Lost Cheshire pubs which closed during The Queen's 70-year reign

So, let’s briefly look at a few examples of pubs that served their last pint during the Elizabethan period.

They may bring back memories for those, like me, who enjoyed their products and maybe mourned their passing.

So, sit back and see what many would call the good old days when real old-fashioned pubs were popular.

Not that the current crop is not, but in a different way.

HARTFORD

The Sportsman

In Beach Road, Hartford. On the corner of Bradburn's Lane and Beach Rd, the pub was opened in 1841 and closed in 1964, becoming an antique emporium and later new flats.

NORTHWICH

The Freemasons

At 43 Castle Street, it was opened in 1856 and, in 2015, sold at auction, now a solicitor’s office.

The Wheatsheaf

The Wheatsheaf

At 15 Castle Street, this pub was opened initially in 1775 and had many transformations.

The bungalow type pub set back between the river and Castle Street was built in 1889. It was closed in the late 1980s.

The River Weaver Inn/The Brass Rods

At the London Road junction with Water Street, it was the venue for my first ever pint. The official title as above was The River Weaver Inn, but it was better known as The Brass Rods due to the rods that were across the windows.

It was built in 1900 to replace one of the same name that had subsided. It eventually closed in 1965 (I was a bit young to be having a first pint, and I chose Mild as I thought it would be, well, mild).

The Volunteer

The Volunteer

Built to replace an earlier Volunteer that had subsided in 1929. It was a single-story building trading from 1929 to the Millennium and is now a pharmacy.

The Goldsmiths Arms Passing through the Bullring and to the right, there was a warren of dark narrow streets with their various long-demolished pubs. On the corner of Applemarket Street was a pub called The Goldsmiths Arms.

The original 1792 building subsided and was demolished in 1875 when a new and more prestigious pub was built adjoining the old Market Hall the following year. It closed in 1955.

The Feathers

At number 27 to 29 High Street. It was built as the Liquor Vaults in 1805; it was renamed The Feathers in honour of the Prince of Wales.

Like most of the area, it suffered from subsidence and was closed and demolished in 1963.

The Crown and Anchor 

It was built in 1892, replacing an older inn with the same name that had been on the site since 1796.

There was a wharf at the rear and regular passenger and goods boats left to Weston Point and Liverpool. Like other buildings in this area, it was flooded continuously, and the foundations were weak.

It closed in 1960, and the TSB now stands at this location.

The Beehive

The Beehive

In High Street, the pub opened in 1816 as The Waterloo. As a result of subsidence, it was demolished in 1891 and rebuilt as this beautiful red brick building that we see today with the name The Beehive, proudly etched beneath the window.

It remained a pub serving the town centre until the new Millennium when it was closed and now is an estate agents.

The Bleeding Wolf

At 12 Crown Street, the pub stood opposite The Memorial Hall and was opened as a pub in 1776, closing during the Northwich re-development on July 2, 1961.

The Penrhyn Arms

At 38 New Street. Another pub that was demolished during the re-development period. It was opened near the present site of The Seafarer restaurant in 1834. It closed on September 30, 1967. 

The Fox

At 16/18 Applemarket Street, the pub was built in 1894 on the site of the original Fox pub that had opened in 1769. It closed on July 31, 1969.

The Talbot

The Talbot

At 40 Witton Street, now replaced by awful 1960s architecture.

The building stood with three stories and was named both The Talbot Inn and The Talbot Vaults.

The Northwich Brewery Co opened it in 1831. The last landlord was Samuel Inglesfield from 1952 to 1962. When it closed, its full licence was transferred to The Oak Tree in Waterloo Road, which closed in 1972.

The George and Dragon

The former George and Dragon now houses retail units

Began life as a pub in 1760, In 1927, the usual Northwich affliction, subsidence, had taken its toll, and the building was demolished; the current building was erected and opened in 1928.

Trade declined due to fewer people living in the town, and on November 29, 1979, it closed for good; the building now houses retail businesses.

The Cumberland Arms

At 80 Leicester Street, opened in 1834 and closed in 1957 when its licence was transferred to the short-lived Pillar of Salt at Leftwich.

The Sportsman

At number 7 Castle Street was opened in 1776 as the New Eagle and Child as it was older than the other Eagle and Child on the High Street.

In 1821, it was re-named The Sportsman. The pub closed in 1976 but was then left unattended; by 1988, it was derelict and set on fire, and it was demolished soon after.

The White Lion

It was built in 1885, replacing the earlier 1767 pub. Another popular Northwich town-centre pub.

However, it did not stop there as the new White Lion continued to slip into the ground. The three-storey pub then became a two-storey pub.

On the February 1, 1990, the White Lion closed its doors for good, leaving a hole where the pub used to be. Decorated boards have now shielded this hole.

The Roebuck

The Roebuck was the oldest pub in Northwich/Witton cum Twambrookes. It was built in 1700 as a row of three cottages and saw its first landlord John Tomkinson there in 1772. It has been closed since 2017, the last tenant being Ian Bates.

The Bowling Green

At 1 Station Road. This pub opened in 1851 as The Rifleman. Eddie Kettle was there from 1932 to 1935, at which time his wife Mary took over and remained there through the war years, leaving in 1951; the Bowling Green itself closed in 1957.

The Oak Tree

At 2-4 Waterloo Road. It was opened in 1869 as a small beerhouse receiving its full licence when The Talbot in Witton Street closed in 1962 and The Oak Tree closed in 1972.

The Farmers Arms

In Middlewich Road. It had been a pub since 1850, but the present building was built in 1959, and in March 2005, it was closed. It was left to rot and receive the attention of vandals. 

The Lion and Railway

The Lion and Railway in 2009

At 91 Station Road, it was opened in 1861 as The New Inn.

Later the name changed to the Lion & Railway after Northwich station across the road. The pub was closed in March 2007 and is now flats.

The Locomotive

The old Locomotive Inn in 2009

Just around the corner in Manchester Road. It opened in 1869 alongside the mineral railway running to Barons Quay. It closed in 1974 and is now flats.

The Bears Paw

Opened in New Street in 1783 roughly in front of the council offices on Chester Way. It closed in 1963 during the re-development of the town.

Church Inn

In Forest Street, the pub became a beer house in 1869, receiving the full licence from the Navigation Inn at Barnton when it closed in 1959. It closed in 1973 during the building of Chester Way.

The Cock

The former Cock pub

At 4 Witton Street. The current building was built in 1932 to replace a pub built in 1767 that had subsided.

The new Cock was closed in the 1980s but is still there and an attractive building.

The Ring o’ Bells (Weaverham)

The Ring o' Bells, Weaverham

The original Ring O’ Bells was in the car park of St Mary’s Church and was closed in 1925 and demolished in the 1950s.

In 1923 Greenall's decided to relocate the pub and were granted the old licence to do so. In 1925 the present pub was built.

This new pub was far bigger with parking and garage space and a bowling green. The name was retained, and to be fair, the church bells could still be heard, so it was still relevant!

The sandstone plaque above the front door depicts six bells. In the late 2000s, it closed, and its future is not currently known.

The Ring o' Bells (Northwich)

At 15 Warrington Road. Opened in 1883, demolished in 1903 and rebuilt in the same year, it closed in 1973.

The Travellers Rest

At 19 Chester Road. Opened in 1881 and closed in 1969.

The Black Greyhound

The Black Greyhound boarded up

The Black Greyhound at Wincham was opened initially at 129 Manchester Road, Lostock, in 1767. It was later closed and re-built at Wincham.

That Black Greyhound was closed later and left derelict.

LEFTWICH

The Pillar of Salt

In Clifton Drive, Leftwich. Built in 1957 on the Leftwich Estate. In 2011 and converted into a McColl’s convenience store.

BARNTON

The Beech Tree Inn

The Beech Tree at Barnton

Built in 1939 and opened a few days before the war broke out. A pub of that name across the road had traded from 1871 to 1939 until it was demolished.

The new Beech Tree was a beautiful and busy pub, but that was not enough to protect it from the urge to build houses and more houses.

It was left to rot for several years from October 2014 and then demolished to make way for houses.

The Shepherds

At 10 Church Street, Barnton, the pub opened in 1857 and closed in 1967 when its full licence was transferred to The Beech Tree.

The Red Lion

Travelling down Barnton Hill, there is another pub building on the site of an older pub called The Best Way Inn. The new pub called The Red Lion Inn was built in 1904.

In 1997 the premises were purchased from the brewery. It is now an antique emporium.

The Navigation

At 22 Tunnel Road, Barnton, the pub was built in 1860 alongside the canal. It closed in 1959.

The Travellers Rest

Opened in 1865 and closed in 1963.

ACTON BRIDGE

The Maypole

The first landlord was named John Mountford in 1745. It closed in 2018, and a decision as to its future has not been decided other than possibly – houses.

The Horns

Another lost pub that closed in the 1980s and re-emerged as an Italian Restaurant before closing again.

It was left derelict and is now going to become business premises.

The Holly Bush

 

The Holly Bush In the tiny village of Bartington, but with a Little Leigh address, this pub was originally a working farm with a licence dating from the 1600s.

The Cowap family famously managed the pub from at least 1777 to 1990. In the 1800s, it was called the Bartington Bowling Green, later becoming the Bowling Green until 1960 when it became The Holly Bush.

The bowling green itself was situated on the other side of the lane at the side of the pub. From 1959 to 1990, the licensee was Albert Cowap Jr, taking over from Albert Cowap Sr.

It closed in 2019, and a decision on its future is awaited.

WINSFORD

Bulls Head

On High Street, the pub was opened in 1890 and closed when the dual carriageway was built in the 1970s.

White Swan

Another in Winsford High Street. The pub was opened in 1869 as the Red Cow and became The White Swan in 1885.

It closed in 1964; the licence was then transferred to the new White Swan on Bradbury Road on the Wharton estate, built in 1964, that is now also closed.

The Rechabites Rest

This pub was situated on the High Street and Dingle Lane junction at the end of a row of terraced cottages.

A farmer opened the pub in 1871; the teetotal community criticised him for serving his workers in the fields with beer.

So giving that name to a pub would now be called cynical! It was closed in 1973 and demolished sometime later to make way for the dual carriageway.

The Golden Lion

In High Street, the pub was opened in 1810 as The Bowling Green and was purchased in 1891 by Greenall Whitley. The beautiful building was closed and demolished in August 2019.

White Lion

It was opened in 1810 at number 108 Delamere Street. In the 1900s, it was demolished and re-built further back with parking front and rear. It closed in the new Millennium and is now a supermarket.

The Salt Cellar

Denbigh Road, Winsford. Opened in 1978 And closed some 20 years later.

The Oddfellows

In Station Road, Winsford, it dates to 1869 as a pub, and in 1891, Chester’s Brewery purchased it. The pub was closed circa 2013 and is now converted to a grocery store.

The Raven

The Raven

In Swanlow Lane, it is arguably the oldest public house in the old Vale Royal. It is officially in the Weaver Township, now Darnhall and was first recorded as a pub in 1631.

It is believed to have been a farmhouse or gamekeeper's lodge before that. The last landlord of this popular pub was Michael Phillips in 1990.

The pub was shut for good in 2007 and has been empty and now derelict since then.

The Navigation Inn aka The Vale Royal, aka The Liquid Lounge

The former Liquid Lounge

The pub in New Road once stood in front of the Winsford and Over railway station. It was the terminus of what is now the Whitegate Way.

The Cheshire Lines Committee initially owned it, and it was then called The Navigation and Railway. Brian and Ellie Tomlinson were later tenants of the Vale Royal, and it was demolished in 1989 due to subsidence.

Completely re-built, it later became a nightclub called The Liquid Lounge. It has been left empty for many years and is now completely derelict and awaiting redevelopment.

The Boot and Slipper

The Boot & Slipper

The pub dates to the 17th century when it was initially called The Boot and Slipper, at which time it was a thatched Coaching Inn, then it was changed to The Royal Oak.

This is due to the Oak Tree overlooking the car park; like many others in the country, the tree was supposedly grown from an acorn taken from the oak tree that hid King Charles II from the Roundheads.

The name later reverted to the Boot and Slipper. It was later extended, providing accommodation but leaving the tiny black and white pub as an excellent much-loved country pub. Then suddenly, the lot was demolished, leaving a blank space.

Work is now in progress to build, well, you guessed it, more houses.

KNUTSFORD

The Swan Hotel

The Swan at Bucklow Hill (Image: Google)

This popular and historic pub at Bucklow Hill closed in February 2020 and the site is now vacant.

A planning application has been submitted seeking permission to demolish all the buildings on the site and build 19 homes.

Residents have launched a petition to save it.

The Royal George Hotel

An ancient hotel that opened in the 1700s and was once called The George in 1727.

It was visited in 1832 by the Duchess of Kent with Princess Victoria, just five years before she became Queen Victoria.

As a result, the prefix Royal was added to the name, making it the Royal George.

In its early days, the gentry stayed there, and accommodation was provided for the servants and staff in Princess Street behind the Royal George.

It closed in 2001 to be converted into shops and business premises.