Haydock Arms, 28-30 Haydock Street

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The Haydock Arms was situated at 28-30 Haydock Street, just off  Higher Bridge Street.

The pub dated back to the 1860s when shopkeeper Peter Lyne took the familiar route of opening up his grocery store to the sale and consumption of beer.

Lyne was a former cotton spinner who moved his family from the town centre into the Little Bolton area on the other side of the River Croal. As Bolton expanded northwards in the middle of the eighteenth century streets such as Haydock Street, Bangor Street and Prince Street were developed to provide homes for workers in the numerous mills that had sprung up on that side of town.

Peter Lyne was at the Haydock Arms until 1871 when he went off to run a beerhouse in nearby Bangor Street, probably the Rainforth Hotel. He was succeeded by two fifty-year-old women, sisters-in-law Alice and Ellen Grundy who ran the premises for a few years before moving off to Halliwell Road.

By 1891 the Haydock had expanded into the property next door and was now 28 and 30 Haydock Street. It was taken over by John Halliwell and Son whose Alexandra Brewery was situated on Mount Street about half a mile away from Haydock Street. Halliwells had been around since the early 1870s and had completed their new brewery in 1885. A subsequent expansion by the company saw the purchase of a number of pubs, but Halliwell’s got into financial difficulty in 1910 and the brewery and its tied houses – including the Haydock Arms – were bought by Magee, Marshall and Co.

Magees shut the Haydock Arms in 1950. Having started in trading as a pub some years before its neighbour on Haydock Street, the Hearts Of Oak, it closed down earlier.

The property was demolished along with the rest of Haydock Street in the 1960s. Rainford House was built on the side of the street containing the Haydock Arms.

Haydock Street pictured in September 2014 (copyright Google Street View). Rainforth House – itself named after an eminent doctor and chemist John Rainforth who founded the chemical works in nearby School Hill in the nineteenth century – stands on the site of the Haydock Arms.

Hearts Of Oak, 63 Haydock Street

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The Hearts Of Oak was one of many beerhouses that began as a grocery store and branched out into the sale of beer to drink on the premises.

The pub was situated on Haydock Street, a street that still exists in part, but which in those days ran from Higher Bridge Street, opposite the Globe Inn, across to Gray Street. The Hearts Of Oak stood on the corner of Knight Street.

The beerhouse was started around 1870 by John Peake and his wife Elizabeth. However, John had his eye on a different career path and by 1881 he was a draper living in Bullock Street where he employed seven men.

The Hearts Of Oak remained in the Peake family for another 40 years. Robert Peake – believed to be John’s brother – took over and he remained there until his death at the age of 49 in 1883. He had previously been a manager at a bleachworks so this was another change of career for a member of the Peake family.

Robert was succeeded by Edmund Peak and by 1905 it was being run by Robert’s daughter, Emma Peake.

The Hearts Of Oak was later sold to the Manchester brewer Hydes. It was a strange commercial decision given that Hydes had a very small presence in Bolton. That situation continued until the 1990s. Hydes later sold the pub to Burtonwoods and it was a Burtonwood pub that the Hearts Of Oak closed in 1959.

All the properties on Haydock Street were demolished in the sixties and new housing was built in the street. New homes were built on Knight Street, directly behind where the Hearts Of Oak once stood, but they too were demolished in the 1990s. More new housing has been built in its place.

The Haydock Street - Knight Street junction in October 2009 (copyright Google Street View). Haydock Street goes off to the left, Knight Street goes off towards Prince Street where the Aldi store can be seen in the distance. The Hearts Of Oak was situated in the foreground on the right-hand side where the car parking area is situated.