerhouse in Great Moor Street. However, he had since gone out of business and was now living in lodgings at the Man and Scythe on Churchgate.

Like many pubs at that time, the White Hart had its own brewery. John Cooper was an experienced brewer and came to run the pub in 1852, but he had gone by the end of the 1850s to be replaced by John Proffitt.

The Proffitt family were in charge for around 20 years. John's son Peter Proffitt lived in Cannon Street and worked as a brewer at the pub. By 1875, John had retired and was living with another of his sons in Mayor Street opposite Queens Park. Peter Proffiit then took over the running of the pub until he retired and went to live with his son in Wellington Street. The two pub-owning Proffitts died within a year of each other: John in 1896 and Peter Proffitt in 1897.

Many prominent local societies met at the White Hart. One such was the Derby Lodge of Ancient Shepherds. At their anniversary meeting at the pub in 1869 the lodge's chairman Thomas Unsworth gave a speech in which he advised all young men to join some order and provide for themselves against some unavoidable calamity. [1] The Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds was – and still is - a friendly society set up to help families against hardship brought about by illness or death.

William Wood was at the White Hart by 1891. He had previously been at the Brewers Arms in nearby Atherton Street and by 1895 he had moved to another local pub, the Noble Street Tavern. By then, Daniel Duke, a former landlord at the Hen and Chickens, was in charge at the White Hart.

Tong's Brewery, situated just a little further up Deane Road on the corner of Blackshaw Lane, took over the pub in the early part of the 19^th century when James Guffogg was the licensee. By 1924, Charles Makin Rothwell was landlord. Formerly a cotton spinner from Sunninghill Street, off Derby Street, he later moved to Blackpool where he died in 1947.

Tong's sold out to Shaw's of Leigh in 1927 with the White Hart being part of a considerable local tied estate that formed part of the deal. In 1931, Shaw's were bought out by Walker Cain of Liverpool. They merged with the Leeds firm of Joshua Tetley to form Tetley Walker in 1960. That in turn became part of Allied Breweries Ltd the following year.

By 1960 the old White Hart building was over 150 years old so Tetley Walker decided it was time for it to be rebuilt. To ease the transition the brewery bought buildings to the rear and side of the pub, in particular houses numbered 1 and 3 Cannon Street plus a small engineering works fronting Defence Street which ran parallel to Cannon Street on the other side of the pub. Those buildings were all demolished around 1961 and the new White Hart pub was built on the site. When that was completed the old building was closed down and demolished with the land turned into the pub's car park.

The new White Hart was built in the same design of other estate pubs built by Tetley Walker around that time. The Prince Rupert off Lever Edge Lane was another example. Whereas the old White Hart had a central entrance with equal-sized lounge and vault on either side of the front door, the new pub had its entrance somewhat off-centre. That meant a much smaller vault but also a much bigger lounge where there was more comfort as pubs tried to make themselves more attractive to couples – particularly females. It also led to increased profits as lounge prices were a penny or two a pint more than in the vault.

These estate pub designs of the fifties and sixties were functional but have been much-maligned for their architectural qualities and it is only now, as many of these pubs disappear, that the style has found some appreciation. See here for a collection of images of estate pubs in Manchester and surrounding towns, including Bolton. 

But having a larger lounge meant pubs could take on the local political clubs in offering live entertainment. At the beginning of 1964 a young singer named Michael Haslam took up a residency at the White Hart where he sang songs by the likes of Roy Orbison. He built up a decent local following, so much so that Beatles' manager Brian Epstein travelled from Liverpool in May of that year to watch Michael perform and immediately signed him up to a mangement deal.

“Michael is ready to move into the centre of the entertainment business,” said Epstein. Haslam recorded two singles and he toured with the Beatles, Gerry And The Pacemakers and Billy J Kramer. But that was a good as it got. He went back to obscurity and died in 2003. [2] [3] His sister, Annie Haslam, went on to enjoy a successful career as vocalist with prog-rock band Renaissance.

When the White Hart was rebuilt it went over to keg beer which replaced traditional, cask-conditioned ale in many pubs in the sixties. But in 1978, real ale drinkers noted with some glee that handpumps had been re-installed at the pub. [4] The reason only became apparent the following year [5] when a new Tetley beer called Walker's Warrington Ale was introduced at a small number of local outlets. As well as the White Hart these included the Bradford on Bradford Street, the Church on Crook Street, the Crofters at Bradshaw, the Gaiety on Bradshawgate and the Prince Rupert on Holmeswood Road. However, the new beer didn't last very long. In April 1980, the local beer magazine What's Doing announced that the handpumps had been ditched in favour of fast-flow dispenserettes.

The White Hart was renamed Carrington's around 1986 as a nod to the family of that name from the American television series Dynasty. It was attempting to appeal to a younger audience. By this time the live music had long since ended largely due to the presence of Derby Ward Labour Club which had been rebuilt in the late-sixties just a few yards away from the White Hart. Derby Ward boasted a huge concert room which singers – and customers – preferred to the much smaller lounge at the White Hart.

The Carrington's experiment didn't last long and the White Hart closed in 1990. It was converted into the Deane Medical Centre the following year. The building still exists though the frontage was altered in 2011. [6]

The former White Hart premises pictured in July 2016 (copyright Google Streetview). Note the extension on the left-hand side of the building, constructed in 2011.

[1] Bolton Evening News, 28 July 1869.

[2] Bolton News. Original article 17 January 2005. Accessed 19 April 2017.

[3] Manchester Beat. Accessed 19 April 2017. 

[4] What's Doing, the Greater Manchester beer drinkers monthly magazine, April 1978.

[5] What's Doing, November 1979.

[6] Whatpub.com. Accessed 19 April 2017. 

Horse and Vulcan, 59 Deane Road, Bolton

Follow @LostPubsBolton

The word ‘Vulcan’ keeps cropping up in our research into Bolton’s pubs. The name still exists at the Vulcan on Junction Road, Deane and in Walkden at the Vulcan on Bolton Road, but there aren’t many other examples of the name. WhatPub – not a comprehensive list but a decent enough guide – lists just 12 in the whole of the country.

The name comes from the Roman god of fires, volcanoes and metalworking and with the number of foundries and steelworks in the area it isn’t difficult to see why variations have cropped up at a number of pubs in Bolton. There was the Vulcan Inn on Derby Street, the Eagle and Vulcan on Folds Road, the Old Vulcan on Croasdale Street and this, the Horse and Vulcan on Deane Road.

Edward Kearsley was a butcher in Blackburn Street in 1841. By 1843 he is a beerhouse keeper, also in Blackburn Street. It wasn’t unusual for premises to be used for dual purposes and it is likely that Edward Kearsley was also serving beer at his butcher’s shop.

Edward Kearsley died in 1848 and the pub was taken over by his brother, Wright Kearsley. Wright was a carrier living in Chancery Lane in 1841 and he carried on in that trade even after he moved to the pub. It is entirely possible that he named the pub the Horse and Vulcan, perhaps as a nod to his profession but also to the presence not far from the pub of the Union Foundry on Blackhorse Street and the Soho Foundry on Crook Street, which later became Hick, Hargreaves.

Wright Kearsley eventually went back to being a courier. He left the Horse and Vulcan in the late-1850s and by 1871 he was 60-years-old, working as a courier and living in Kirk Street, the next street off Blackburn Street, as it still was.

Ellis Boardman succeeded Wright Kearsley and spent over 15 years at the Horse and Vulcan. A native of Deane and a former miner he moved to the pub along with his wife Jane and was there until the mid-1870s.

Like many pubs, the Horse and Vulcan brewed its own beer in the early days, but by the end of the 19^th century it was owned by a local brewery, Joseph Sharman.

The 1905 Bolton Directory shows Walter Copple as the licensee. He married in to the pub trade – his father-in-law ran the Mill Hill Tavern on Mill Hill Street – and Walter would later go on to run the Swiss Hotel at Halliwell. But it was the occupant in 1905 of number 57 Deane Road - the premises next door to the Horse and Vulcan- that was to be key to the pub’s future. Joseph Foster had been making his ‘running pumps’ since 1895 and his business was expanding. There is no record as to what the catalyst was behind the Horse and Vulcan’s closure in 1912, but Joseph Foster was looking to expand his business. He bought the Horse and Vulcan and opened what is believed to be the world’s first athletic shoes factory in the enlarged premises.

The former Horse and Vulcan is pictured here as part of the enlarged Joseph Foster premises, the Olympic works, shortly before it was demolished in 1966 to make way for the Bolton Institute Of Technology. It was situated on Deane Road in the block between Ebenezer Street and John Street.

Union Arms, 63 - 65 Deane Road, Bolton

Follow @LostPubsBolton

The Union Arms on Deane Road, close to the junction with John Street which later became College Way (now University Way).

The Union Arms was a beerhouse situated at 65 Deane Road. the road was known as Blackburn Street until the 1880s.

The first record we have of the Union Arms is when it was run by John Allen. Born in 1829, John was a confectioner by trade. He married Jane Gibson in 1852 when he was already in the business of selling – and perhaps even making – sweets.

The couple had a shop not far from Blackburn Street in 1861 but the 1869 Bolton Directory had him down as a beerseller at 65 Blackburn Street. Selling sweets alongside beer wasn’t exactly common but it wasn’t unique. At about the same time another confectioner, Miles Pollitt, had turned his sweet shop on Folds Road into a beer house, the Duke Of Bolton and was selling confectionery alongside beer.

John Allen continued at the Union Arms until the late-1870s. By 1881 he was widowed and running a confectionery business in Church Street, off St George’s Road – though without the sideline of selling beer.

By October 1899 the Union Arms was owned by Walker’s Bolton Brewery Ltd whose Park View Brewery was situated on Spa Road. (Walker Street next to the Magnet kitchen outlet takes its name from the site’s former occupant). 

Walker’s were in trouble and they decided to sell up in order to pay off the company’s debts. They owned the brewery on Spa Road along with 19 pubs situated in Bolton, Preston and Walkden. The Red Lion at Four Lane Ends, the Three Pigeons on Wigan Road and the Church Hotel in Kearsley were among the company's other Bolton pubs. [1]

The auction was not a success. Despite a large attendance at Manchester’s Albion Hotel the sale was pulled. Bidding started at £50,000 and continued up to £73,000, but Walker’s owner, George Walker – who despite having built up a sizeable brewing business was still the landlord of the Wheatsheaf Hotel on Great Moor Street – decided not to proceed. [2]

The Union, its 18 stablemates and the Park View brewery remained in George Walker’s hands for a few more months until in June 1900, Walker was a shareholder in the Spa Wells Brewery Company Ltd, newly registered to take on the former Walker’s business. [3]

The Union was owned by Spa Wells for four years until the brewery and its pubs was taken over James Jackson & Co Ltd in 1904. The landlord of the Union at this time – paying the princely sum of £35 a year – was Joseph Goodlad who later moved to the Junction Inn  on Egyptian Street and the Windsor Castle on Halliwell Road. 

The Union became a Shaw’s house when that company took over Jackson’s in 1927. Shaw’s were themselves taken over by Walker Cain of Liverpool (no relation to the Walker’s on Spa Road).

It was during a review of pubs taken over by Walker Cain that the Union was deemed as surplus to requirements. Stand at the front door of the pub and you could see the Wheatsheaf on Deane Road,  the Weavers, the Gladstone  and Derby Ward Labour Club – all within 50 yards.

The Union closed in 1933 although the building survived as retail premises until the area was cleared in the mid-sixties. 

[1] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 14 October 1899.

[2] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 14 October 1899.

[3] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 18 June 1900.

Milestone Inn, 5-7 Deane Road, Bolton

The Milestone, complete with Walker’s of Warrington’s prancing horse livery can be seen on this image taken on 14 May 1964, the year before the pub closed. Image from Bolton.org.uk where there are other images from the same year of the area now occupied by the university.

The Milestone was situated at 5-7 Blackburn Street, which became Deane Road in the mid-1890s. It was in one of Bolton’s most heavily-pubbed areas. The White Swan was next door at number 3 until 1908; the Woodman’s Cottage was across the road; the Britannia was just around the corner at number 2, Derby Street and there were more pubs all along Deane Road and down Moor Lane.

The first record of the pub is in the late-1860s. It appears on the 1869 Bolton Directory, though its address was given as just number 7 Blackburn Street. It had expanded into the premises next door by the end of the century. Thomas Taylor was the licensee but he was in trouble that same year when he was found guilty of being open at 11.35 one night. He was fined 15 shillings – the equivalent of just over £75 today.

Thomas left the pub shortly afterwards and he was succeeded by John Hardman who successfully managed to get his beerhouse licence renewed at a time when all the pubs in Bolton had to re-apply for their licences. However, Mr Hardman’s time at the Milestone was short-lived. The following advertisement appeared in the Bolton Evening News of 26 October 1869:

“To let, a good beerhouse with brewhouse attached selling from four to five barrels a week. Satisfactory reasons for leaving. Apply on the premises, Milestone Inn, Blackburn Street.”

But less than two weeks later, on 8 November 1869, Mr Hardman was in court charged with assaulting his wife. The couple had only been married in March of that year and had a child aged three or four months. On 2 November, Mrs Hardman asked her husband about rumours he was going to sell up and leave her, something which suggested he hadn’t told her about the ad he had placed in the Evening News. Hardman knocked his wife to the ground, kicked her, and turned her out of the house leaving the child behind. He denied the charge and accused his wife of robbing him and giving his money to her mother. He was found guilty and ordered to give up custody of the child to his wife. However, his punishment was a fine of just 10 shillings. In other words, assault was seen as a lesser crime than after-hours drinking. It wasn’t an isolated case. Crimes of violence – particular where the victim was a member of the lower classes – were regarded as less severe than opening at the wrong times. Pubs opening on a Sunday morning were even more severely punished and the police were always on the prowl on the Sabbath looking for people enjoying an illicit pint before opening time when they ought to have been in church.

John Hardman managed to find someone to take on the pub’s lease and Thomas Pinder was the licensee in 1871.

The Milestone gave up its brewery and by the end of the nineteenth century it was owned by Walkers Bolton Brewery Company Ltd at the Park View Brewery on Spa Road. Magnet now stands on the site but Walker Street, which runs down the side of Magnet’s showroom is a testament to its former occupiers.

By October 1899 Walkers was being wound up and the Milestone was one of 14 pubs in Bolton and Preston being sold by auction [2] (see note below for the other Bolton pubs). The business – including the Milestone - was bought as a going concern in 1900 with the formation of the Spa Wells Brewery Company Ltd. George Walker, the former owners of Walkers Bolton Brewery was one of the seven initial subscribers to the new company. It lasted for four years before being taken over by James Jackson and Sons. [3]

By 1911, the Milestone was being run by William Blackburn who moved in to the pub along with his wife Lydia a few years earlier. William died in 1912 and Lydia Blackburn ran the pub alone until she married William Foster in 1923.

The Milestone changed hands once again in 1927 when Jackson’s were taken over by Shaw’s of Leigh. Shaw’s merged with Walker Cain Ltd of Warrington in 1931 and although Walkers became part of the Allied Breweries conglomerate in 1960 it was a Walker’s house that the Milestone saw out its time. The pub closed in 1965 and was demolished to make way for the new Bolton Institute of Technology. It was part of a green sward of land in front of the college until Bolton One was built on the site in 2012.

[1] Bolton Evening News, 23 April 1869.

[2]Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 14 October 1899.

[3] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 18 June 1900.

The other Bolton pubs were: the Queens Arms, Bridge Street; Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Egyptian Street; the Waterloo Tavern on Folds Road;   the Sir Colin Campbell Road on Folds Road;  ; the Pilkington Arms on Derby Street; the Mere Hall Inn on Vernon Street/Lyon Street;  the Union Arms on Deane Road; the Red Lion at Four Lane Ends and the Church Hotel in Kearsley.

The area covered by the Milestone before and after the construction of Bolton One, seen below in 2008 and at the bottom of the page  in 2015. (Copyright Google Street View).

Napier Tavern, 149 Deane Road

Follow @LostPubsBolton

Not to be confused with the Lord Napier on Bridgeman Street, the Napier Tavern was situated at 149 Blackburn Street. The address was changed to 149 Deane Road when the boundaries of Bolton were expanded in 1896 to include Little Bolton which already had a Blackburn Street.

The first mention we have of the pub is when William Kay was the landlord according to the 1869 Bolton Directory. When the directory was next published, in 1871, John Parkinson was the landlord. Information in these directories was usually out of date by the time it was published and by the time the 1871 census was taken in the spring of that year John Parkinson was already out of the Napier and was living at Albert Street, Halliwell. He later moved back to the area and was at the Milestone near the junction with Moor Lane in 1881. Bolton One now stands on the site.

James Hayes was landlord in 1876 and according to the 1881 census the 50-year-old James was still at the Napier with his 32-year-old wife Maria, four children and three lodgers. James was originally a weaver in Chancery Lane in the centre of town, but after leaving the Napier later in the 1880s he moved to Daubhill and went back to working as a weaver before becoming a tripe dealer on St Helens Road.

In the 1890s the Napier was bought by Wingfield’s whose Silverwell Brewery was situated on Nelson Square where the Pack Horse now stands (more on Wingfield’s can be seen here). Wingfield’s were bought by the Manchester Brewery Company, an ambitious company whose rapid expansion led to its collapse in 1912. It was taken over by the Salford firm of Walker and Homfray’s and it was as a Walker’s house that the Napier ended its days in 1940.

The building was converted into retail use and indeed it is still used as a retail outlet today. The shot below was taken in August 2015 (copyright Google Street View) and shows the Napier as two shops. While the outside of the building has been renovated we believe this is the original pub building. Defence Street still runs down the side of the pub. Back Defence Street used to run down the other side. The former Derby Ward Labour Club can be seen in the distance. The White Hart – now a medical centre – is behind the camera in this shot.

Royal Tiger, 4 Noble Street

Follow @LostPubsBolton

The Royal Tiger was situated at number 4 Noble Street. Some earlier directory and census listings put it at 1-3 Duncan Street, 1-3 Back Defence Street – as Duncan Street was known for a short time - or even on Pikes Lane, but it was the same building.

The pub was founded in the mid-1830s by James Greenhalgh, a carter by trade who, like so many people after the 1830 Beer House Act was passed, paid a fee of two guineas to allow their premises to sell beer.

The 1841 census shows the 48-year-old James living with his 30-year-old wife Alice. There are six children the elder two of whom, one might think, would have been from an earlier marriage. Thomas (17) and William (14) had both followed their father into business as carters.

The Greenhalghes ran the Royal Tiger for around 50 years from its conversion into a beerhouse right up to the 1880s. Alice Greenhalgh was a widow by 1861 and she lived with two of the children from her marriage to James: Joseph, aged 21, and Sarah, 15. There was a change of address, too. Duncan Street ran off Blackburn Street (now Deane Road), the next street along from Punch Street. Noble Street originally ran from Derby Street. The two streets initially ended a few yards apart from each other, but the waste land between the two was cobbled over in the 1850s and the whole stretch from Derby Street down to Blackburn Street was renamed Noble Street. The Royal Tiger was number 4.

In 1871, Alice Greenhalgh was still running the pub along with Sarah and her husband, a wheelwright named Squire Wolstenholme who was unemployed at the time. Squire and Sarah continued to run the pub after Alice’s death in 1880, but by 1891 they were living in Commission Street, not far from Noble Street, but Squire was back unemployed. He later had a spell as the licensee of the Lord Hill on Sidney Street and by 1901 he was working as a pigeon trapper and living – quite aptly – in Partridge Street.

The Royal Tiger was later run by Robert Buchan Richardson, a Scot who was possibly one of Bolton’s oldest ever landlords. He was at the pub for a decade from around 1894 and was well into his seventies when he took it over. Robert lived there with his wife, Hannah, whom he married in 1887 when he was 58 and she just 33. By 1911 he had left the pub and was living with his son.

The final landlord was Josiah Simons. Born in Norfolk in 1875, he was living with his wife, Hannah, her seven siblings and her parents in Bridgeman Street in 1901. Hannah’s father, Samuel Foulds, was an aquarium manager.Josiah and Hannah left the Royal Tiger for James Street where he set himself up in business as a draper.

The Royal Tiger closed in 1911 and later became a private residence. After the building was demolished in the 1960s, Derby Ward Labour Club was built on the site. 

Derby Ward Labour Club pictured in August 2008. Noble Street used to end at the right end of the club. They Royal Tiger was the second building up on the right-hand side of Noble Street.

Brewers Arms, 4 Atherton Street

Follow @LostPubsBolton

The Brewers Arms was situated at 4 Atherton Street, just off Cannon Street.

The pub certainly existed in 1869 when the licensee was Lucy Turtle, but it perhaps didn’t have the name the Brewers Arms at that time. It is believed that the pub took its name in the 1870s when Isaac Openshaw had the pub. Isaac was a brewer by trade though within a few years he had moved to the Farmers Arms on nearby Derby Street.

The Brewers Arms subsequently became a rare outlet for the Phoenix Brewery of Heywood but it was sold in the 1890s to T & R Wingfield’s. Their Silverwell Brewery situated on Nelson Square in premises which later became part of the Pack Horse Hotel.

Wingfield’s sold out to the Manchester Brewery Company in 1899 and the Brewers became a Walker and Homfray’s house when MBC was taken over in 1912.

The Brewers Arms closed in 1924 and the building was demolished to make way for an extension to the nearby Garfield Mill. The mill closed for the manufacture of textiles in 1960 and was used by a number of small firms until its demolition in the early seventies. Housing now stands on the site.

Cannon Street looking towards Deane Road. To the right is Chatham Gardens which was built on the site of Atherton Street in the 1970s. Before Garfield Mill’s expansion in 1924/25 there were two houses on the corner of Atherton Street: number 2 and number 4. The Brewers Arms was at number 4 close to the junction with Cannon Street on the far corner as we look.

Duke Of Wellington, 26 John Street

Follow @LostPubsBolton

John Street ran from Derby Street down to Deane Road - or Blackburn Street as it was known until the 1890s.

The first recorded record of the Duke Of Wellington was in the 1871 census when Robert Holme, a 27-year-old carter, and his wife Caroline were running the pub. Robert Holme is described as a beerseller and cart owner on the census return. By 1881, the Holmes were still at the pub with Robert now a hay and coal dealer as well as a beerseller.

But it seems that Robert Holmes decided he had to choose between his two businesses: the beerhouse or the distribution of goods. He chose the latter and went to live Deane Road. By 1911, he and Caroline were  living in nearby Roundcroft Street where Robert is described as a master carer. He died in 1923.

The Duke Of Wellington was taken over by Wright Green. He was also a carter and lived further up John Street and was most likely known to Robert Holme. But while Wright Green ran the pub for over 15 years his time at the pub ended badly when its licence was refused in 1905.

Number 26 John Street was later combined with number 28 to make enlarged retail premises. A marine store dealer named William Hatton was there in 1924. It was subsequently converted back into two residential properties.

John Street no longer exists – at least not by that name. Many of the properties, including the former Duke Of Wellington pub, were demolished in the mid-sixties, but around a dozen remained for some years after. The thoroughfare was widened and became College Way, now University Way.

University Way looking towards Deane Road in September 2014 (copyright Google Street View). Whowell Street runs off to the left. The car park in the distance is the site of row that contained the Duke Of Wellington.

Britannia Hotel, 2-4 Derby Street

Two views of the same area of Bolton. In the top image the Britannia Hotel can be seen on the left of the picture. The cars in front of the pub are coming from the bottom end of Derby Street. The start of Deane Road is in the distance while Crook Street - which met both Derby Street and Deane Road - can be seen  running to the bottom of the picture. It was a tricky junction to negotiate right up until the road layout was changed in 1979 with the closure of that part of Derby Street and Crook Street when the Trinity Street by-pass was built.

The image above comes from the University of Bolton. The same area is pictured in the bottom image, taken by Google Street View in September 2014. Apart from the fire station (centre right) which  was built in 1971 all the buildings in this image were built in 2009-10. On the left is Bolton One, which now occupies the space where the Britannia once stood. On Deane Road is Bolton Sixth Form College in the foreground with Bolton College a little further along the road.

The Britannia Hotel was situated at the junction of four streets: Derby Street, on which the pub stood, Deane Road, Moor Lane and Crook Street.

The pub dated back to the late-eighteenth century. It was certainly in existence by 1800, but it didn’t appear on the licensing records for 1778.

Anyone with an interest in the history of Bolton Wanderers will know that the Britannia was the club’s headquarters for many years in the nineteenth century.The club was formed at the Christ Church school just a few yards away on Deane Road on a site that was empty for many years before Bolton College was built in 2009-10. But the club’s founder, Reverend Thomas Ogden objected to meetings being held without him being present so the team broke away from the school to become Bolton Wanderers. Its first headquarters was the Gladstone Hotel but it soon moved to the Britannia where it remained until the building of Burnden Park in 1895.

For some years the Britannia was owned by Atkinson’s brewery situated not far away from the pub on Commission Street. The actual site of the brewery is roughly as you drive down Mayor Street from Deane Road. The streets in that area were remodelled in the sixties and Mayor Street was effectively moved from the side of the Duke on Deane Road to its current traverse.

Atkinson’s were taken over by Boardman’s United Breweries of Manchester in 1895, The Cornbrook brewery, also of Manchester, bought out Boardman’s in 1898 and although the Britannia carried Cornbrook’s livery and sold their beers until it was closed, for the final few years the pub was owned by Bass Charrington, who bought  Cornbrook in 1961.

The Britannia closed in 1965. The area bounded by Deane Road, Derby Street and John Street – now University Way – was needed for the construction of the Bolton Institute Of Technology. The BIT was founded at Bolton Technical College on Manchester Road in 1963 but it was immediately decided that it would need an extensive site of its own. The site at the bottom of Deane Road was identified and it was cleared in 1965. The BIT began to move into its new buildings in 1967-68.

For many years the site of the Britannia formed a green sward of grass in front of the BIT. The junction of Derby Street and Deane Road was closed off in 1979 when the southern limb of Bolton’s inner relief road was opened. The BIT became the Bolton Institute Of Higher Education when it merged with the Bolton College Of Education (Technical). In 2004 it became the University Of Bolton.

In 2009 construction began of the Bolton One complex which now occupies the site of the Britannia as well as the Derby Street Secondary School that once stood opposite.