This is the Bridge Inn on Fairfield Street as it was in 1970.
And it is a pub I will have passed countless times on the bus on the journey to Grey Mare Lane and Ashton.
But despite living for a chunk of time in east Manchester and beyond in the 1970s, I can’t say I ever noticed the pub and certainly never went in it, and that is a shame.
I can track a pub with that name to this spot back to 1840, when it was surrounded by a mix of industrial and residential properties.
According to the 1911 census, the landlord was a Fred Lord, who with his wife Elizabeth managed the pub, assisted by Arthur Dixon who was the waiter and Ethel Jackson who was described as a domestic servant.
And along with these were the Lord’s daughter, young Vera Patricia, aged 3, and Mr. Lord’s widowed mother.
The same census offers both a glimpse into the pub, and into its occupants.
It had eight rooms, and may already have been familiar to Elizabeth who had been born in Ardwick and to Elizabeth’s mother in law who was born just up the road in Bradford.
What strikes you are the little details. Ethel Jackson was just sixteen, Mrs. Lord senior was already a widow at 52, and the Lord’s had moved around the city, having been in Gorton in 1908.
And for an official document Fred Lord was less than conscientious about completing the form accurately having, failed to ascertain exactly where his 22 years old waiter had been born, so while I know it was WR, which may have been Whalley Range, the county is shown just as an ?.
Of course, it may also be that Arthur Dixon didn’t know his exact birth place.
Someone I know will be able to supply a date for when it closed, but for now, that is it, other than to say there remain some stories of the surrounding buildings which we will return to.
Location; Fairfield Street
Pictures; the Bridge Inn, 1970, A. Dawson, m49287, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson
Hi Andrew. I came across your image searching around 1861. The Publican then was William Chesters and had married my 2nd Great Aunt Emily. Living in the pub with them was my 3 x great grandmother, Hannah, listed as Mother in Law of William, along with Thomas, Emily's brother, before he entered the military. I noted from your photo that "Chesters" is still on the building in this photo above the door! Many thanks for posting as its images like these that bring family history more to life!
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