Robin Hood, Ashburner Street

The Robin Hood pictured after its closure in 1927. Demolition had begun prior to the construction of the Civic Centre. Part of Bolton Library stands on the site as can be seen in the image at the foot of this page. Spring Gardens runs down by the side of the pub. The former Founders Arms (closed 1926) is at the other end of the block on the corner of Howell Croft South. Image from the Bolton Libraries and Museum Service collection. Copyright Bolton Council.

The Robin Hood stood on the corner of Ashburner Street and Spring Gardens and dated back to some time between the 1840s. It appears on the 1849 list of Great Bolton beerhouses when it was owned by William Ashton Entwistle.

The pub played a major role in the erection of the statue of Dr Samuel Taylor Chadwick, which still stands in Victoria Square. Dr Chadwick was a medical doctor and philanthropist from a wealthy farming family who moved to Bolton from his native Urmston in 1837. He soon gained a reputation as an able doctor with a willingness to help the poor and he worked tirelessly to improve the public health of the town. He gave generously in time and money to a wide range of schemes to improve the lives of the local working classes.

On his retirement in 1868 Dr Chadwick gave £22,000 to establish an orphanage and model dwellings in the town. The rent from the houses would be used to provide revenue for the orphanage. The Chadwick orphanage opened in 1874 on Chadwick Street, The Haulgh. It remained in use as a children’s home until 1930 and the building was demolished in 1968. [1]

The idea of a statue for Dr Chadwick originated among the working classes with the first meeting on the subject held by landlord James Ashton at his pub, the Robin Hood, in January 1868. The idea soon spread and a public meeting chaired by the town’s mayor, James Barlow took place later that same month. A fund was set up with an upper limit of one guinea each the idea being that the subscription should not be dominated by the wealthy. However, momentum stalled and by the time the statue was cast in 1871 the fund hadn’t reached the £963 owed to the manufacturer. The one guinea limit was lifted and it was telling that 17,683 subscribers donated less than sixpence each – or the equivalent of less than £2.50 in today’s money.

The statue was unveiled outside the newly-built Town Hall in August 1873 although neither Samuel Chadwick, nor his wife Anne, were present, his ill-health having caused him to retire to Southport.

Four months after the unveiling James Ashton, who was instrumental in the idea for the statue, died at the age of 49. [2]

The Robin Hood was a Sharman’s pub until the last two years of its life. Sharman’s sold out to George Shaw & Son Ltd of Leigh in 1926 and in 1928 the Robin Hood shut its doors for the final time. The building had been bought for demolition by Bolton Council along with the Founders Arms just a few doors along.

The council built the Civic Centre on the site and Bolton Central Library stands on the exact site of the Robin Hood.  

[1] Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. Retrieved 21 April 2014.

[2] Annals Of Bolton, James Clegg, 1888

The site of the former Robin Hood pub, now part of the Bolton Central Library. Spring Gardens runs down the hill on the left of the building in this picture, Ashburner Street continues to the right of the image. Both the Robin Hood and the Founder’s Arms, which was situated at the other end  of this block, were demolished in 1928 to make way for the Civic Centre.

Victoria, 238 Bridgeman Street

The former Victoria on Bridgeman Street pictured on 21 April 2014. The building is now used as a Hindu mission centre.

The Victoria stood on Bridgeman Street, just a bit further down from Rothwell Street on the left-hand side as you head to town.

The building still stands – as can be seen in the image above – but at one time it was in the middle of a row of shops, including a branch of Boydell’s toy store. Walmsley’s Atlas Forge was just a couple of hundred yards away, while the Derby Iron Works of

W. Crumblehulme & Sons Ltd was situated behind the pub in Rothwell Street. [Images here ]. [1]

The Victoria dated back to the latter part of the nineteenth century. At one stage it had its own brewery but it fell into the hands of local brewers J Halliwell & Son of the Alexandra Brewery on Mount Street. Halliwell’s sold out to Magee, Marshall in December 1910 [2] which meant that supplies came from a brewery just half a mile away. Magee’s sold out to Greenall Whitley in 1958 and the brewery closed down in 1970.

The Victoria had a classic pub layout with two entrances on Bridgeman Street, a central bar and two rooms:  lounge to the left, public bar on the right. By early 1990 the local beer drinkers magazine were suggesting a little crawl of Bridgeman Street as the three remaining pubs, the Victoria, the Lodge Bank Tavern and the Park, all sold real ale.

The Victoria didn’t last for too many years longer. It closed in the 1990s and the building was sold off to become the UK centre of the  Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission.

[1] St Mark's website. Retrieved 21 April 2014.

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

Parkfield Inn, Crook Street

The  Parkfield pictured shortly before its closure in 1973.

The Parkfield Inn was situated on Crook Street and dated from the second half of the nineteenth century. 

The pub was stood on the corner of Dawes Street and an older, narrower thoroughfare named Parkfield Street. The area behind the Parkfield – on land now occupied by Morrison’s supermarket - was known as Newtown in the middle of the nineteenth century and was the poorest part of the town. Parkfield Street was in the heart of Newtown.  

The area was settled by Irish immigrants fleeing the famine of 1848 and the squalor of the conditions in the area were recounted by Dr. Edward Ballard in his Report Upon The Sanitary Condition Of The Registration District Of Bolton,Lancashire, And Particularly Upon Its Infant Mortality. A copy of the report still lies in Bolton Central Library.

We know the pub was standing in the 1870s as the landlord, Robert Dobson, died in 1888 and his will was considered important enough to be published in the London Gazette [1] demanding that anyone who had a claim on his estate need contact the late Mr Dobson’s solicitors. The executor of the will was Adam Smith of the Pike View on Derby Street which, Gordon Readyhough says, was owned by Dobson in the 1870s when he was described as a wholesale brewer based at the Parkfield Inn. [2]

The Parkfield eventually came under the ownership of William Tong & Son at their Diamond Brewery in Deane.  Tong’s were taken over by Walker Cain in 1923 and Walker’s merged with Tetley’s in the early sixties.

The construction of Bolton’s inner relief road marked the end for the Parkfield. The pub was under a compulsory purchase order and bought by Bolton council in the early seventies. The pub closed on 19 July 1973 and its closure marked the retirement of licensee Annie Hamer after 50 years at the pub. She was also said to be teetotal!

The Parkfield was subsequently demolished although that section of the inner relief road – the Trinity Street extension – wasn’t completed until 1979.

Crook Street in the foreground, Morrison's supermarket in the background in this image taken in March 2011. The green sward of grass represents the approximate location of the Parkfield Inn. Copyright, Lost Pubs Of Bolton.

[1] London Gazette, 20 April 1888. 

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

Golden Cup, 12 Haigh Street off Higher Bridge Street

Haigh Street looking towards Higher Bridge Street pictured in May 2012 (Copyright Google Street View). The Golden Cup was situated on the left-hand side on this view.

In the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century it was common for pubs to brew their own beer. Most were supplied by wholesale or ‘common’ brewers but in 1853 it was estimated that around a third of Bolton’s pubs and beerhouses brewed their own ale, which amounted to around 100 breweries in the town (in April 2014 there are three).

The Golden Cup on Haigh Street situated just off Higher Bridge Street was one of those brewing its own beer. In the 1880s it was owned by a Farnworth man, John Tong, described as a provision dealer and beer retailer of Dixon Green. [1]

The early part of the twentieth century saw brewpubs snapped up by wholesale brewers anxious to build up a tied estate for their products and this vertically-integrated business model was the modus operandi for the brewing industry until the 1990s. 

By 1932 the Golden Cup was one of just seven brewpubs left in Bolton (the others were: the British Oak on Derby Street, the Colliers Arms on Chorley Old Road, the Greyhound on Manchester Road, the Lord Raglan on Halliwell Road, the Rope and Anchor on Kay Street and the School Hill Hotel on School Hill).

The Second World War finished off much of the brew pubs as raw materials became scarce. However, there is evidence to suggest that the Golden Cup had already brewed its last even before 1939.

Have a look at this set of photographs from the Humphrey Spender archive. [2]  Although the interior of the pub has not been positively identified it is thought to have been the Golden Cup. The photos were taken in August 1937 and already the pub is advertising Walker’s beers. We know the Golden Cup was a Walker’s pub when it closed in 1959. Perhaps it had stopped brewing and was stocking only Walker’s beers when Spender took these shots.

The area was cleared  in the sixties and seventies and one of  Gordon’s Ford repair sheds now stands on the site. Haigh Street itself acts as an exit from the filing station on Kay Street.

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

[2] Bolton Worktown project. 

Bridge Foot Inn, St Helena Road/Chorley Street

The Bridge Foot Inn on the corner of St Helena Road. The Great Bridge can be seen to the right of the pub running along Chorley Street. That the pub is advertising Shaw's ales suggest the photo was taken after 1927. 

The Bridge Foot Inn stood on St Helena  Road on the corner of Chorley Street in an area of Bolton still referred to as some maps as  Great Bridge.

This ‘Great Bridge’ wasn’t the splendid 1870s high-level bridge over the River Croal at Marsden Road but a much more modest affair named Great Bridge or Clayton Ford Bridge. This ran over the river as it left what is now Queen’s Park on its way towards the town centre. The Bridge Foot Inn took its name from the fact that it was quite literally at the foot of the bridge which was situated on Chorley Street just outside the pub.

The pub dated back the late 19^th century and was a beer house owned by Joseph Sharman’s Mere Hall brewery. Sharman’s was taken over by George Shaw & Son Ltd of Leigh in 1927 which was itself taken over by Walker Cain Ltd of Warrington in 1931. Walkers had a review of their newly-expanded tied estate and decided to axe some pubs. The Sir Sidney Smith on Bridgeman Street closed in 1934 and time was called at the Bridge Foot that same year.

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the Bridge Foot was what happened next. In short: nothing happened. The pub remained closed and empty for over 50 years until the land was acquired for the construction of a car park. Walker’s merged with Tetley’s in 1961 and even they waited over 25 years before selling off the premises. There can be few examples of commercial premises left abandoned for 50 years.

Chorley Street looking towards St Helena Road which runs off to the left. The Great Bridge still stands but the Bridge Foot was demolished in the 1980s. The site of the pub is now covered by a car park.

Rising Sun/Imperial Hotel, Churchbank

Not a great image, but the Imperial Hotel can be seen behind the lamp post on the right. When this photograph was taken in the 1950s the pub had already been closed for around 20 years and was being used as a boarding house for performers at the Grand Theatre and the Theatre Royal which can be seen in the distance.

The Rising Sun was situated at 3-5 Churchbank, just outside the parish church, although in some directories of the time it is described as being on Churchgate. Then, as now, Churchbank was merely an extension of Churchgate.

The Rising Sun was certainly in existence in the 1770s and Bolton Old Band was formed at the pub in 1803. This was originally a reed band – it converted to brass in the 1850s – and practised at the pub with the then landlord playing clarinet. Four band members were either innkeepers or were later to become innkeepers including Thomas Sharples who open the notable Star Inn and Concert Room, just a few yards away from the Rising Sun, in the 1840s.

The Bolton Old Band certainly had its characters in the early nineteenth century. It was accompanied by a resident fiddler whose fondness for what were described as “drink and company” eventually got him the sack. There was a piccolo player who regarded playing the flute for dancing as beneath him while the bassoonist also earned money playing at the circus where his daughter performed. There was also a serpent player who was a strict Methodist and Sabbatarian. The serpent was a wooden instrument with a twisted body and a metal mouthpiece which was very hard to blow. This particular player once stayed out so late playing on his serpent one Saturday night that he didn’t get home until dawn was breaking on the Sunday morning. He was so full of remorse at having thus broken the Sabbath that he buried his serpent, swearing never to play it again. [1]

It isn’t known for how long the Bolton Old Band was linked with the Rising Sun but the band became a well-known outfit and some of its members were travellers in one of the carriages at the opening of the Bolton and Leigh Railway in 1828 playing at both ends of that historic first journey.

Here’s a nineteenth-century gig review of sorts, of the band’s appearance at the Bolton Floral and Horticultural Society’s show of 1829 as reported by The Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural & Domestic Improvement:

“The Bolton old band was in attendance, as usual, and performed several interesting airs, in very creditable style.”

The band was attached to Bolton Volunteer Regiment under Colonel Fletcher and lasted until around 1884. [2]

John Hamer was listed as the landlord of the Rising Sun in 1818 and John Entwisle was licensee in 1824. During Mr Hamer’s tenure the Rising Sun was first used as host to a Masonic lodge. The Lodge Of Antiquity began to meet at the pub from 1816 and used it as its headquarters until 1855.  The St John’s Lodge also met there, from 1873 to 1874. [3]

By the end of the nineteenth century the Rising Sun had become the Imperial Hotel but it closed in 1934 and its full licence was transferred to the Kings Arms on Chorley Old Road. [4]. The premises became a guest house and was popular with performers at the Theatre Royal and the Grand Theatre on nearby Churchgate.

Since the end of the sixties the building has been used as offices and studio space. In a neat link given the Rising Sun’s involvement with the Bolton Old Band the premises are now (2014) the headquarters of the Talent Pool recording studio. Talent Pool was recently set up by Booth’s Music whose shop was opened by James Booth just 150 yards up Churchgate in 1832. It is entirely possible that the likes of Thomas Sharples and his colleagues in the Bolton Old Band would have bought their instruments from Mr Booth’s shop before assembling for practise at the Rising Sun.

The image is of the premises in April 2014 (copyright Lost Pubs Of Bolton).

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

[2] IBEW. Retrieved 18 April.

[3] Lane’s Masonic Records.

Va Va/Pips/Rotters/Space City/High Society/Kiss/Club Liquid

The entrance to the cellar at Elizabeth House, the entry to a night club that had six different names over a period of 20 years.

When Elizabeth House was built on Great Moor Street in 1971 it was decided to lease the cellar premises to a company who wanted to open up a nightclub. The Va Va club opened that year, the club’s name coming from the French word for ‘go’ – The ‘Go Go’ club, in other words.

The Va Va became well-known throughout the north in 1973 for its all-night northern soul sessions. Local DJ Wick Barrett (nowadays a civil servant in Cardiff) invited another DJ, Richard Searling to help him out at the 12-hour sessions which began in April 1973. Richard had just returned from a trip from Philadelphia and had brought back with him a large number of obscure soul records and took up Wick’s offer. The first few hours at the Va Va’s Friday night sessions would be the pop hits of the day followed at 1am by ‘rare soul’ – the term which the genre later known as ‘Northern  Soul’ was initially known by – until the club closed at 8 the following morning.

The Va Va had a capacity of around 400 and by the summer of that year was attracting around 300-400 people every Friday night from all over the north of England, partly helped by the management advertising in Blues & Soul magazine.

But as always seems to be the case in the case of night clubs with what could be termed a ‘cult following’ drugs were instrumental in its downfall.

As Richard Searling puts it:  “During a casual look around the club drugs were found and the management, quite understandably, became worried about their relations with the Police who had discovered the 'Pills'.  Nothing was said on that Friday in August, but on the following Wednesday I received a phone call from the manager saying that the Va-Va all-nighter was no more”. [1]

After just four months the all-night sessions were dead, but for an event that lasted such a short space of time the sessions are still fondly remembered. The Va Va is mentioned in the same breath as the King Mojo in Sheffield, The Catacombs in Wolverhampton and the Room at the Top in Wigan as clubs that helped pioneer Northern Soul and the club is remembered with a great deal of affection both locally and by aficionados of the genre from further afield. A simple Google search for ‘Va Va Bolton’ digs up a whole host of  memories on blogs and forums from people who attended the events in those heady days of the summer of '73.

A month after the Va Va ended its Northern Soul all-nighters, Wigan Casino began theirs. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Va Va endured two name changes before the seventies were out as the owners went for a more mainstream audience and tried to compete with other nightclubs in the town such as the Palais, Scamps and the Cromwellian/Maxwell’s Plum. It changed its name to Pips nightclub and became Rotters in 1978. However, it closed after a fire in 1979 and remained empty for over a year.

In December 1980 the premises re-opened as Space City. The club licence had gone but Space City promoted itself as a pool hall and amusement arcade specialising in ‘space invader’ games that had recently become popular.

The popularity of ‘space invaders’ began to wane as the eighties wore on and in the summer of 1984 Space City’s management began to put on heavy rock discos following the demise of rock nights in the Swan Hotel’s cellar bar the previous year. It was a strange choice. While the Swan’s cellar was dank and wet the inside of Space City still looked like the trendy nightclub it had been in the seventies complete with mirrors and disco balls. Even so, the Space City rock disco ran for four years until the venue's owner Roy Savage sold up in 1988. Like the Northern  Soul events over a decade earlier, the rock nights are still remembered affectionately by those who were there, but the rockers moved on to yet another cellar bar, Sundowners in Mawdesley Street (later J2 and now Level) where they remained – in a club re-named Sparrow’s in 1989- for the next eight years.

The premises that once housed Va Va and Space City then became High Society, before being renamed the Kiss night spot from 1992 and Club Liquid in 1997. This closed soon after the turn of the millennium.

Moves were afoot around 2004 to re-commence rock nights in the Elizabeth House cellar, but police objections centred around the manning of resources away from the Bradshawgate/Deansgate area and it looks unlikely ever to re-open as licensed premises.

The Bolton Council list of empty properties as at September 2014 has Heineken UK Ltd as its owners.

[1] Rumworth Soul Club. Accessed 17 April 2014.

[2] Wikipedia entry for  Northern Soul. Accessed 17 April 2014.