Back with the two pubs on Liverpool Street …………. and a collection of rare pictures

Yesterday I was exploring the two pubs on Liverpool Street, and the mystery of the two houses which became one beer shop and then separated again, before becoming the Royal Albert which at some stage was joined by the Union Tavern.

I never got to the bottom of the mystery, but the story generated a lot of interest, including a message from Una Denton Mayall, who wrote, “There was also a small cottage in the middle of the Royal Albert and the Union.

A lovely old couple used to live in it, they had a little back yard where they had a little garden and only one door 

On the side of the Royal Albert was a door which which led into the vault and the gents was on the left, behind a partition. 

I lived there from early 60s till early 70s”

Now that “small cottage” will be one of the two separated houses, and adds wonderfully to the story.

But Una also sent over a collection of pictures which are themselves a fascinating glimpse of the Royal Albert, and especially of the inside of the pub.

For reasons I have never fully understood, pictures of the  insides of pubs are quite rare.

So while there are always plenty of the outside, few of the interiors seem to get published.

Perhaps it is just that taking photographs gets in the way of serious drinking and conversing with family and friends, or maybe its just because if you were a regular, why take a picture of somewhere you knew so well?

Added to which until the 1970s cameras were still relatively expensive.

Or maybe its just that pictures of the inside were taken during a family do and so sit in an album and rarely come out into the public gaze.

All of which make’s Una’s pictures quite unique, and I thank her for sharing them.

Leaving me only to add that she points out that “on this last photo, you can see the back gate of the little cottage”.

Location; Salford

Pictures; The Royal Albert; circa 1960s-70s, from the collection of Una Denton Mayall

* The mystery of the two Salford beer shops on Liverpool Street
 https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-mystery-of-two-salford-beer-shops.html