I never drank in the Bank of England.
 |
| The Bank of England .... clinging on, 2025 |
It was in that space between New Islington and Holt Town.
I encountered it as a sad looking building whose
customers had long gone and was hanging on for something to happen.
 |
| "See better days and do better things", 2025 |
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.
The area had experienced great changes, which had begun with
the arrival of the Ashton and Rochdale Canals and the fast industrialization of
Holt Town and then New Islington, followed by a decline in fortunes during the
second half of the last century
 | |
| Heading towards New Islington and the city centre, 2025 |
New Islington was redeveloped in the 1970s into the Cardroom Estate and then again in this century into the mix of private and social housing and apartments which today grace the area around the arms of the Ashton Canal.
Holt Town has not fared so well.
 |
| Mills, pubs and new aprtments, 2025 |
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 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.
As for now its continued presence offers a backdrop for the less than skilled art of the spray can.
 |
| The Ancoats Mill, Pollard Street, 2025 |
But some of that social housing which was relatively new has gone and the City Council after a period of consultation 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 Sports City and the
Etihad Campus, investment in Holt Town will unlock a missing link".**
 |
| All that is left of the Bank of England, 2026 |
But alas no.
It has
gone as Steve Marland’s picture posted today on social media testifies. ***
I remember writing back in April of last year that it might
survive, which was not to be.
Location on the borders of New Islington and Holt Town
Pictures, The Bank of Englad and surrounding area, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson all that is left, 2026, courtesy of Steve Marland
*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
***On encountering Holt Town, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2025/04/on-encountering-holt-town.html
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