Foresters Arms, 63 Smith Street, Bolton

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The Foresters Arms was situated at the end of Smith Street, a thoroughfare that ran from Folds Road opposite the junction with Phoenix Street down to Turner Street next to the Bolton to Blackburn railway line. 

The pub dated back to the 1850s and the first record we have is on the 1861 census when William Bridge was the landlord. By 1871 he was at the Horse and Jockey on Bradshawgate.

By the time the pub had to re-apply for its licence in 1868 the landlord was William Holden who had been at the Foresters Arms for three years. The police objected to the licence application after PC Greenhalgh said he had seen people congregating outside the pub and on the street. However, Mr Holden managed to present testimonials as to his good character and the licence was granted on appeal.

William Holden had gone by 1871 and the Foresters was taken over by Henry Jackson. The pub was owned by Thomas Holden who owned the nearby Lord Clyde on Folds Road. who may have been a relative of William Holden. There is also a connection between the Holdens and original landlord William Bridge, who was a witness to Thomas Holden’s third marriage. One of Thomas Holden’s step-children was Susannah Drennan and there was a Drennan Court to the rear of the Foresters Arms.

Thomas Holden died in 1884 leaving a sizeable estate of some £1900 – worth around £250,000 in today’s money. The Foresters was taken over by the Bury Brewery Company and they were pub’s owners when its licence was refused in 1911. The building was demolished in the 1940s though Smith Street itself was around for another twenty years. The area was cleared and the Vernacare factory was built on the site in the 1970s.

Nothing remains of the area where the Foresters Arms stands. The image below comes from Google Earth and shows the Folds Road/Turner Street area. The arrow pointing to the A676 was the approximate entry to Smith Street. The street ran towards the top right of the image towards the car park where the site of the Foresters Arms was situated.

Phoenix Tavern, 12 Phoenix Street, Bolton

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The Phoenix Tavern was one of two pubs on Phoenix Street which still links Folds Road with Turton Street. But whereas its neighbour the Boilermakers Arms was close to the Turton Street end, the Phoenix Tavern was at number 12 Phoenix Street, not far from the junction with Folds Road. 

The first record of the pub is in 1871 when Joseph Hopkins was the licensee. It was later bought by Seeds Brewery of Radcliffe but by 1913 it was owned by William Tong’s of Deane. In April of that year it was referred by the Bolton licensing magistrates to the town’s compensation scheme. The scheme was aimed at reducing the number of pubs in the town by effectively buying licensed houses in over-pubbed areas from their owners, removing their licenses and either offering them for sale again or renting them out. With another pub in the same small street, the Lord Clyde just a few yards away on Folds Road, and more pubs on Dean Street and the Hulme Street area, the Phoenix was at risk.

The Phoenix Tavern closed later in 1913. By 1924 it had been converted into two private residences numbered 12 and 12A Phoenix Street. Its final landlord, Thomas Shacklady, moved to the Robin Hood on Slater Lane. 

The building was demolished in the 1970s and the site is now in industrial use.

This non-descript grey fence represents the site of the Phoenix Tavern. The entrance to the engineering works next to it was once Back Phoenix Street, a U-shaped street that ran to the rear of another row houses of on Phoenix Street situated on the other side of the entrance.

Eagle and Vulcan, 45 Folds Road

Vulcan. Ask anyone what a Vulcan is and their answer will no doubt include a reference to the late Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of Mr Spock in the television series Star Trek. Vulcan was actually  the Roman god of fire and he appears in many pub names, not just in Bolton, though the town appears to have had more than its fair share. The Vulcan on Junction Road is still with us and is noted in the Dictionary Of Pub Names. [1]

The book also lists three other pubs of that name in Millwall, Derby and Wales. But on Bolton there was also the Vulcan Inn at the junction of Great Moor Street and Derby Street, the Horse and Vulcan off Folds Road and the Eagle and Vulcan at 45 Folds Road.

The Eagle and Vulcan dates back to around the mid-1840s and on the 1848 Bolton Directory it was being run by William Parkinson and his wife Alice. The 1841 census shows the Parkinsons living in nearby Smith Street where William worked as a spinner. The 1851 census has them at the Eagle and Vulcan. William was an umbrella maker as well as the licensee of a beer-house, though in reality it is likely to have been run by Ann.

The family had five children and were living with one of William’s uncles, a servant and a lodger. It must have been a very crowded existence and while the 1853 directory shows the Parkinsons still at the pub, by the time of the 1861 census they had moved a few doors up Folds Road. William was still making umbrellas.

By 1869, the Eagle and Vulcan was under the control of Henry Shuttleworth. In September of that year a change in the law meant that all the beerhouses in Bolton had to re-apply for their licenses. Henry Shuttleworth appeared in front of the magistrates and was told his licence certificate would be granted. But he was back in court again a week later. Two pubs in Bolton were run by different men named Henry Shuttleworth: the Eagle and Vulcan and the Lodge Bank Tavern. But the licence granted the previous week was for the Lodge Bank. The clerk of the court stated that it wouldn’t be right to issue a licence and then withdraw it a week later. The chairman of the bench, Mayor James Barlow, agreed though he warned Henry Shuttleworth as to his future conduct as he had two licensing convictions against him. A huge number of beerhouses were closed as a result of the 1869 hearings and Henry was lucky especially as Mayor Barlow was a lifelong temperance campaigner. [2] The Eagle and Vulcan would most likely have been closed were it not for a clerical error. As it was, the pub continued for another 99 years.

Henry Shuttleworth was gone from the Eagle and Vulcan in little more than twelve months. He was succeeded by George Ryder who remained at the pub until his death in 1879 at the age of just 39.

It became a Magees pub and it was run by the Walkden family for a number of years. In 1901, James Walkden and his wife Ann were running a fish and chip shop on Folds Road. By 1905 they were at the Eagle and Vulcan. James died in 1920 at the age of just 49. Ann took over the pub and ran it until her death in 1933.

The Eagle and Vulcan was situated at the junction of Hulme Street and it was the needs of the motor car that led to its demise. St Peters Way was built along the path of the old Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal and as far as the junction of St George’s Street and Kay Street. That meant the demolition of a number of properties at the bottom end of Folds Road to accommodate a bridge for the by-pass.

The Eagle and Vulcan closed in 1968, by which time it was a Greenall Whitley pub.  It was demolished shortly afterwards.

[1] Dictionary Of Pub Names (2006)

[2] Bolton Evening News, 16 September 1869.

Folds Road in September 2012 (copyright Google Street View). Hulme Street ended in between the motorway bridge and the slip road. The Eagle and Vulcan was situated on the corner of Folds Road and Hulme Street.

Union Arms, 53-55 Bullock Street

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A late-1920s shot of the Union Arms. The pub initially occupied the premises at the at the top of Bullock Street though it eventually expanded into the property next door. Folds Road runs along the side of the pub. 

One of the earliest pubs in the Folds Road area was the Union Arms. Although technically speaking it was on Bullock Street it was at the very top of that street at its junction with Folds Road.

The Union dated back to the late-1820s when John Hamer was the landlord. By then it was the only pub on the main road from Kay Street onwards, although a number of pubs such as the Three Tuns on Chapel Street were in the built-up areas off the main stretch.

The pub was in the hands of the Rostron family for a number of years. At various times members of the Rostrons ran pubs such as the Foresters Arms on Smith Street and Anchor on Eagle Street – amongst others. Abraham Rostron was succeeded in the mid-1880s by his son Herbert who spent over 20 years at the pub.

The Union was bought by William Tong’s brewery of Deane in the early part of the 20^th century, but it was later sold to James Jackson’s Spa Road brewery. Jackson’s were taken over by George Shaw of Leigh in 1927 and the Union became a Walker’s pub when they bought out Shaw’s in 1931. [1]

The Union ended its days as a Tetley Walker pub in 1969. The pub closed and was demolished along with many other properties in the area. The construction of St Peters’s Way was the catalyst for the wholesale redevelopment of the area.

Jonas Webster Ltd built their new headquarters on the site of Bullock Street and the Union Arms in the early seventies and as Webster Drives they still occupy the site today.

[1] Bolton Pubs 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough. Published by Neil Richardson (2000).

Folds Road in September 2014. Kestrel Street runs off to the left of the picture. Folds Road Secondary Modern School was once on the site of the motor dealership in the distance. The Union Arms was on the right, directly opposite the school and in front of what are now the offices of Webster Drives.

Nailmakers Arms, 65 - 67 Folds Road

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The Nailmakers Arms was situated at 65– 67 Folds Road and the pub was, indeed, named after a nailmaker.

The nailmaker in question was Thomas Hatton who described himself as a ‘master nailmaker’ despite his income then mainly coming from the sale of beer. 

Hatton was born in 1810 in Atherton, a town renowned for the manufacture of nails for some 600 years from the 14^th century onwards. (The Jolly Nailor pub in the town is perhaps the only reminder of part of its industrial industry).

Hatton began the Nailmakers Arms around 1870, and it is listed as a beerhouse in directories for 1871 and 1876, but he had left by the time of the 1881 census. By then the pub had expanded into the adjoining property and was being run by the 29-year-old William Ashworth.

The Nailmakers was a rare Bolton outlet for Seeds brewery of Radcliffe, but they sold it to William Tong’s in the early years of the 20^th century.

The pub maintained a regular turnover of licensees and that suggests it struggled in what was a very competitive market. There were numerous pubs on Folds Road itself as well as on the maze of streets behind, streets like Charles Street, Hulme Street and Lark Street.

The Nailmakers Arms closed down in 1912 and the premises were later converted back into two private residences. 

Houses in the area were demolished in the late sixties. An industrial building was built on the site of the pub. For a number of years it houses a branch of WH Smith’s wholesale newspaper division but it is now the headquarters of electronics repair company Maggi and Maggi. 

A view of the area from September 2014 is below (copyright  Google Street View).

Duke Of Bolton, 70 Folds Road

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There are numerous examples of beerhouses in eighteenth-century Bolton being set up as a result of grocers and general stores diversified into the sale of beer, but there was one example where the owner of a sweat shop decided to start selling beer as an aside.

Miles Pollitt was a confectioner on Folds Road. In 1853 he was at number 205 Folds Road up by Turner Bridge but by 1861 he was number 70, not far from the maze of streets around the Mill Hill area.

But having briefly run a beerhouse in the 1840s, by 1871 Miles had diversified into the sale of beer alongside sweets. One can only wonder at the layout of his shop with jars of confectionery alongside a couple of handpumps, but even by 1876 he was described as a confectioner as well as a beerseller.

Miles named his pub the Duke Of Bolton. There was such a dukedom in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but the title originated in Hampshire and had nothing to do with Bolton.

Miles was still at the Duke Of Bolton, according to the 1881 Census, though in his book, Pubs Of Bolton, 1800-2000, Gordon Readyhough states that the pub was owned by Ellis Marshall of the One Horseshoe, Manor Street.

Miles was 66 in 1881 and he gave up the pub soon after. Robert Crook was the licensee for a number of years during which time the Duke Of Bolton was bought by Magee, Marshall.

The pub closed in 1912 but the premises remained occupied for many years afterwards. By 1924 it was in use as a dental surgery. It was demolished in the 1960s.

Folds Road looking away from town in this September 2014 image (copyright Google Street View). Gordon Honda is to the left on the site of the former Folds Road Secondary School. On the right is Webster Drives (formerly Jonas Webster Ltd). The Duke Of Bolton was situated on the sward of grass in front of Webster’s offices.

Waterloo Tavern, 197-199 Folds Road

The Waterloo Tavern pictured in the 1920s shortly after it had been taken over by Shaw’s of Leigh. Note the Shaw’s sign – bare on the 1976 photo (link here).

Not to be confused with the older and - it has to be said, grander - Waterloo Hotel at the other end of Waterloo Street, the Waterloo Tavern was a beer house on Folds Road at its junction with Waterloo Street.

It dated back to around the 1860s and Alexander Martin is shown as the landlord in the 1871 Bolton Directory. In the 1880s it was taken over by George Walker of the Park View Brewery on Spa Road and as the brewery changed ownership on a number of occasions over the years so did the pub and the rest of the brewery’s small tied estate. It became the Spa Wells Brewery in 1900 then James Jackson & Sons Ltd in 1904.

Jackson’s sold out to George Shaw & Co Ltd of Leigh in 1927; Shaw’s were bought by Walker Cain Ltd in 1931 and Walker’s merged with Tetley’s in 1961.

Like many pubs, the Waterloo was originally two dwelling houses that were knocked together and was numbered 197-199 Folds Road.

The end for the pub came in 1976. Many properties on Folds Road were knocked down in the sixties and seventies and the row containing the Waterloo, between Waterloo Street and Turton Street were among the last to be demolished.  

The pub can be seen here in a photograph from the Bolton Evening News of 15 September 1976  It’s the last property still occupied in a row of boarded up houses.

Below is a modern-day view from September 2014 (copyright Google Street View). The site once occupied by the Waterloo Tavern is now landscaped with the bottom of Waterloo Street closed off and traffic diverted to the bottom of Turton Street via Slater Lane. The pub was next to the footpath leading up Waterloo Street.

Sir Colin Campbell, 166 Folds Road

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A number of pubs were named after military heroes. The Sir Colin Campbell was one of them.

The Sir Colin Campbell was a beerhouse situated at 166 Folds Road, on the right-hand side as you leave the town centre and opposite the Beehive foundry. It lasted for around 50 years as licensed premises. 

The pub was certainly in existence by 1871. In that year Worrall’s Directory for Bolton and Bury lists Robert Marsden as a beer retailer at 166 Folds Road. There is no beerhouse at that address in Whellan and Co’s 1853 Directory so the premises must have been licensed some time in the 1860s.

The clue lies in the name. Sir Colin Campbell was a British Army general who was active in the Crimean War in the mid-1850s and in India in 1857-8. He retired from the army in 1860 and it is likely the pub opened around the time either of his military victories or his retirement.

The Sir Colin Campbell was bought in the 1880s by George Walker of Walker’s Bolton Brewery Ltd at the Park View Brewery on Spa Road. By 1913 it was owned by James Jackson & Sons Ltd who had taken over the brewery in 1904. [1]

The pub was situated on the corner of Baron Street. On the next block, just three doors away, was the Crown Hotel. The Dog AndSnipe, the Church and the Lord Clyde were in staggering distance and it seems the decision to close the Sir Colin Campbell was taken in the face of stiff competition.

The building existed before it became a pub and it remained standing for many years after the Sir Colin Campbell closed. It was demolished in 1969 along with number of other buildings in the area.

The Vernacare factory now stands on the site. The Sir Colin Campbell was situated on the green swathe grass in front of the factory in this image from May 2012 (copyright Google Street View).

[1] Pubs Of Bolton 1800-2000, by Gordon Readyhough.

Dog and Snipe, Folds Road

Folds Road pictured in May 2012 (Copyright Google Street View). The Dog and Snipe was situated on the corner of Turton Street, which goes up to the right of the traffic signals. Folds Road was widened in the mid-seventies and the pub was demolished as part of the widening of the junction with Turton Street. The actual site of the pub was at the filter on to Folds Road by the traffic lights.

The Dog and Snipe was situated at 181 Folds Road, Bolton, on the corner of Turton Street.

The pub was a beerhouse dating back to at least 1849 it appeared on the list of Little Bolton beerhouses. The brewery was in existence by 1888 and brewer Samuel Smith moved to the pub towards the end of the nineteenth century. Smith expanded the business beyond the Dog and Snipe to include the Lodge Bank Tavern on Bridgeman Street as well as a small number of pubs in Bolton and Horwich. The  Northfield  Club on Bankfield Street, Deane was one of those.

Samuel Smith was succeeded by his son – also named Samuel – and he appears to have run the business until 1935 when the pub, the brewery and the small tied estate were sold to Dutton’s of Blackburn.

The Dog and Snipe obtained a full drinks licence in 1961 and became a Whitbread pub when they took over Dutton’s in 1964. The pub closed in 1973 along with a number of other properties including the nearby Waterloo Tavern.

There are appear to be no photos of the Dog and Snipe. In 2000 the Bolton Evening News published an appeal from a reader asking for photos of the pub from one of Samuel Smith’s descendents though there is nothing to suggest the appeal was successful. 

Three Tuns, Chapel Street

Chapel Street in 1949. The Three Tuns can be seen in the foreground with the three immaculately-whitened steps leading up to the door although by this stage it hadn’t been a pub for over 15 years.

The Three Tuns was situated at number 15, Chapel Street in an area that was then known as Little Bolton, just north of the River Croal. The pub dated back to the late-nineteenth century and was one of three pubs in the town to bear that name. One was on Moor Lane while the other was on Bridge Street, not too far away from Chapel Street. (The name comes from the City Of London guilds representing brewers and vintners).

Running parallel with Chapel Street was Folds Road. In the early-nineteenth century it was known as the Edenfield Turnpike Road and was so narrow that there was room for only one cart. The road skirted the Three Tuns' bowling green which was situated where Folds Road car park now is. In 1822 the bowling green was leased to a religious group who constructed the Fold Road Independent Methodist Church on the site. The church lasted until 1968. [1]

The Three Tuns’ landlady for much of the early part of the nineteenth century was Martha Knott, who was at the pub from around 1800 until her death at the age of 79 in 1849. She ran the pub single-handedly following the death of her husband in 1815.

The Three Tuns in 1930

The Three Tuns came into the hands of local brewer Joseph Sharman until that company was taken over by George Shaw & Son Ltd of Leigh in 1926.

Shaw’s was taken over by Walker’s of Warrington in 1931 and the Three Tuns was a victim of the same business review that saw the end of the Robin Hood on Lever Street. With the takeover of Shaw’s and also the Bolton brewery of Tong’s a few years earlier, Walker’s already had two pubs within a couple of hundred yards of the Three Tuns: the Roebuck on Kay Street and the Spread Eagle on Hulme Street. All three had full licences, rather than beerhouse licences, so they could sell wines and spirits. Over on Junction Road the Vulcan Inn only had a beerhouse licence so Walker’s surrendered the Three Tuns’ licence and transferred it to the Vulcan.

The Three Tuns closed in 1933. The building was turned over to residential use before being demolished in the sixties ahead of the extension of St Peters Way into the town centre.

Very little remains of Chapel Street these days. What was once a district inhabited by “people of quality” – lawyers, doctors, manufacturers, clergy [1] – was swept aside by the needs of the motor car. Part of it is still visible as part of the rear entrance to the car park on Kay Street situated at what was once the headquarters of Edwin P Lees and before that the Co-Operative Bakery. The image below shows that end of Chapel Street. The Three Tuns was situated near to the wall that now supports the raised part of the sliproad leading from St Peters Way to St George’s Street.

   

[1] Lan-OPC. Folds Road Independent MethodistsChurch.  Retrieved 27 April 2014.

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