AN UPDATE ON THE SALFORD PUB WHERE MARX AND ENGELS NEVER DRANK

Engels father had a mill in Weaste, so it would have been possible, in addition,Engels and Marx used Manchester Central Library too.

14 hours ago, Colin lyne said:

Engels father had a mill in Weaste, so it would have been possible, in addition,Engels and Marx used Manchester Central Library too.

Hi Colin 
Engels was writing in the 1840s with Karl Marx later on 
Engels had written The Condition of The Working Class in England after observing the conditions of people living in slums in Salford and Manchester in 1845

Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (1848), commonly known as The Communist Manifesto, the most celebrated pamphlet in the history of the socialist movement.First published in what is now Germany

The Red Dragon pub (Aka The Crescent )Grade II Listed Building was not built until the 1860s
Nor even possible was the Black Horse Hotel a few doors down , on the Crescent in Salford, was built in 1875.
Seeing that the Ermen and Engels Factory ( later Winterbottoms Weaste   ) was some distance from the Crescent in a society with NO buses l doubt they would have walked to this non existent pub at that time....
It is more likely that they drank in the old Wellington pub on the then St Marys Gate next door but one to Chethams where they DEFINITELY spent time researching you can still sit in the alcove at Chetham's Library in Manchester where Marx and Engels would research their work, and read the very same books that they poured over in the summer of 1845. 
and where Engels was lodging nearby in Francis St and Ducie St  now the site of a hotel

So the fact is , that Engels and Marx worked on the Communist Manifesto etc and other works and researching  BEFORE the Red Dragon was even built

As regards Manchester Central Library ....Construction started: 1930 ,Architect: Vincent Harris ,Opened: 17 July 1934 so no link there 
Manchester was the first local authority to provide a public lending and reference library after the passing of the Public Libraries Act 1850. The Manchester Free Library opened at Campfield in September 1852 at a ceremony attended by Charles Dickens. When the Campfield premises were declared to be unsafe in 1877, the library was moved to the old Town Hall in King Street. The library moved again to what is now Piccadilly Gardens, to the former outpatients wing of Manchester Royal Infirmary and an old YMCA hut in 1912.
The library was officially opened by King George V on 17 July 1934 after he had laid the foundation stone for the Town Hall Extension.

However there is a possibility they used both Chethams and the Portico libraries
The Portico Library was established by 400 founding subscribers in 1806, during Manchester’s emergence as ‘the first modern city’. Early readers and associates included word-famous authors, future Prime Ministers, leading scientists, and educators. Built with wealth derived from the Industrial Revolution, British empire-building, and colonial expansion, the Library amassed a collection that reflects the innovations, but also the exclusions and inequities of its time.The Library’s early members—all men until the Married Women’s Property Act of 1870—included people of various political positions, from Radical and Liberal abolitionists and anti-poverty campaigners to exploitative factory owners and textile traders. 

So with luck this finally puts to bed the myth about Marx and Engels drinking in Salford 
 
John Catterall
on behalf of Fred and Karl
Danke ..........
or if you prefer their native Prussian...
Dīnkun

Whilst I whole heartedly agree that Marks and Engels never drank there I don't agree that the building wasn't there; it certainly appears on the; 1850 OS 5" to the mile https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/s/05jue3 and a building with a very similar foot print occupies the spot on the William Green plan of 1794. The interior did used to contain some early Georgian woodwork - in particular the stair case doors and windows in 1 Massy Street which wasn't as messed around with as the main pub. At the time Marks and Engels were knocking around the area it would still have been fine town houses, it was only later that it became variously shops and then a pub,; around 1950 from what I can gather though part ( No 19 that has no frontage onto the Crescent) may have been a beer house earlier. 

I think the Marks and Engels story originally came from the Salford Star or it's predecessor, it made a good excuse for them to spend the odd afternoon doing "research".

Matt Davies Landlord of the Crescent 84-94ish