You might be forgiven for thinking that Back Piccadilly is one of those long narrow thoroughfares that time has pretty much forgotten, and which is rarely visited and even more rarely talked about.
It stretches from Lena Street down to Tib Street and crosses three of the main routes out towards the north of the city and also gives access to another five streets which run off into Dale Street.
And yet walk its length and there is little to see. Most of the stretch consists of the back of properties which have their more public face on Dale Street or Piccadilly.
But not quite because just roughly half way along on the corner with Little Lever Street is Mother Mac’s which was once the Wellington.
Now given that on a dark winter’s night it might seem the only welcome sign of life along the entire length of Back Piccadilly it should not be missed.
Of course you may want to forgo the story of the gruesome murder which reputedly took place inside, particularly if you are planning to walk back along the street later in the night. It’s a story which could probably be added to with others given that the pub has been dispensing beer and cheer for at least a century and a half.
But if you are looking for ghosts my money would be on the barrow boys who may have finished off a day’s trading with a couple of pints and who occupied Back Piccadilly selling everything from fruit and dried flowers to costume jewellery, toy mice and pretty much what ever would catch the punter’s eye on a Saturday.
According to one journalist writing in 1961 “the shopping public crowd each Saturday into the narrow canyon of Back Piccadilly to buy or just waste a minute listening to the eruptions of verbal slapstick” from the two dozen barrow boys.
At one end was the man with a three foot long barrage balloon which he flirted around his head accompanied by the cry “only a Bob. All best rubber and all that jazz” while his companion wooed the crowd with the latest continental jewellery shouting “C’mon darlin’- dangle them from your ears and you’ll look like the Queen of Sheba.”**
Some claimed that their families stretching to their great grandfather’s had been working the pitches but were fearful of new regulation which would drive them out.
And now they are no more, unlike the pub which has seen off its rivals which at the beginning of the last century included a Yates Wine Lodge at the Oldham Street corner and the Merchants’ Hotel.
Back then there were also forty other businesses all employing thirsty workmen and ensuring there were customers for all three.
All of which was perhaps easier than when the 77 year old James Grindrod managed the Wellington in 1851 and competed with The Mosley Tap Room, the Albion Tap Room and two other beer retailers at a time when Back Piccadilly consisted of just 22 properties.
Location; Back Piccadilly
Pictures; Back Piccadilly, 1900, m00264, 1908, J Jackson, m00265, and 1967, W Higham, m00267, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*Lost Manchester Streets, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Lost+Manchester+Streets
**Back Piccadilly may lose barrow Boys, the Manchester Guardian, November 20, 1961
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| 1900 |
And yet walk its length and there is little to see. Most of the stretch consists of the back of properties which have their more public face on Dale Street or Piccadilly.
But not quite because just roughly half way along on the corner with Little Lever Street is Mother Mac’s which was once the Wellington.
Now given that on a dark winter’s night it might seem the only welcome sign of life along the entire length of Back Piccadilly it should not be missed.
Of course you may want to forgo the story of the gruesome murder which reputedly took place inside, particularly if you are planning to walk back along the street later in the night. It’s a story which could probably be added to with others given that the pub has been dispensing beer and cheer for at least a century and a half.
 |
| 1908 |
According to one journalist writing in 1961 “the shopping public crowd each Saturday into the narrow canyon of Back Piccadilly to buy or just waste a minute listening to the eruptions of verbal slapstick” from the two dozen barrow boys.
At one end was the man with a three foot long barrage balloon which he flirted around his head accompanied by the cry “only a Bob. All best rubber and all that jazz” while his companion wooed the crowd with the latest continental jewellery shouting “C’mon darlin’- dangle them from your ears and you’ll look like the Queen of Sheba.”**
Some claimed that their families stretching to their great grandfather’s had been working the pitches but were fearful of new regulation which would drive them out.
 |
| 1967 |
Back then there were also forty other businesses all employing thirsty workmen and ensuring there were customers for all three.
All of which was perhaps easier than when the 77 year old James Grindrod managed the Wellington in 1851 and competed with The Mosley Tap Room, the Albion Tap Room and two other beer retailers at a time when Back Piccadilly consisted of just 22 properties.
Location; Back Piccadilly
Pictures; Back Piccadilly, 1900, m00264, 1908, J Jackson, m00265, and 1967, W Higham, m00267, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*Lost Manchester Streets, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Lost+Manchester+Streets
**Back Piccadilly may lose barrow Boys, the Manchester Guardian, November 20, 1961
I like Back Piccadilly, it's a time warp and a shortcut rolled into one!
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