Inn was open all hours to cater for the workers (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Inn was open all hours to cater for the workers

12:50pm Friday 31st October 2008 in News

THIS week, we feature a view of Prestwich Village from 100 years ago showing the west side of Bury New Road.

In the distance, you can see the prominent spire of the Methodist Church, which was designed by John Lowe and built in 1877 at a cost of £4,500.

To the left of the church was a butcher’s shop which, at the beginning of the 20th century, was owned by master butcher William Jenry Harrison.

Sheep and cattle were herded along Bury New Road to the butcher’s shop, where the animals were slaughtered on the premises and then ended up on racks outside.

To the right of the church, pictured here by the third tram standard from the right, stands the Albion Inn, which was built in the 1850s and later became the site of the Midland Bank.

Originally a beer house, it was bought by Joseph Holt’s brewery in 1905.

Before the First World War, the Albion opened at 6am and stayed open until 11pm.

These hours catered for many workers including carters who travelled between the local mills and Manchester. The inn called last orders in 1922.

In the middle of the photograph is a prominent building which stands on the corner of Sherbourne Street.

This was the Victoria Club, which, in the early part of the 20th century, was the most exclusive men’s club in Prestwich.

At the time, only carriages, horses and carts together with the occasional tram travelled along Bury New Road.

The route along Bury New Road to Kersal Bar was officially opened on Friday December 5, 1902, when two special trams of maroon and cream livery were decorated with garlands and flowers to mark the occasion.

Information and photograph courtesy of local historian Ian Pratt.