Visit the Time Gentlemen Please web site for more info on the expanding series. http://tgpgeopage.weebly.com/
When you have worked out the co-ords by visiting all the stages. You will be looking for a medium to large sized clip lock box. with black tape camo. The container has some swaps for the mini cachers and a couple of micro caches for any one who wants to hide a TGP- Time Gentlemen Please cache, I will soon have a cache page up and running and hope this idea will spread across the country to highlight the demise of the local British pub. anyone who plans to hide a TGP please contact me so I can add it to the page, requirements for the cache are listed name should be, TGP- Followed by name of closed pub. pub must be closed with no possibility of reopening and should include history of the building and what has become of it now. Thanks Leecar23. please use stealth when trying to find as the area is very busy most of the day.
At one time Stockport had a well known pub crawl along Hillgate with 16-17 pubs to visit, but I believe this could have been more in earlier years. And so that is where we start our crawl but this one highlights the closed pubs of Stockport's town. Thankfully the buildings are still in use as most have long and interesting histories. Following on from the Time Gentlemen Please series in the town, And the start of the TGP caches that I have started to placed around the borough ( And as soon as I can get the web site up and running ) I will open out for all to place hopefully nationally. So we can highlight the demise of the good old British boozer.
The Golden Lion
We start at 89 Middle Hillgate. When Hillgate was developed into a turnpike road, by Manchester and Buxton Turnpike trust, it became a very busy highway. Next to the tollbar, where travelers on horse or carriage paid to pass through along the improved road, A small plot of land was sold in 1763, for 1 pound. Josiah Barlow, A carpenter, and John Ford of Poynton, Bought it to build four houses. By 1810 one or more of these was a beerhouse, Known by the sign of Admiral Rodney, and had already increased in value to 350 pounds. Admiral Rodney was a national hero in 1782 who defeated the French fleet, Preventing an attack on Jamaica. On his return to Britain he was Knighted and given a pension. This is probably when the beerhouse got its name, But by 1814 it had changed to the Golden Lion. Always called the Yellow Cat, and the value was now 490 pounds. The rise in value of this beerhouse indicated the rise in trade and importance of Hillgate itself. The building retains signs of two phases of alterations in the cellar and the front was certainly remodeled at some time during the 19th century. It closed in 2009 and was bought by a firm of architects, Who display a sign with a rather Egyptian looking Golden Lion.
Higher Packhorse "BIG LAMP"
At one time Stockport had four inns called the Packhorse, This one was situated on Middle Hillgate and was on the same block as another Packhorse ( Lower Packhorse ) Later changing it's name to Land of cakes, and both buildings remain today but alas neither are pubs. The upper or Higher packhorse was described as old in 1823, and at one time it was known as Cox's vaults after the landlord of the same name. It reverted back to the Packhorse by 1837. Nicknamed the "Big Lamp" when the landlord put a huge lamp above his door to indicate that he was the first inn to provide a tap room. In 1900 it was re-built back from the road. After closing as a pub it became a restaurant and is now separated into flats.
Bishop Blaize
Lower Hillgate. First mentioned in 1805 and nicknamed " The Old Bishop ", Bishop Blaize was the patron saint of " Felters ". Working in their homes and farms, these were the people who made the felt for hats were very much a part of the early hatting industry in Stockport, much of which was centred around Hillgate. In 1870 the Inn was changed to the Gladstone, As this was the name of the Liberal Prime Minister of the day and the Liberal Headquarters were housed in the reform club, ( Better known as Peaches ) just across the road. The name seems to have see-sawed backwards and forwards ever since. The Inn was most famous for being the site where the so called " Irish riots " were started in 1852. In actual fact it was an Englishman who knocked another Englishman's hat off, but because everyone thought he was Irish. It lit the fire that had been smouldering for some time between the two communities. The outcome of the riots, which centered around two Roman Catholic churches, resulted in 100 people being arrested, one killed and much property burned. In the 1930's it was remodeled by the brewery that owned it at the time and the name was changed back again to the Gladstone, But changed back again to Bishops Blaize just before it finally closed. it is now offices.
The Spread Eagle
Lower Hillgate. First mentioned in 1726, This was a very early brewhouse. Access to the yard was through the same arch That the brewery behind used for the Unicorn Inn.This was often confused with the Unicorn, as it was next to their offices. In1830 William Hindley was the landlord when the Inn was put up for sale with; a brewhouse, stable, billiard room, warehouse and yard. The Inn an ever changing list of landlords, benning with Joseph Lowe and James Leigh, until it was taken over by the brewery that shall not be named behind the building. It was still open until a few years ago and is now offices for the unnamed brewery. Most landlords may not have realised it, But they were liable for any loss of property belonging to their customers. This was proven in a court of law, When a man sued a landlord because he had his great-coat taken from a peg in the lobby of the Inn, The Magistrates found for the plaintiff and the landlord had to buy him a new great-coat. The Inn was sold to unsaid brewery in 1900.
The White Lion
Great Underbank. This Inn was the most famous in Stockport dating back to at least the 15th century, It's visitors were permitted to fish for salmon in the river Mersey at the bottom of the garden, and could use the Inn's own pew in the parish church, St. Mary's in the market place. It was re-built in 1743, and during the Peninsular wars, The landlord kept a cannon ready to indicate the arrival of the mail coach from London. The news was then read by the Town Crier in front of the Inn. John Byng, a seasoned traveller and diarist in the late eighteenth century, stayed at the White Lion on his travels around England. He was not impressed by the accommodation and called it a " sad looking Inn, striped and barr'd with so much black timber as would build a man of war. He did however enjoy the wine, as the best he had drunk outside London. The stables could hold 22 horses and one was kept ready at all times to deliver telegrams. Favoured by gentlemen of the town, the smoking club used it for their meetings as well as the Corporation for lavish towns banquets, before the Warren Bulkeley was built. Once a year a ballot was drawn here, for a number of town's people to serve with the Militia, and it was at one of these gatherings, in 1811, that a crowd of around three hundred attacked the landlord William Ellison, and the leaders of the group, forced their way into the room where the magistrates had gathered. They demanded the list of names, then asked for a crown a piece to drink to the King's health, content with the outcome, they left. This was a time of great unrest in Stockport and one thousand and eleven men were enrolled into the Stockport Regiment that year, one third of the number in the whole of Cheshire. The building was re-fronted in a mock Tudor black & white style, in 1823 and later re-built behind the old Inn, in 1906. Closed now, it stands a forlorn sight in a pedestrian area, no longer important as a traveller's hostelry.
Warren Bulkeley
The original Inn was demolished around 1780 and the Warren Bulkeley was built on the site, Probably when mill street was cut through to improve access to the park mills. The land was owned by the Warren family and the tap room up bridge street was where they collected their rents. The new name was in honour of George Warren's daughter and son-in-law Viscount Bulkeley who adopted the name Warren Bulkeley after their marriage in 1777. In 1801 the Stockport and Marple Turnpike Trust improved Mill Street, and this is probably when the name changed to Warren street, after George Warren, Who died the same year. The Warren Bulkeley took over from the White Lion as the Council's function room, and it was here that Arctic Explorer George Back was entertained following one of his local Yeomanary, who were at odds with the working men of the town, in the early 1800s, due to strikes, riots and many distirbances where they had clashes. It is said that they took their revenge by heating up pennies and throwing them to the starving children, laughing as they burned their fingers trying to pick them up. In 1823, The Warren Bulkeley was the venue for a grand annual ball, held in support of Stockport's Dispensary and house of recovery. When the new infirmary was built on Wellington road, Wich also relied upon public subscriptions, Carnivals were held to raise money in support of it. The Inn was rebuilt in 1890, on the corner of Warren Street and Bridge Street with a new imposing frontage and arms of both families carved in stone above the door, But it was pulled down in the 1980's, having been derelict for some time. Conditions imposed upon the developers, mean that the facade was kept and can now be seen as part of the new building around the corner on Bridge Street.
Buck & Dog
4-Lancashire Bridge. The Buck & Dog was first mentioned in 1770 when it is said to be at the Bridge End', but it could possibly date back to medieval times. In 1799 a great flood lifted the waters of the Mersey so high up the side wall of the Buck & Dog, that a flood stone was erected by the landlord, James Brown. It reads " Well as this is the answer to part of the co-ords you will have to see yourself" this river was as high as this stone. James Brown. The Inn was said to be a favourite place for the press gangs to pounce on unsuspecting men during the Napoleonic wars. It is surprising that Stockport should have such links with the sea, Which is about 40 miles down the Mersey. Following James Brown in 1815, was Ellis Shawcross, who gave notice to the military, that he would no longer allow them inside as they " Interfered with the peace" When a group attempted to enter the following day, they were prevented by overpowering odds. As a very busy coaching Inn, the Buck & Dog, was where you would go to book your tickets for stagecoach, three days before traveling. It was later used by small single horse carriages , who would take passengers to meet the London or Manchester coaches on the new Wellington Road, or to Heaton Norris station before the Viaduct was finished, completing the line through Stockport. For this you would be charged one shilling. The Inn was rebuilt in the 1890's and the doorway was embellished with a carving of a buck and a dog. This Inn had three levels of cellars, the bottom one being cut down into the rock. cutting cellars down into bedrock was common practice in Stockport Inns, it gave cool but constant temperature for keeping beer. When the building was demolished one hundred years later, the frontage and the flood stone were both kept and can be seen around the back of the Bank. The flood stone having been put at such a height as to make nonsense of the wording.
The Tiviot
Horseshoe- Tiviot Dale. , An old 18th century coaching Inn in an area once called Twivy Dale, by the locals. It was first mentioned by name in 1822 when Mr Cooke was advertising his New olympic pavilion close by. He was offering all kinds of equestrian delights, from broadsword exercises, bareback riding, slack rope vaulting, to Mr Cooke himself in splendid armour representing the champion of the Coronation, ( of George IV , two years earlier ). The stables and a blacksmith where housed in the yard behind the Inn, ideal for looking after the show horses. as a coaching Inn it would have had a contract to provide fresh horses to certain coaching firms and the name reflects this, Positioned by the Lancashire Bridge, Where roads to Didsbury, Manchester, Chester, London and york crossed, there would be much need for horses, especially when chain horses were needed to help the coaches and wagons up steep Lancashire Hill. One landlord, in 1830, came to rather a sticky end, when a consignment of gunpowder, being carried by the London coach, blew up. After the coming of the railway, the Inn changed it's name to the Horseshoe & Railway, Becoming the Tiviot after the station closed in 1967. The building that once been the old blacksmith's workshop is still standing around the back. The Inn had a cellar dwelling that is below street level, with a small brick fireplace and the remains of stone steps reaching to the pavement. A tunnel leading towards the river can still be accessed from behind the bar.
Most of the history and information has been sourced from Inns & Outs of Stockport Taverns. By Coral Dranfield. Many thanks.
Key to final
The Golden Lion = First number on the parking restriction sign at the front of the building X 3 = AB
Higher Packhorse = The date in March 1894 the stones on the Salvation Army building opposite were laid X 2 + 3=CD
Bishop Blaize = The number of the building divided by 9= E
Spread Eagle = The number on the next door down minus 20= H
White Lion = Number of telephone box's= F
Warren Bulkeley = Look for the bottom number on the black lamp post with the yellow background = G
Buck & Dog = Look for the second number of the day and the third number of the year that the river rose to the top of the stone behind the parking meter= I J
Tiviot = What is the max stay for parking on the post opposite minus 3 = K
N53 AB.CDE
W00F GH.IJK
Happy Hunting.
FTF 
Rowly