Uncovering a murky event at the Red Lion

Now when Andy Robertson sent over this picture of the Red Lion I knew it had to feature on the blog. 

Like a lot of people the “Red” has been one of those pubs which just keeps sliding back into my life.

As a student in the early 70s it was one of those places I haunted regularly when the dive bar of the White Lion became oppressive and I had had enough of Watney’s Red Barrel.

Then through the 1980’s it was where we went after meetings of the Withington CLP and where Keith, Tom and I passed the evening with Roy Grainger and others.

But for all sorts of reasons I stopped going and it was not until a few years ago that I reawakened my interest in the place after discovering it was the venue for the inquest into the murder of Mary Moore, who came from Chorlton, worked for the Chorlton family of Dog House farm and was murdered in Whalley Range on her way home from the Manchester Markets in 1838.

Pubs like the “Red” were often used for inquests.  They were after all public places and were often better suited to such occasions than the local church or school.

In Chorlton the Horse and Jockey was used for the inquest into the murder of Francis Deakin in 1847 and two infanticide cases and I suspect more.  And a little later in the century the Lloyd’s Hotel on Wilbraham Road hosted the Home Office inquiry into the “Great Chorlton Burial Scandal.”**

All of which means it is time to revisit the “Red” and look for stories from its past.

Location; The Red Lion, Withington

Pictures; the Red Lion, 2016, from the collection of Andy Robertson

* The murder of Mary Moore from Chorlton out in Whalley Range and an inquest in Withington, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-murder-of-mary-moore-from-chorlton.html

** The Great Burial Scandal, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-great-burial-scandal.html

The Turnpike .......... *

I never really noticed The Turnpike, other than as the place opposite the Fire Station and just before the Red Lion, with its imitation stone cladding and yellow brick, completed by those two picture windows and wide wooden door.

The Turnpike, 2014

Just when it acquired its stone frontage has yet to be discovered, but the premises was first listed as a beer shop in 1882 when it was owned by a Henry Maplestone, whose trustees sold it on to the Rochdale & Manor Brewery Ltd, who in turn were bought up by Samuel Smith, in 1948.**

In 1970, it proudly displayed a pub sign advertising Taddy Beer, which later was lost and replaced more recently by a sign carrying the image of the milestone which can still be seen directly opposite.

The Turnpike, 1970

I wish I had gone in, but alas I never did.

That said there is a wonderful description of the interior including pictures on CAMRA’s Historic Pub Interiors. ***

And I am indebted to CAMRA for also offering up, that the Turnpike was once the Wellington.  Just when it traded under that name has yet to be revealed but it will be before 1969 and may date from when it extended into the shop next door.

In 1939, it was run by Mr. John Bates with his wife and sister, and he lists himself merely as a beer seller, omitting any reference to its name.

Location; Withington

Pictures; The Turnpike, 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1970, m50686, A Dawson, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Adapted from Manchester Pubs The Stories Behind the Doors Didsbury, Peter Topping & Andrew Simpson, due out later in 2019

** Rochdale & Manor Brewery Ltd, 86 Molesworth Street. Originally registered as the Rochdale & Oldham Brewery Co. Ltd April 1887. http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Rochdale_%26_Manor_Brewery_Ltd

*** Historic Pub Interiors, CAMRA, https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/595