Busin

The Back Cheapside car park. The Busin was situated about half-way up the street on the left-hand side. Image taken May 2012. Copyright Google Streetview.

The Busin was situated on Back Cheapside, an unusually-named street. The existence of Back Cheapside suggests a street named Cheapside but it seems the name was simply a nineteenth-century nickname for Newport Street where the goods on offer by local traders were said to be of an inferior – and therefore cheaper – calibre than elsewhere in the town centre.

Initially, the Busin was the social club for drivers and conductors working for Bolton Corporation Transport (later Selnec and Greater Manchester Transport) from at least the 1950s onwards. Ernest Forth wrote on the Bolton Lancashire Bygone Days Facebook group that he played there with his skiffle group in 1957. but was sold in the seventies to local businessman – and later Labour councillor, Jim Sherrington.

The club is perhaps best remembered for two things: its rough-and-ready clientele and its punk nights which began around 1978, once a week during the quieter midweek nights. As Steve Fielding points out in the comments below, live music at the Busin began in 1978 - not early-1979 as was originally stated -  but gigs at the venue inspired other local musical wannabes to form bands of their own.

Issue 11 of the local punk fanzine Trends described the venue as such in May 1980:  “The opening of the Busin was the advent of a host of new talent able to get gigs to an audience of punks who had not only gained a disco but also acquired a dossing place easily accessible from all surrounding areas. But foremost it was at your disposle [sic] to perform to a live audience for the first time.” The article goes on to list some of the bands that performed at the venue including Ltd. Edition, The Parelettix, Nervous Disorder, Gun Control, The Reducers, The Grout, The Droogs and Ex-Directory. However the article points out that “Due to trouble with the police the Busin looks doomed as a punk club but in recent weeks it has re-opened again but only as a disco.” [1]

Patrons of the punk nights reported that there was never any trouble.

The end for the Busin came in 1982 when it closed down and was taken over to be used as premises for a computer firm [2]. Jim  Sherrington concentrated on his other business interests and on Sundowners nightlcub (now Level) which he also owned.

In 1986, the Busin premises. became a footwear retailer named Shu-String. It was later demolished and its site is now a parking area on Back Cheapside.

[1] Trends, Issue 11, May 1980.

[2] Bolton Town Centre, A Modern History. Part Two: Bradshawgate, Great Moor Street and Newport Street, 1900-1998

Churchill's/Rose Hill

Churchill's on Manchester Road, pictured on 25 September 2014. Copyright Lost Pubs Of Bolton. There doesn't appear to have been any activity at the pub for some years and most of the side windows have been put through. A sad sight.

The Rose Hill opened as a beer house shortly after an 1830 Act of Parliament relaxed the licensing regulations for premises wishing to be opened as public houses serving beer but not spirits.

In the early part of the twentieth century it was unusual in being owned by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company before being sold to local brewery Magee Marshall. [1] It became a Greenall Whitley house after Magee’s sold out in 1958.

By the early part of 1984 the Rose Hill was bought by Bandmatic, a company that operated pool tables in fruit machines in a number of local pubs and was renamed Churchill’s. The same company bought the Gipsy’s Tent and renamed it Winston’s. [2]

The pub was re-decorated in 1986 [3] and at some stage, according to Zozzy on the Wanderers Wayswebsite, it was being used as the bus drivers’ social club after their original club was sold to Sainsbury’s along with the First Bus depot on Crook Street. [4]

It closed some time between 2009 and 2011.

[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, April 1984 edition.

[3] What’s Doing, April 1986.

[4] Wanderers Ways, post dated 15 December 2008, retrieved 23 March 2014.

Bridge Inn, Bridge Street

The Market Place, approximate location of the Bridge Inn until its demolition around 1932.

Located on Bridge Street next to the site occupied by Bolton’s fish market until the late-twenties, Bridge Inn was originally called the Gartside Arms and was in existence by 1800. [1]

The pub hosted a Literary and Philosophical Society in 1813 though it subsequently moved to a room in the New Shambles. [2]

The Bridge Inn saw its licence refused in 1926 and it was demolished in the early-1930s for the widening of Bridge Street. Also demolished was the fish market, which was moved to the new market premises on Ashburner Street.

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

[2] Leisure In Bolton, 1750-1900, Robert Poole, 1982.

Cross Axes, off Deansgate

Woods Court, off Deansgate. Roughly the site of the Cross Axes in the nineteenth century. Copyright, Google.

This former alehouse dated back at least to the 1770s and was known both as the Cross Axes and the Crown & Anchor. It closed in 1879 when the licence was transferred to the Globe, which was later known as the Market Tavern (T’Crate Egg) on Ashburner Street. [1]

The premises were demolished to make way for an extension to the Bank Of Bolton, now the branch of Natwest Bank on Deansgate, close to the Old Three Crowns.

In his book Bolton Town Centre, A Modern History. Part One: Deansgate, Victoria Square, Churchgate and Surrounding Areas, 1900-1998, Gordon Readyhough states that Cross Axes Entry then became known as Woods Court. The 1849 map of Bolton shows that Woods Court already had that name although it didn’t all the way to Deansgate as it does now and it is likely that Woods Court would  have been extended to include Cross Axes Entry.

[1] Bolton Town Centre, A Modern History. Part One: Deansgate, Victoria Square, Churchgate and Surrounding Areas, 1900-1998

Boar's Head

The Capitol, successor to the Boar's Head, photographed in 2011. The Capitol closed in June 2014. Hogarth's, a pub with its own brewery, opened later that year.

The Boar’s Head stood on Churchgate on the site of what is now Hogarth's and was formerly the Capitol and before that the Varsity. The pub was the middle of three properties that were demolished to make way for the re-development, the others being the Sandwich Inn café bar on the right, and a fish-and-chip shop on the other side called the Chip Inn. The Boar’s Head itself was only quite small, probably less than a third the size of Hogarth's.

The pub was built in 1721 and at a time when the life of the town revolved around the Churchgate area it was one of the principal inns of the time doubling up as a post office and was even a courthouse as the local magistrates sat there for many years after the 1780s. [1] It became a Magee, Marshall pub and then Greenall’s when Magee’s sold out in 1958.

In the early-twentieth century the landlord was a John Bromilow. There must have been something about pub landlords and the fledgling motor industry as Mr Bromilow – as well as Ross Isherwood, then the landlord of the Prince William on Bradshawgate, and Stanley Parker of the Roebuck on Kay Street – was one of the pioneers of the motoring industry in Bolton [2]. In 1916 Mr Bromilow entered into a design partnership with a brilliant engineer named Maurice Edwards and although the Bromilow and Edwards partnership only lasted for some 13 years, the company they founded still lives on today as Edbro on Lever Street.

In his reminiscences of life in Churchgate [3], Fred Hill recalls that boxing matches used to take place upstairs. Given the small size of the pub – not much bigger than a reasonably-sized house - and the need for living quarters this beggars belief but we must take his word for it.

I well remember the Boar’s Head in the eighties when on a Friday and Saturday night it would be packed out with a variety of customers. The Camra Greater Manchester Good Beer Guide of 1980 [4] described it as being “popular with the young”, which was true, but there was always a great atmosphere and the Boar’s Head welcomed just about everybody at that time and without any trouble. A 1982 refurbishment saw it spruced up a bit and the then landlord made anyone wearing a leather jacket take it off on the way in. As the eighties wore on landlords come and went, with the pub moving from a managed house to a tenancy after Greenall’s accountants worked out it was losing them money. [5] Through all that the mainstay of the pub was the genial barman Gordon, who had worked at the pub since 1966 and who certainly made life easier for successive licensees.

The Boars Head pictured in 1980. Taken from the Greater Manchester Good Beer Guide published by the Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale. (Published 1980).

To be honest it was a cracking little pub that always served real ales – Greenall’s admittedly – from one of those now-outlawed electrically-operated diaphragm pumps where a handle was moved across to pump the beer into the glass. Handpumps were later installed and it was an early outlet for Greenall’s Original Bitter in the mid-eighties when the brewery tackled what was a pretty poor reputation for its cask beers. OB was a decent drop when well-kept and the Boar’s Head ended up in a few editions of the Good Beer Guide.

By the late eighties the pub’s future was in doubt and by 1988 structural problems meant that it was surrounded by scaffolding as Greenall’s worked out what to do with it (though in truth they were also working out what to do with their wider business and eventually got out of pubs and brewing altogether). At the time it was reported that they wanted to extend the pub while the council were warning it might have to be demolished. [6] By then the Boar’s Head was somehow putting on live music, despite its diminutive size. [7]. The whole of the pub was on the ground floor of the premises with the landlord’s living area upstairs and it covered an area no more than a quarter of the current Capitol pub.

The Boar’s Head closed in March 1992. Three years earlier Greenall’s had applied for planning permission to pull it down and replace it with a building consisting of a new pub at the base of a five-storey office building. Bill Brown of Bolton Civic Trust argued that it could only be demolished if the new building “enhances the existing character of the area,” but according to Greenalls, the adjoining café was unsafe while the pub and the chippy were in “poor condition.” [8]

After closure the three properties remained empty and boarded up for some years afterwards until eventually the site was bought by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries who knocked it down and rebuilt it – though without the offices - as Varsity in 1999. It was later renamed the Capitol after the cinema which stood on the site of the tax offices.

There were rumours at the time of demolition that some local potholers had been given access to the site to look for evidence of tunnels leading under Churchgate towards the Parish Church. Rumours of those tunnels have abounded for centuries – were any found?

These days the Capitol stands on the site though that closed in June 2014. As a replacement for the Boar’s Head it wasn't bad, selling a fair drop of real ale and while it was still “popular with the young” as the Camra guide stated over 30 years ago  it still attracted its share of a more mature clientele just as the old pub did.

The Capitol closed in June 2014 and the premises were bought by Amber Taverns. Rumours it was to become a sports bar proved to be unfounded. It re-opened in October 2014 as 'Hogarth's' - a micro-brewery/gin palace.

[1] Leisure In Bolton, 1750-1900, Robert Poole, 1982
[2]A History Of The Motor Trade In Bolton – Dennis O’Connor, 2009.
[3] Churchgate 50 Years Ago: A Biography Of Lifestyle In The Early Thirties, Fred Hill, 1981.
[4] Greater Manchester Good Beer Guide, published by the Campaign for Real Ale, 1980.
[5] What’s Doing, the Greater Manchester beer drinkers’ monthly magazine, August 1985.
[6] What’s Doing, November 1988.
[7] Bolton Beer Break, Summer 1988.
[8] What’s Doing, July 1989

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.

Ben Topp's/McGinlay's/Absolutely Fabulous

Two shots of the former Ben Topp's building. On the left a view taken in 2012 (copyright Google Street View). On the right an image of the building from the 1960s when it was still part of the nearby St George's church. For many years it was used as a school building. Photo from the Bolton Library and Museum Services collection.  Copyright Bolton Council. 



Ben Topp's opened at the top of Bath Street in 1986. The former St George’s school building, which since the early-eighties has backed onto Topp Way, was built in 1847 but was bought in 1981 by businessman Des Duxbury who wanted to turn it into a free house. A finance company backing the project stepped down so Tetley’s brewery stepped in with a free trade loan. [1].

 It was initially named after Ben Topp, which was something of an oddity as the prominent trade unionist Mr Topp is believed to have been teetotal. In 1986 the pub won an award from the Civic Trust, much to the puzzlement of the writer in local beer magazine What’s Doing [2], but the premises did nothing as a pub, probably as it was too far out of the town centre. Revellers weren’t likely to make a detour along St George’s Road on their way to the nightclub on Bridge Street (the old Palais building knows as Ikon, Ritzy and initially the Palais) and by 1988 it was up for sale for a price of £350,000.

In 1994 the then-Bolton Wanderers striker John McGinlay took over and turned it into a sports bar named McGinlay’s. That wasn’t as successful as McGinlay’s spell at the Wanderers and it later became a cabaret bar called Absolutely Fabulous before becoming a furniture showroom.

In 2009 the Bolton News reported plans for the building to be turned into a restaurant. Owner Clarence House Properties Ltd planned to add a number of one-bedroom apartments on the upper floors but went bust before the plans could come to fruition. The building remains empty.

[1] Bolton Beer Break, Summer 1988.
[2] What’s Doing, June 1986.
[3] Bolton News, 17 September 2009.

Here is a side view of the building taken at the same time as the image at the top of the page. Clarence Street can be seen tailing off into the distance. Clarence Street once linked Vernon Street with Kay Street but is now a fraction of its former length. Photo from the Bolton Library and Museum Services collection.  Copyright Bolton Council.