After Robinson's brewery closed the Star Inn in Salford, a consortium of regulars bought the pub and opened it as a free house. You can see a report about this on the BBC1 programme Inside Out North West. It's available on iPlayer until 25 January: click here to watch it. It's worth a look; the report takes up the first 10 minutes of the programme. The beer blogger, Tyson, reported on this encouraging news last October.There is a similar campaign to reopen the Becconsall Hotel in Hesketh Bank (north of Southport) led by 92 year old Mrs Úna McBride who has called with some success for the community to get behind a campaign to save the pub from neglect and vandalism and become again the focal point of the community as it used to be. She and her husband Frank owned the pub for 25 years and raised their children there. This campaign has the support of the local branch of CAMRA. Let's hope that they're as successful as the stalwart Salford regulars who rescued their own local.
The picture shows an old photo of the Becconsall Hotel, before extensive rebuilding.
The McBrides were the licensees when I was a regular there - 1969/71. The railway was long gone and the only way for a Southport -living, non-driver to get to and from work in Hesketh Bank was via an hourly, yet irregular Ribble service. This meant many a missed bus but also many a pleasant 55 mins. spent in the Becc. in the company of Frank and Una who were also customers of ours at the dear old Midland Bank on Station Road.
ReplyDeleteI do hope this campaign succeeds - as we can see from the photo, the place was a fine old gaff in its day and it still was in my time too.