That iconic Hulme pub ……. The Junction

 It began as a picture.

Faded glory, 2023

And for anyone who knows Hulme, it is that iconic building which is the Junction Hotel.

Today it is a sad looking place on the corner of Rolls Crescent and Old Birley Street.

But for those who remember the area before Hulme’s first redevelopment in the 1970s, the location was 141 Warde Street at the point where it joined Upper Jackson Street and Preston Street.

I can track it back to 1885 when the licensee was a  Jane Grange using the directories and may get an earlier date by visiting the licensing records.  As it is the Manchester Guardian carried reports of various properties in Warde Street being granted a license in 1880 and 1881.

So lots more still to do.

In happier times, possibly 1924

I do know that from 1895 till 1901 it was run by an Edwin Grange, who I am guessing was related to Jane Grange.  A decade later it was in the hands of a Mr. and Mrs. Mager who may have had family links with the Grange family.

Looking at all the records this was a big pub.  The Rate Books record that it had an estimated annual rental value of £300 and paid £250 in rates.

According to the 1911 census the building had 13 rooms and along with Walter and Florence Mager there were five living in staff, four of whom were barmaids and the fifth who was the cook.  

Ten years earlier the number of staff was ten and included a young Walter and Florence who were described as “Hotel Managers” under the direction of Edwin Grange.

The pub must have remained popular as in 1921 along with the licensee and his wife the business employed six staff.

I must confess I never went in, but plenty of my friends and colleagues did, with Ann Portus reflecting that she had “great memories"  of nights in the place.

Waiting for something to happen, 2023

It closed in 2016, although What pub still has a listing for it, with the entry that it is “Owned by Hydes brewery, this is the last traditional pub in an area that used to be a bustling hive of activity with a pub on every corner. 

Now the Junction's distinctive triangular shape stands isolated in an undeveloped area surrounded by a mixture of new build developments and historic buildings like the old Hulme Picturedrome which stands just across the way. 

Rumour has it there was once an underground tunnel between the two so that performers staying at The Junction (there was once accommodation on the long ago removed third floor) could get direct access to the theatre.

Entering via the small lobby at the point of the triangle, there is a short bar directly opposite you. The back room to the left of the bar has a pool table while a door on the left hand side leads to a fenced off paved beer garden”.*

Alas no more and despite a report in the Manchester Evening News in 2020 that “Historic pub set to be 'revitalised' into huge space boasting flats, events room and a ‘natural oasis in the heart of the city', as yet the grand plan hasn’t materilaised."**

Indeed the only planning application was for the “Erection of a canopy at rear of Public House including elevational alterations and erection of a 2 metre high mesh security fencing", but it was rejected***

A grand place, 1924

And that at present is that.

Other than to recommend that excellent book by Bob Potts, “The Old Pubs of Hulme and Chorlton on Medlock."*****

Location; Hulme

Pictures; Faded glory and waiting for something to happen, 2023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, In Happier times courtesy of Tony Flynn, and A grand place, courtesy of Bob Potts

*What ?ub, https://whatpub.com/pubs/TRA/3787/junction-hulme

**Historic pub set to be 'revitalised' into huge space boasting flats, events room and a ‘natural oasis in the heart of the city', Adam Maidmen, March 12th, 2023, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/hulme-junction-development-community-space-17909968

***Manchester City Council Planning Portal, Erection of a canopy at rear of Public House including elevational alterations and erection of a 2 metre high mesh security fencing, 083702/FO/2007/S1, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=JKCE9XBC30000

***** Bob Potts, “The Old Pubs of Hulme and Chorlton on Medlock, 1997, and his earlier version “The Old Pubs of Hulme, Manchester, 1983, Neil Richardson

Stories from Cornbrook ….. no.2 the sad demise of the Railway

The Railway was a pub whose history and sad lingering demise pretty much sums up the end of the old Cornbrook.

The Railway, 2003

For many commuters it was that forlorn set of half demolished walls which could been seen from passing trams, and which over the years shrank in size till it became just an empty overgrown plot of weeds.

Once and there are those who remember drinking there it was a seven roomed property spread over three floors facing on to Cornbrook and Dover Road.

It may be that the tallest part of the pub was an addition for a building which dates back to the early 1870s.

The records show that it was dispensing beer and cheer by 1871 and judging by its rateable value was slightly larger than its neighbouring beer shop a few doors away.

The Railway, 1958

We can track its owners and its landlords through the late 19th century and for almost all of that time the tenancy was held by Henry and Ann Hodgkinson, who were there from 1874 through until 1895.

Sad left overs, 2018

They are an interesting family and reflect that flow of population around the country.

So, Henry had been born in Derbyshire and his father was an agricultural labourer while Ann came from Warwickshire.  They were married in the small mill town of Ashton-Under-Lyne, were running the Angel Inn in 1871 on Market Street in Ashton, and three years later were on Cornbrook Road.

The records show that Henry died in 1874 and Ann continued to run the beer shop for the next 20 years.

History has recorded very little of her presence in Cornbrook, but for a while the remnants of the pub offered up glimpses of its interior and here we are indebted to Andy Robertson who over the last two decades made regular trips photographing the Railway’s slow slide into waste ground.

Bits, 2018

Undeterred by the debris he encountered he has built up a collection of images of both the outside and the inside, including the remains of a door, several doorknobs and the fire place and chimney breast of one of the downstairs rooms.

Inside, 2018

It was a piece of urban archaeology which he continued to record until the site was finally cleared and now offers up the promise of yet another development and more new residents.

I doubt that there will ever be a plaque or information board acknowledging the story of the Railway and more especially that of the Hodgkinson family, but the interested traveller can uncover a bit of the story of Cornbrook just a few minutes’ walk from the tram stop entrance.

The first is the Trafford Arch which stands on the site of the “Kkovah works which was a “five storey factory built in 1871 in the elegant Venetian style” 

The Plaque, 2018

According to plaque at the foot of the memorial arch “Kkovah was a brand name for confectionary, lemon curd and jelly”. There is more but where would the fun be if we revealed the full story with its tales of disasters new enterprises and the coming of the Bridgewater Way. 

Almost gone, 2018

I could say more but these and heaps more stories will  feature in the new book being written on The History of Greater Manchester by Tram which will explore that section of the network from Cornbrook via Deansgate Castlefield and onto Exchange Square.*

The first Trafford Bar to East Didsbury was published earlier in the year and is already proving a popular read.

It is available from Chorlton Bookshop, and from us at www.pubbooks.co.uk, price £4.99*

Location; Cornbrook

Metro stop entrance, 2024

Pictures; Bits of Cornbrook, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and All that was left of the Railway, 2003-2018, courtesy of Andy Robertson, and the Railway, 1958, E Stanley, m 50339, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*A new book on the History of Greater Manchester By Tram, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20History%20of%20Greater%20Manchester%20by%20Tram