Grand Central Pub

History

The name "Grand Central" is relatively new and was adopted because of the nearness of Oxford Road railway station, alluding to New York's Grand Central Station. Until the renaming the pub was the Beef & Barley and included a separate steak bar, having been modernised in the late 1960s. The beer stocked at that time was Watney/Wilsons from Wilsons Newton Heath Brewery. Earlier still the pub was called the Oxford Bar.

The oldest records found featuring Grand Central suggest that it was originally eight separate residential properties. This is shown in an 1849 map of Oxford Street.

First-hand accounts recall 80 Oxford Street being known as 'The Oxford Wine Bar' in 1953, and later in 1960 as simply 'The Oxford'. In 1970 it became the 'Beef & Barley', a Steak House, and a year later in 1971 'A Schooner Inn' was added to the 'Beef and Barley' pub sign. Between 1977 and 1978 it was known as the 'Cork & Screw' and it became 'The Shady Lady' in the late 1970s.

The Beer Scare of 1900

Peter Bostock was among several licensees in this area of Manchester who were suspected of unknowingly selling adulterated beer in 1900. The poisoned beer resulted in outbreaks of peripheral neuritis caused by arsenic poisoning that was traced by the Royal Commission to the raw materials found in brewing sugars at a refiners in Liverpool called Bostock & Co. of Garston (not thought to be a relation of the licensee). The company used a process involving sulphuric acid (made from arsenical iron pyrites) to manufacture glucose. Upon these findings, the Royal Commission recommended that 'a legal maximum of not more than one-hundredth of a grain of arsenic per gallon of liquid per pound of solid food be enforced'. By this point the damage had been done and up to four grains of arsenic were being found per pound of brewing sugar. The beer scare of 1900 has been mentioned in various articles on medical science, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, where it was stated that over 2,000 people received medical treatment for peripheral neuritis. It is widely believed that the scare affected 6,000 people and killed 70.Blocker, Jack S.; Fahey, David M.; Tyrrell, Ian R. Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: a global encyclopedia. 2 vols. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2003 ; p. 56.

Ghosts

Most residents of 80 Oxford Street are buried in Manchester's Southern Cemetery. There have only been two deaths recorded at this address; Peter Bostock in 1904 and Hannah Bostock in 1893, and one listed birth; Mabel Lewis in 1910. However, many customers and staff have reported apparent ghost sightings over the years at the pub.

Little Ireland

Main article: Little Ireland

Grand Central exists on the periphery of what was once known as 'Little Ireland'. Containing mainly poorly skilled Irish immigrants it became Manchester's oldest, smallest and most short-lived Irish slum, where people lived in cramped, unhygienic conditions. In the 1820s the first immigrants moved there, and lived in the small streets off the main thoroughfare such as James Leigh Street which is located behind Grand Central. By the mid-1840s they were moved on and the area was demolished to make way for the industrious Victorian capitalists in their attempts to build the Manchester South Junction Railway line, which remains there to this day. In his book titled The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 social scientist Friedrich Engels wrote unfavourably about his experience of Little Ireland in Manchester in his book, claiming it was a 'horrid little slum'. Regardless of this, Little Ireland became world-famous, and the term itself became a generic shorthand for Irish living in slum housing throughout the 19th century industrial world.

Residents and staff

References

References

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2. Qureshi, Yakub. (14 April 2010). "Music is over at Jilly's Rockworld". M.E.N. Media.
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4. "Grand Central : homepage".
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7. "Sabrina Ramdoyal Photography".
8. Evans, David G. et al. (1975) ''The Manchester Pub Guide''. Manchester: Manchester Pub Surveys; p. 32
9. Ordnance Survey ''Plan SJ8497: scale 1:2500 or 25.344 inches to 1 mile''; edition of 1955
10. [http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=74158 Beef & Barley]
11. [http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=74172 Schooner Inn]
12. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721232934/http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/7215/shadylady.jpg The Shady Lady]
13. Clark, Christine. ''The British Malting Industry Since 1830''. The Hambledon Press 1998; p. 77.
14. Burnet, John. ''Plenty and Want: a social history of food in England from 1815 to the present day''. Methuen & Co. Ltd. 1985; p. 235.
15. ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'', Vol. 36. 1901; p. 45.
16. "A history of the Irish in Manchester". Prideofmanchester.com.
17. [[Great British Railway Journeys#Manchester to Chesterfield]]
18. Source: RG10; Piece: 4039; Folio: 160; Page: 37; GSU roll: 846332.
19. "Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project - District of Manchester". Lan-opc.org.uk.
20. Source: RG11; Piece: 3990; Folio: 158; Page: 19; GSU roll: 1341952.
21. Source : RG12; Piece: 3238; Folio 10; Page 13; GSU roll: 6098348.
22. Source: RG13; Piece: 3747; Folio: 8; Page: 7.