ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST, AS THE DEMOLITION OF THE UNICORN PUB, ECCLES BEGINS

Yet another sad for Eccles history as the demolition of the 120 year old Unicorn pub in Peel Green began today with cranes ripping the roof and back walls down.

The pub has been closed since 2019 and speculation about it's future has come to a head with news that 16 new houses are to be built on the site, despite several petitions to keep the pub open by local people.

Since it's closure it has been plagued with squatters and vandals, who in my opinion albeit meaning well have hastened it's demise.

The iconic landmark pub has had a rich and varied history since opening in 1899 when it was owned by the Rochdale and Manor Brewery and in 1902 was sold the Walker and Homfray's Brewery in Salford, they merged with the Wilsons Brewery in 1949.

A bowling green was the rear of the pub and tragedy struck in 1939 when a chap called Edmund Knowles was struck and killed by lightning whilst playing bowls, a bowling cup was named after him and local bowlers competed for it for many years.

Perhaps the biggest upheaval to the Unicorn came in 1971 when it had a complete transformation and became a theme pub called The Jules Verne complete with a Davy Jones Locker disco in the basement and a Shanghai Waterfront Bar, bloody awful.

In 1980 the planners realised they had made a big mistake and attempted to turn it back into a proper pub and it went back to it's original name, sadly time would catch up with the the pub.

In close proximity to the pub in it's heyday there were lots of factories and industries including Gardner Engineering, Regent Rubber Works, Royal Ordnance Factory, which employed thousands of men and women, who all had disposable income to spend.

Sadly those companies mentioned have all closed down and have never been replaced, a story repeated many times in Eccles and this in turn had the knock effect on pubs, less income, the smoking ban, cheaper beer in the supermarket could only mean the closure of many pubs.

Eccles could boast of having at least 50 pubs at one time and they all made a living, sadly I think it's less than half that number now, a sad and sobering fact.

As the author, poet and one time M.P., Hilaire Belloc said:

"Change your hearts, or you will lose your inns, and you will have deserved to have lost them. But when you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves – for you will have lost the last of England."