The Old Tup

The Old Tup, Gamesley, Derbyshire

A modern estate-type pub alongside the A626 between Marple and Glossop. I have a personal memory of this pub, as my father and I stopped there for a sandwich on the way to my university interview at Sheffield in 1976. They took an age to make it too! I believe this one may have since reopened, but I wouldn’t lay money on its long-term survival. Spot the ginger lad in a blue footie shirt on the StreetView image.

Memory Lane

Memory Lane, Heanor, Derbyshire

Extending this pub and giving it a kind of “theme” clearly wasn’t enough to save it. Apparently it was full of household items from the 40s, 50s and 60s. There is a photo of it when open here.

The Spinners Tavern

The Spinners Tavern, Oldham, Lancs

A solid, brick-built pub with mullioned windows just to the east of the town centre. One of a number acquired by Banks’s in their ill-fated move into the area in the late 1980s.

The Greyhound

The Greyhound, Adswood, Cheshire

A big 1930s pub, typical of so many that have closed, standing on a substantial site at a busy road junction. Still shows as trading on Street View. I have posted on my main blog about it here. Apparently this week it is in the process of being demolished.

The Blue Bell

The Blue Bell, Wrinehill, Staffs

A small ex-Greenalls roadside pub close to the Cheshire border, which has since been demolished.

The Midland

The Midland, Peak Dale, Derbyshire

A former Robinson’s pub in an isolated location surrounded by quarries, now converted to a pair of private houses.

The Horse & Jockey

The Horse & Jockey, Saddleworth, West Riding of Yorkshire

A purpose-built pub opened in 1937 alongside the main A62 road from Oldham to Huddersfield – from the look of the signage by one of Bass’ predecessor companies. Now derelict and at the mercy of the elements, it appeared in the 1984 Good Pub Guide and was still trading in the early 1990s. There is an epitaph for it here. Only a mile or so from the Floating Light – most of the roadside pubs on this route have now gone.

The Pomona

The Pomona, Reddish, Lancashire

Still decked out in Wilsons livery, this pub just over the Manchester boundary at the North end of Reddish has been closed and derelict for a number of years.

The Old Colonial

The Old Colonial, Birkenhead, Cheshire

The decaying Birkenhead docklands are not the most promising location for a pub, but, judging by the signage and banner, an effort does seem to have been made with this one in recent years.

The Gladstone

The Gladstone, South Norwood, Surrey

On a rundown suburban shopping street, very “London” with its cramped corner site and characteristic yellow-grey stock bricks.

The Bow Garrett

The Bow Garrett, Stockport, Cheshire

Originally called the Bulkeley Arms, a distinctive four-square brick building on the main road towards Cheadle, less than half a mile from Ye Olde Woolpack. I have no idea where the name comes from.

The Bird in Hand

The Bird In Hand, Sharpley Heath, Staffordshire

This free house at an isolated crossroads in rural Staffordshire now looks very forlorn, but by the look of the windows and signage money has been spent on it in past years.

The Robin Hood

The Robin Hood, Helsby, Cheshire

A former Greenalls pub later taken over by Marston’s. It looks Edwardian but could at a pinch be 1920s. The steel plating over the bow windows conceals some attractive stained glass. The village of Helsby has lost two of its four pubs in the last few years – see also the Horse & Jockey.

The Black Horse

The Black Horse, Salford, Lancs

An impressive late Victorian or Edwardian pub on the main A6 road out of Salford, close to the well-known Crescent free house.

The King George V

The King George V, Longbridge, Birmingham

A particularly magnificent inter-wars Brewer’s Tudor roadhouse by the main A38 south of the city, now the Emerald Cantonese restaurant. Note the archway through the wall on the left-hand side. Within a mile of the similarly impressive Beeches.

The Nicholsons Arms

The Nicholsons Arms, Stockport, Cheshire

A classic 1960s estate pub by the Lancashire Hill flats, but in fact next to a main road and only a few hundred yards from the town centre. Unaccountably, this was the only Stockport pub to feature in the first edition of the Good Beer Guide - maybe the compilers drove out from Manchester and included the first Robbies' pub they came across.

The Rivelin

The Rivelin, near Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire

In a very scenic situation by the main A57 overlooking some reservoirs, only a few miles outside Sheffield, surely this pub could be viable as a destination venue.

The Haxby

The Haxby, Gorton, Manchester

This pub, tucked away right at the back of an inter-wars estate, was notorious as one that, although within the area covered by our local branch of CAMRA, virtually nobody had ever clapped eyes on.

The Badger

The Badger, Church Minshull, Cheshire

Cheshire’s country pubs have come off better than most from the recent wave of closures, but an exception is this pub in the classic location next to the church in a small village at the heart of the county. It still has its Allied Breweries lettering – I think this one originated from the Ind Coope estate rather than Tetley’s.

The Star

The Star, Scouthead, West Riding of Yorkshire

This pub in an elevated location on the A62 east of Oldham, as it climbs over a spur of land to reach Saddleworth, has not just been boarded up, but bricked up.

The Cheshire Cheese

The Cheshire Cheese, Manchester

A mock half-timbered pub on Oldham Road looking forlorn amongst the modern high-rise buildings of the city centre.

The George & Dragon

The George & Dragon, Castleton, Lancashire

An impressive-looking pub with a distinctive gallows-type sign. Appears to be in the throes of being converted to something else.

The White Lion

The White Lion, Pen-y-Mynydd, Flintshire

Although it looks long closed, this pub featured in The Best Pubs in North Wales, a CAMRA book by Mike Dunn published in 1989, which described it as “virtually unchanged for decades”.

The Old Cock

The Old Cock, Stretford, Lancs

Another impressive, turreted pub which you might have thought was well situated on the busy A56 close to Stretford town centre.

The Blackwater Inn

The Blackwater Inn, Glenshee, Perthshire

Not boarded up, but doesn’t look very open. In a very isolated situation on the main road from Blairgowrie to the Spital of Glenshee.