The listed pub….. a famous railway line .... and something I never knew about Patricroft

This is the Queen’s Arms in Patricroft, which is a pub I have never visited.

But I rather think I will given that after Andy took the picture he discovered a bit of it’s history , which he tells me, is that  “I sent you this pub a few days ago. I have since found out it is listed and was built in 1828 and altered in the early 20c.

It is known locally as the Top House and was formerly called Patricroft Tavern. It was purposely built as a refreshment stop for the Manchester and Liverpool Railway. It claims to be 'the world's first railway pub'”.

To which another source records that it was "built in 1828 in anticipation of the Liverpool-Manchester railway which opened in 1830, although the internal arrangements are probably late Victorian. 

Inside the front door is a small, cosy drinking lobby with a hatch-like screen to the serving area in the vault (a name appearing in the window glass).

 Here the counter seems to be Victorian although the bar-back is a replacement from 1997. Right of the entrance is the snug with draught screens and fixed seating. At the rear of the pub two rooms have been practically turned into one (done in 1996): note the ‘billiards’ and ‘bar parlour’ inscribed in the glass”.*

So one to visit I think, and in the meantime I shall trawl the old directories to find out more.

Location; Patricroft

Pictures; Queen’s Arms, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson