Just when you thought you knew the age of the Trevor Arms on Beech Road

The Trevor was my local from 1976 well into the middle of the next decade and was a busy and happy place.

At the time and until quite recently I gave little thought to its history, it was simply the pub run by Stan and Mona and their daughter Christine and always a place where you find someone you knew to talk to.

If I did give its past any thought I just assumed the date above the door of 1908 was when it was opened, but beer was being sold from this spot from 1879.

Back then the site was occupied by a row of wattle and daub cottages, one of which had been the home of Mary Crowther who was made to do penance in the church at the beginning of the 19th century.

It is unclear what Mary had done but during the closing decades of the eighteenth century she had given birth to three illegitimate children and it may be that it was for this that she was made to do penance.

She was the last person to do so, and lived out her life, with one of her sons in the cottage and was buried in the parish church yard.

By 1871 one of these cottages was owned by the Langford family.

Jonathan Langford came from an old Chorlton family and a decade earlier had given his occupation as a "gardener" and lived on Dark Lane.

In 1874 his daughter Elizabeth was living there and running the shop and  by 1879 she was renting it out to a succession of “beer housekeepers.”

The last of these tenants was William Downs.  By 1897 the property was transferred to Groves and Whitnall which had taken over the Regent Road Brewery in 1868 and began a rapid expansion which by the time they were registered in 1899 included nearly 600 pubs.

Now there is a lot more I want to know about Mrs Langford as well as William Downs who in 1898 was superseded by Miss Mary Catherine Hayes.

But that is for another story.

Picture; the Trevor early 20th century from the collection of Tony Walker

The goat, the tent on the meadows and the mixed darts team

I don’t remember the goat outside the Trevor or for that matter the chap who lived on the meadows in a tent, but I do know that back in the 1970s we could still display an amazing degree of stupidity.

The Trevor, circa 1975

Our neighbour Keith and I were sitting on his front garden wall yesterday talking about what we remember of Chorlton back around 1976 when we both first moved to the area.

It turns out we inhabited the same pubs and equally avoided the same ones.

And as were talking about Stan and Mona who ran the Trevor he came up with the story of the man who brought his goat to the pub and for the price of a couple of pints hired it out  to customers who used it instead of a lawn mower.

Now that one passed me by but I do remember the chap who lived on the meadows in a tent although I had forgotten that he wandered around Chorlton in all weathers without his shirt or that late at night he would sometimes stand outside one pub on the green and begin howling which set the dogs off.

But what I do remember vividly was the level of intolerance and misguided thinking which still stalked the 1970s.

From the mid 1980s

It was there in the latent forms of racism along with what was peddled by the far right and was challenged in all sorts of ways from Rock Against Racism and the big demonstrations to everyday activities at street level.

And then there was that other powerful form of discrimination which took it for granted that women should be paid less for doing the same job as a man and regularly ignored them when opportunities arose for promotion.

I can still remember the derision and outright hostility to the Equal Pay Act of 1970 from some people and had to endure at least two colleagues who bored me stiff with their unease at working for a woman head teacher.

So I was not surprised at Keith’s memories of running dart teams in the Trevor and encountering consternation and opposition from some pubs to the fact that he fielded a mixed team.

In one case one pub grudgingly accepted the team but the landlord did so only on condition that the women did not drink.

From the late 1970s

Suffice to say Keith and the team didn’t accept any of that prejudice.

Now discrimination and hate crimes do not go away and every generation has to struggle a fresh against such intolerance, moreover we are seeing some very nasty outbreaks at present.

But some battles do seem to have receded and today would be met with sheer bewilderment.

And so it is with the idea that a dart’s team should be all male or that you could even think of refusing a drink to someone because they were a woman.

But perhaps not and it would be interesting to have more memories, and stories of mindless prejudice as well as accounts of how all of that was challenged.

Picture; the Trevor Arms in the 1970s courtesy of Lois Elsden and the political badges,1970s-80s,  from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Tales from the Trevor Arms part four ........... an apology to Lynda

Now I began going in the Trevor sometime around 1976 and have fond memories of Stan, Mona and their daughter Christine who did the business behind the bar.

The Trevor, circa 1975

What I didn’t know at the time was that the trio had originally been a quartet and along with Christine there was Lynda who was the other daughter of Stan and Mona.

And that has now been rectified by Lynda’s husband, Bill,  who left this comment on the last Trevor blog story.

“If you're updating the book with details of the Trevor makeover, you might also want to amend the section about Stan, Mona and their daughter Christine to read 'Stan, Mona and their daughters Christine and Lynda.' 

Lynda is my wife, by the way, and she also used to work behind the bar, mostly in the Vault in her teens and up to when we married in 1975. 

Pete Topping can confirm. Also, you might want to mention that Lynda was born upstairs at the Trevor at 'last orders' one night in October 1955."

All of which I will indeed add to the section on the pub when we update the entry.*

And that just leaves me to thank Bill and offer my apologies to Lynda.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the Trevor Arms circa 1975, courtesy of Lois Elsden

*A new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Chorlton%20Pubs%20and%20bars

Tales from the Trevor Arms ....... part 3

Now just over a week ago the Trevor Arms reopened after a short make over.

I say makeover but that is to short change what Green King who own the place have done to the pub.

The two rooms have been knocked through, the beer garden upgraded, and above all the exterior has gone through a transformation.

The peeling paint, and that sign “The Famous Trevor Arms” have gone, and replaced by a tasteful finish which has seen the restoration of the old brewery sign advertising Groves & Whitnall’s Ales.

Outside the Trevor Arms, August 2017

I can’t say that the “famous” title ever did much for me and I like the restoration of the reference to Groves & Whitnall’s Ales which began in Salford in 1868 and began an expansion which saw it buy up nearly 600 pubs by the beginning of the 20th century.

The Trevor was one of these and in 1908 had its first major makeover when the present building was opened.

There will be plenty of stories from its 120 years but one of my favourites is the one about the man who brought his goat to the pub and for the price of a couple of pints hired it out  to customers who used it instead of a lawn mower.*

Now that one passed me by but I do remember the chap who lived on the meadows in a tent although I had forgotten that he wandered around Chorlton in all weathers without his shirt or that late at night he would sometimes stand outside one pub on the green and begin howling which set the dogs off.

All of which leaves me to reflect that with the makeover we shall in due course add to the section in the book on Chorlton’s pubs and bars which mentions the Trevor and for now leave you with Peter’s new painting.

Painting; The Trevor Arms,  © 2017 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

*A new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Chorlton%20Pubs%20and%20bars

Tales from the Trevor Arms ....... part 2

Now there will be many of us with stories about the Trevor.  

Mine revolve around many happy nights in the pub in the 1970’s in the company of Tom, Keith and Mike, Lois and John.

But others will remember the man with the goat, the mixed darts team, and Jack and Ann who sat at the table between the bar and entrance to the lavatories holding court every night.

The Trevor in 2011

We usually shared their table from which we could gaze out across the room and pass conversations with Telecom Eddy, Jean the Post and the Judo crowd, along with Scotch Ken and the woman Jack called the “Jockey.”

The place long predates the sign over the door and was once just a humble beer shop selling beer from the front room of what may well have been a wattle and daub cottage.

These and many more stories are in the new book on Chorlton pubs and bars which came out earlier in the year.*

And now it has had a makeover adding yet another chapter to its long history.

The two bars have become one, the beer garden has been upgraded and the exterior repainted with a new pub sign.

And there is a story about one of the old pub signs which my old mate Joe told me about a long time ago, which is for another time.

But in the meantime here is Peter’s painting of the Trevor on a warm summer’s day back in July 2011 during one of the Beech Road Festivals.

Next; a brewery, more on the man who took his goat into the Trevor and ofcourse the new Peter painting of the outside which he is finishing as I write.

Painting; The Trevor Arms,  © 2011 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

*A new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Chorlton%20Pubs%20and%20bars

Good evening and welcome back to the Trevor

Now everyone I know has been posting pictures of the outside of the Trevor and pretty good the pub looks.

But these may be the first of the inside of the Trev to come out into the morning sunlight.

There is of course a perfectly good explanation for that because until yesterday the place had been closed for refurbishment which has included knocking through the two bars and adding some new furniture and a lick of paint.

And I like it.

I first crossed the threshold in the mid 70s when Stan Mona and Christine ran the place, and Ann and Jack along with the Judo crowd were in most nights.

It remained our local into the 1980s and even if I was on my own there was always a shed load of people to talk to from Telecom Eddie and Jean the Post to Scotch Ken and many more.

Back then I don't recall a beer garden, and it was just the "yard."

A place Stan and Mona stored the bits of the pub which after doing a useful job never got into the cellar.

I suspect there may have been the odd rickety chair, a spare darts board left soaking in a tub of water and other things.

I did try to get into the beer garden last night bu it wasn't to be.

Ann however did and she told me that they had "popped in last night, thought it was lovely.  We sat outside because of the strong smell of glue but that's understandable because of all the new upholstery, cracking outside area."

And she shared a picture which is equally happy to share again here on the blog.

All of which is a roundabout way to say I was back in the company of Peter his wife and friends to introduce the pub to the new book on Chorlton pubs and bars.

We were made very much at home y Phil the manager and the staff,

And the rest as they was a couple of bottles of Peroni, some fine conversation including a chat to Janice from Morrisons and the sale of eight books.

Enough said .............. more to come.

Location; Chorlton


Picture; the inside of the Trevor from the old vault, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the beer garden 2017, courtesy of Susan Bowie

*A new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Chorlton%20Pubs%20and%20bars

A picture a day .... The Trevor Arms circa 1910

A picture a day
During this week of July I have decided to feature a picture a day, drawn from the collections that span a century and more of Chorlton
Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker
>