Bow Street Tavern, 52 Bow Street, Bolton

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The Bow Street Tavern was situated at the bottom end Bow Street not far from Manor Street. It actually stood on the corner of Bow Street, Crown Street and one of Bolton's long-forgotten thoroughfares, Anvil Street, which was a challenger for the title of one of the town's shortest streets. 

Anvil Street ran from the junction of Crown Street to Manor Street opposite its junction with Brown Street – a distance of some 30 yards. There was a small row of retail premises that ran along Bow Street from the corner of Anvil Street down to Manor Street and the Bow Street Tavern was one of those.

The first mention we have of the Bow Street Tavern was in 1871 when Joseph Bromley was the owner and licensee. By the mid-seventies he had moved on and James Jameson was in charge. Mr Jameson was previously an iron moulder living in nearby Independent Street, just off Folds Road, though he had left the pub and moved back to his former profession by 1891.

James Jameson was succeeded by John Reddy by the mid-1890s and Robert Challinor who was at the Bow Street Tavern in 1901. Thomas and Annie Blackledge were at the pub by 1906. [1]

Magee Marshall bought the Bow Street Tavern  in the early part of the 20^th century. The pub closed in 1920 and became a barber's shop. James Hart was cutting hair at the premises by 1924.

The row of properties at that end of Bow Street was demolished in the 1950s and the land remained empty for a number of years. The site is now part of the Euro car park at the bottom of Crown Street.

[1] Marjorie Wilkinson on the I Belong To Bolton Facebook group states that her mother, Cissie Blackledge was born at the pub in 1906.

A number 45 bus from Tonge Moor heads along Bow Street into town having just passed the junction with Manor Street (which runs off to the left). The bus is just passing the empty patch of land that marked the spot where the Bow Street Tavern used to stand.