Pubs of Manchester

All pubs within the city centre and beyond.
A history of Manchester's hundreds of lost pubs.

Friday 16 March 2012

Devonshire, Stockport Road


Devonshire, Stockport Road, Ardwick. (c) Eddie Sinclair at Facebook

Shown as a Wilsons house twice in 1970 and 1971 after a lick of paint, the Devonshire was a grand hotel on the corner of Devonshire Street and Stockport Road in Ardwick.  In the past it was also known as Tommy Brown's Music Hall [1], a Threlfall's house, and the Devonshire was called The Circus for a time before its demolition.


Devonshire, Stockport Road. (c) anneokeefe1@hotmail.com with kind permission.

An evocative shot of the inside of the Devonshire, kindly supplied by Anne O'Keefe, shows it was a big and busy old pub.  The Devonshire was sadly knocked down at some point in the 1990s and has, rather ignominiously, been replaced with a McDonald's.


Former location of the Devonshire, Stockport Road. (c) Eddie Sinclair at Facebook.  

1. www.myspace.com/jimmarshactorsinger/blog/441672677.

9 comments:

  1. I remember well Tommy’s music hall.
    Many happy memories. If my memory serves me well. The venue was featured in a well known British film.
    Chris Bluer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A Kind of Loving 1962. Pub crawl ended there. It started at Queen Victoria, Ealing Broadway 180 miles away!

      Delete
  2. I remember well Tommy’s music hall.
    Many happy memories. If my memory serves me well. The venue was featured in a well known British film.
    Chris Bluer

    ReplyDelete
  3. I certainly remember the good old days.
    I worked as the pianist here. My grandmother lived nearby in Small Street.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you live in Oldham then ? And have a brother who also worked there ?

      Delete
  4. Hi, can anyone tell me, was there a drag queen running the pub in the 70's/80's..and what was her name..... Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anne Mary O'Keefe8 April 2022 at 14:37

    Jackie Carlton and Bunny Lewis were prominent figures at The Devonshire but I dont recall any of them running the pub.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jim and Alma were the last tenants at The Devonshire and prior to that it was Pat and Anne Slattery as far as I recall.
    Possible someone else had it in its very last days. ?

    ReplyDelete

  7. Does anyone know who owned it in 1971-72? I worked there. The tenant who hired me to work 4 nights weekly was very nice. It was a drag/transvestite bar and one night my ‘’straight’ boss from my daytime office job walked in! As I wasn’t allowed to work a second job, my jaw dropped. But, he was ‘caught’ frequenting a disreputable trans/drag pub with a decidedly raunchy act. We swore each other to secrecy and kept my job. I would like to know who owned it then and when Bunny Lewis owned it. Were people aware of the raunchy act?

    ReplyDelete