On encountering Holt Town ……

It was always a given that long after the bulldozers had gone into clear areas which were deemed no loner fit for purpose the pubs would remain standing amongst the rubble.

The Bank of England .... clinging on, 2025

For some they represented a silent testament to what had been a thriving community, and for others reinforced the power of the breweries who were just waiting for the people to return. 

One of Pollard Street Mills, 2025

And that is pretty much what I felt as I walked from Holt Town towards New Islington along Merrill and Pollard Street.

Till now it’s an area I had only read about.

According to that excellent site “Modern Mooch”, Holt Town was established in 1785 “by David Holt and was “described as the only known example of a factory colony in Manchester, that is, an isolated mill complex with housing for the workers” *. 

Which didn’t quite go the way Mr. Holt expected as he went bankrupt nine years later and his mill went up for sale, but the dye was set for Holt Town and to quote Modern Mooch again “The area has seen a transition, in some two hundred years or more, from a leafy rural idyll, to smoke choked industrial hell and back again".

The River Medlock, 2025

So, as we progressed from the tram stop there were vestiges of that old industrial place, along with a former bank and some social housing.  

You can see the River Medlock and walk the City Walk from the Etihad Stadium to Holt Town along a footpath bordered on one side by vegetation and the tram track.

But some of that social housing which was relatively new has gone and the City Council after a period of consulataion has announced  a major regeneration opportunity for Holt Town "to develop a new mixed use neighbourhood, highly sustainable with thousands of new homes of different types and tenures – from family housing through to age friendly and key worker apartments - incorporating high quality green spaces surrounding a 1km play street spine, provision of new local services, cultural opportunities, and significant affordable workspace.  

Situated along the Medlock Valley between the bustling areas of Ancoats and New Islington and the dynamic zones of Sportcity and the Etihad Campus, investment in Holt Town will unlock a missing link.**

All of which looks quite exciting and mirrors the development that had already taken place in New Islington, and replaced the Cardroom Estate of the 1970s.   

Heading towards New Islington and the city centre, 2025

The crossing point is roughly where Carruthers Street meets Pollard Street.  One side of Pollard Street is faced by the Ancoats Mill and a line of former mills, while looking towards the city there is New Islington and that forest of residential towers which dominate the skyline of the centre of Manchester.

Mills, pubs and new apartments, 2025

And the corner is also home to a pub … the Bank of England.  

It didn’t quite survive to greet the return of people now occupying New Islington having closed sometime between the June of 2017 and the May of the following year.

I suppose that does prove the given assumption that pubs always survive redevelopments, so while it does look in a sad state, it is for sale and may yet catch the tide of residential change.

It was called the Bank of England and in a sniffy moment I assumed this was a new name, which was more in keeping with the late 20th century.

But no, The Bank of England was serving beer and cheer from at least 1841and I suspect will prove to be much older.  

In that year it was run by Nathan Wilson who was from Yorkshire and was 48 years old. A decade later he shared the pub with his wife, Margaret, their daughter and two bar staff.

Its estimated annual rent was £35 which put it a head of the nearby properties.

And I suppose it does rather prove the point that pubs do hang on while everything around them changes.

"See better days and do better things", the Bank of England, 2025

The Bank of England out lasted its industrial neighbours as well as the Liverpool and Manchester Bank just back up Merrill Street and was still in business when the estates of publicly owned houses were being demolished.

So I wouldn’t bet on its final demise just yet.

As for now its continued presence offers a backdrop for the less than skilled art of the spray can.

Location Holt Town

Pictures; Holt Town and towards New Islington, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Holt Town Manchester – Part One, February 9, 2017, Modern Mooch, https://modernmooch.com/2017/02/09/holt-town-manchester-part-one/ 

 And 

Part Two, May 1st, 2020, https://modernmooch.com/2020/05/01/holt-town-part-two/

**Major Holt Town regeneration programme proceeds following public consultation January 25th, 2025, https://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/9623/major_holt_town_regeneration