Everyone likes a Mary Celeste story. *
Usually it involves a place in perfect condition which appears to be abandoned, with everything left as if the occupants had just popped out for a minute.
And with that comes the hint of a mystery, or of something not quite right.
In the case of the Mary Celeste it led to all manner of additions to the story which deepened the mystery, but sadly were not true.
Now I can’t offer up a mystery to go with Andy Robertson’s pictures of the Whalley Hotel which closed suddenly and after a very long interval morphed into apartments.
There is nothing odd about that.
Former pubs, warehouses and churches as well as schools have been transformed into residential properties, with varying degrees of success over the last two decades.
What makes the Whalley just that bit different is that Andy “got in” with the permission of the builders soon after the pub went dark, which I suppose is better described as went dry.
The curtains were still up at the windows, the pictures on the walls, and the last notices to customers were still waiting for someone to read them.
But mixed with all of these, were the bags of cement, piles of plaster board and a mix of power tools.
I didn’t go in the Whalley Hotel that often, in fact the last time I ordered a pint there was in the summer of 1975.
That said, it was a place I passed on the bus most days and more recently a place I have written about on the blog.*
More than that it was a landmark featuring in countless photographs right back into the last century and beyond.
So, for all those who never knew it, and a lot more who did, here are Andy’s last pictures, taken in 2015.
Leaving me just to make an appeal for stories, pictures or memorabilia about Didsbury pubs, which I know is an outrageous piece of opportunism.
But there are no traditional pubs in Whalley Range, and so having written a book about the city centre pubs and those of Chorlton, Peter Topping and I have fastened on Didsbury.
The book is well underway and like the others will tell the stories of pubs and the bars.
You can leave a comment on the blog or message us on facebook and twitter
Location; Whalley Range
Pictures; The Whalley Hotel, 2015, after the beer and customers had gone, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*The Whalley Hotel, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Whalley%20Hotel
And with that comes the hint of a mystery, or of something not quite right.
In the case of the Mary Celeste it led to all manner of additions to the story which deepened the mystery, but sadly were not true.
Now I can’t offer up a mystery to go with Andy Robertson’s pictures of the Whalley Hotel which closed suddenly and after a very long interval morphed into apartments.
There is nothing odd about that.
What makes the Whalley just that bit different is that Andy “got in” with the permission of the builders soon after the pub went dark, which I suppose is better described as went dry.
The curtains were still up at the windows, the pictures on the walls, and the last notices to customers were still waiting for someone to read them.
I didn’t go in the Whalley Hotel that often, in fact the last time I ordered a pint there was in the summer of 1975.
That said, it was a place I passed on the bus most days and more recently a place I have written about on the blog.*
More than that it was a landmark featuring in countless photographs right back into the last century and beyond.
Leaving me just to make an appeal for stories, pictures or memorabilia about Didsbury pubs, which I know is an outrageous piece of opportunism.
But there are no traditional pubs in Whalley Range, and so having written a book about the city centre pubs and those of Chorlton, Peter Topping and I have fastened on Didsbury.
You can leave a comment on the blog or message us on facebook and twitter
Location; Whalley Range
Pictures; The Whalley Hotel, 2015, after the beer and customers had gone, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*The Whalley Hotel, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Whalley%20Hotel
Thanks for this, would love to see more of those transitional interior pictures.
ReplyDeleteFor those few of us who frequented the place in it's last days, it wasn't such a surprise - the writing was on the wall. There was no heating that last winter it was open, so everyone had hats and coats on! The landlord kept saying he was waiting on a part for the boiler, which was met with incredulity. It must have cost a fortune to heat that big old place and takings were spiralling down. I'm sure that, were it brewery or pubco owned, it would have shut an awful lot sooner. Though the closure was sudden - no fanfare or farewells, it was just shut one day - it wasn't unexpected.
Anyway, the first interior picture is toward the Withington Rd door, which was seldom open. To the left, beyond where that stud wall is being erected, was the large island bar area. Just to the right of the door was the games room, where regulars would sometimes be overlooked having a crafty fag when it was cold outside. I'd never seen that staircase, as it was partitioned off - the partition has obviously been removed there. The following picture is taken from the same spot, but nearly 180 degrees around. It was a large seating area at the rear of the pub. For reference, if you could see through the wall, the photographer would be facing in the direction of the nearby bus-stop on Upper Chorlton Rd.
Cheers,
Jon
I drank in this pub only on a couple of occasions but in the 1960's would often cut through its car park (hopping over a small boundary wall) when changing buses on the way to my seconday school in Rusholme. I'd catch a bus ( No 41 I think to Brooks' Bar before getting on the famous 53 bus which ran down Raby Street one way and down Great Western Street on the way home. I remember sometimes catching the bus for home opposite a small Theatre in which I believe the Withington born film star Robert Donat made some early appearances.
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