Bark Street Hotel (Bark Street Tavern), 251-253 Bark Street

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The Bark Street Hotel – known as the Bark Street Tavern for much of its history – stood at the junction of Bark Street and Pool Street.

The pub was founded by James Albinson, whose background was in the iron industry, and he converted part of his residence into a beerhouse in the early-1860s.

But the Bark Street Tavern was very nearly shut down in 1869. That was when licensing magistrates were given the power to close down beerhouses. Previously, they were in business on payment of a two guinea fee and other than that there was very little way of closing them down. But a good number were indeed closed down in Bolton in 1869 and the Bark Street Tavern was almost one of them.

At issue was the sale of alcohol on Sunday mornings. At that time, pubs were able to open pretty much when they pleased from Monday morning until midnight on Saturday night. But Sundays – and in particular Sunday mornings when people were expected to be in church - were a different matter.

On 1 September 1869, the process began whereby every beerhouse in Bolton had to re-apply for their licence. With a surname close to the top of the alphabet, James Albinson’s was the one of the first cases to be heard. He stated that he had worked at Messrs Dobson’s for Mr William Taylor for 14 years and previously for his uncle, John Albinson (the 1861 census shows James Albinson as a junior partner in a small iron foundry).  But the police objected to James Albinson’s licence. They said the Bark Street Tavern had been troublesome, that the beerhouse had ‘watchers’ stationed there on a Sunday morning to watch out for any approaching officers. It was because of these watchers that the police constables were unable to get at the pub to ascertain whether or not any illegal drinking was going on. Men had also been congregating around the pub at times when they ought not to be. In his defence, Mr Albinson said that there were two yards at the pub – it was essentially two premises converted into one - and he said he would do whatever he could in order that the bench might remove the objection. But if James Albinson had been selling beer on a Sunday morning then his system of watchers had done their job effectively. He had never been fined for any illegal activity, nor was the beerhouse used by thieves and prostitutes, another reason licenses were objected to. The bench, which included a notable teetotaller in the shape of Mayor James Barlow, allowed the licence to stand. [1]

James Albinson left the pub a few years later. He had continued to work as an iron moulder  and is believed to have gone back to his profession without the hassle of running licensed premises. He was succeeded by John Ridyard, who also worked as a joiner and builder while his wife Agnes ran the pub.

By the turn of the twentieth century the pub was in the hands of James Parkinson. His father had been the managing director of a cotton mill in Chorley Old Road in 1881, but his business acumen didn’t rub off on poor James. By 1911 he was living with his second wife off John Brown Street and was described as being out of employment.

William Blinkhorn on the I Belong To Bolton Facebook group claims that in the late-fifties and early-sixties the Bark Street Tavern was known as the 'Little Lads Pub' due to there being more  under-age drinkers in there than boozers of legal age.

The Bark Street Hotel was bought by Magees and it ended its days as a Greenalls pub. The area around Bark Street had been largely depopulated by the late-sixties. A few houses still remained towards the bottom end of Pool Street but there was no local catchment area to speak of. The pub closed in 1969 and it was demolished shortly afterwards. Pool Street South car park opened on the site in 1971. [2]

[1] Bolton Evening News, 1 September 1869

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

The corner of Bark Street and Pool Street, once the site of the Bark Street Tavern. Bark Street goes off to the left, Pool Street to the right on this 2014 view of the junction of the two streets (copyright Google Street View). Pool Street car park was built on the site of the Bark Street Tavern.

Lark Hill Hotel, 227 St George's Road

The Lark Hill Hotel pictured in 1895.

The Lark Hill area took its name from an area of meadows on the outskirts of Bolton. When St George’s church on St George’s Road was consecrated in 1796, Green Hill was immediately to the west with Lark Hill further on towards the road to Chorley.

The Lark Hill Hotel dated back the 1860s and was situated close to the junction with Chorley Old Road and Chorley New Road.

It remained as licensed premises until 1926. By that time it had been in the hands of local brewery of Magee, Marshall and Co. Ltd for a number of years. 

Perhaps the fact it was a Magee's pub was its problem. Just a few yards away was the Crofters Hotel, a fully-licensed long-established pub that Magee’s rebuilt in 1907. 

Magee’s closed the Lark Hill in 1926 though it’s a wonder it remained open for so long.

The site of the pub is empty land which until the Crofter’s closed formed part of its car park.

St George's Hotel, St George's Road

Two images of the St George's Hotel on the corner of St George's Road and Knowsley Street. The image at the top dates from 1924 and is of the original building with W. Rothwell's chemist's shop next door. Both properties plus that at the top of Knowsley Street were demolished in 1927 and the new St George's Hotel arose in their place (see bottom picture). Images from the Bolton Libraries, Archive and Museum collection and are copyright Bolton Council. Click on the images for a larger view.

The St George’s Tavern – later the St George’s Hotel - was situated at the junction of St George’s Road and Knowsley Street, right opposite the church from which it and the street is was situated on took their names.

An early landlord was Henry Fishwick and he may well have been the founder of the St George’s Tavern. Fishwick was a tailor who, according to the 1841 Census, was living on St George’s Road along with his parents. It is likely that Fishwick persuaded his parents to open up their home as a pub - not just a beerhouse, as was common at the time, but as a public house fully licensed to sell wine and spirits as well as beer.

Unfortunately, Henry Fishwick didn’t have a long tenure at the St George’s. The pub opened in 1842 but he was dead just five years later. John Rollinson, previously the landlord at the Golden Lion on Churchgate, took over.

The St George’s Tavern later became the St George’s Hotel. The area around the pub changed as well. Knowsley Street didn’t exist when the pub opened in 1842. Instead Bath Street crossed St George’s Street, as it then was, and ended at Bark Street. A few yards beyond that a small wooden foot-bridge crossed the River Croal. There was a large timber yard where the Market Place shopping centre is now is. 

There was also a timber yard next door to the pub, where the Palais nightclub stood for many years. That remained in place until 1927 when work started on the Palais.

Also in 1927 the original St George’s Hotel closed and along with Rothwell’s chemist next door it was demolished and a new building replaced it. The original pub was owned by Magee’s but the Manchester brewery of JG Swales & Co Ltd were now in charge and they decided to completely rebuild it.

The new St George’s Hotel was a three-storey semi-circular building – an altogether much grander affair. But it was to last just a little more than 40 years.

The St George’s Hotel closed in January 1968. The building remained empty for four more years before being demolished in 1972. A number of other properties down as far as the Market Hall were also demolished, including the seemingly luckless Rothwell’s chemist’s shop which had moved just a few yards down Knowsley Street. Also demolished were Morris’s photographers, the Norweb showroom, the Scotch Wool and Hosiery Store and Proffit’s cycle service. [1]

The site remained empty for over 15 years, though it was used for parking until the Market Place was built in 1987-88. The shopping centre still stands on the site.

A number of images of the St George’s Hotel and Knowsley Street around the time of demolition in 1972 can be seen here, here  and here.

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

Two images of the area once occupied by the St George's Hotel. First is a 1975 view three years after the pub had been demolished. Secondly, from 2012, with the Market Place now on site (built 1987-88). 

Crofters Hotel/Magees/Smudge's

The former Crofters Hotel pictured in April 2012. Copyright Google.

 The Crofters Arms at the junction of St George’s Road, Chorley New Road, Chorley Old Road and Chorley Street was initially licensed at the turn of the 19th century. At that time it was known as the Whitsters Arms, a whitster being another name for a crofter.

Until around 1907 the pub was a much smaller building and can be seen here in a photograph held by Bolton library and dated between 1895 and 1900. It had been owned by the Manchester Brewery Company since at least the 1870s and was subsequently acquired by Bolton Corporation before being sold on to local brewery Magee Marshall & Co. The pub was rebuilt in 1906/07 with Magees paying the council £500 and giving up the licence of the New Bridge Inn on Churchbank. [1]. The ‘MM & Co’ sign can still be seen near the roof of the pub [see picture here]

The Crofters remained in the company’s hands until it was taken over by Greenall Whitley in 1958. It was refurbished in 1983 with many of the old features of the pub being retained. The carved bar was turned round dividing the pub into two but with one large lounge replacing the old lounge and pool room. [2]

The pub was later known as Magees after its former owners but after a period of closure it re-opened as Gallaghers Oyster Bar. By March 2000 it was the Oystercatcher Brasserie before becoming the Conquistador tapas eaterie and then the Moghuls Palace Indian restaurant.

In 2009 the pub was taken over by Jane McDonald and Frank Smith, the then licensees of the Howcroft and the Roundhouse in Halliwell. Ms McDonald and Mr Smith evicted squatters who had taken up residence in the pub and spent around £30,000 in a refurbishment. The pub became known as Smudge’s – Mr Smith’s nickname. [3]

 Sadly, Frank Smith died in September 2010 and the pub closed shortly afterwards. The building is still up for sale though it is unlikely to be used again as a pub.

[1] Pubs Of Bolton 1800-2000 by Gordon Readyhough, published by Neil Richardson (2000).
[2] What’s Doing, the Greater Manchester Beer Drinkers monthly magazine, November 1983 issue.
[3] Bolton News, 14 September 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2014.