Tommy Ducks Manchester

Greenalls illegally demolished Tommy Ducks in the early hours of 21st February 1993.

It was demolished overnight in 1990. The "developers" got a small wrist slap. Never heard it called anything other tan Tommy Ducks or "that pub with the knickers on the ceiling" er... That's it.

It was intended to be called "Tommy Duckworth's" but the signwriter miscalculated and ran out of space!

And yes it was demolished in 1993.

Brian

Fined the princely sum of £1500 according to my information.

Used to go there as a student - good jazz night if I recall correctly.

M.

The history that I heard a long time ago was that a former landlord was called Thomas Duckworth, and because people used to say I'm going for a pint in Tommy Ducks that name stuck but it must hace been called something before then so does anybody know please?

Peter

Email snipped-for-privacy@thetaps.com - his dad used to run the Ducks apparently (see

m.

"Prince of Wales" is the consensus among my CAMRA chums in Manchester (but we can't lay hands on a contemporary pub guide to prove it).

Following up my earlier post: another CAMRA chum claims that "it was originally called the Princess Tavern until as legend goes in the

Hmm. I see I shall have to do a little more digging.

This gets more and more mysterious. I'm now being told it was actually the "Prince's Tavern" - one S - and named after a nearby theatre which was pulled down when they built Central Station. But the name was definitely changed to "Tommy Duck's" many years ago.

I am trying to source an early picture, which I will stick on t'Internet if possible. Meanwhile, a trawl through "What's Doing", the local CAMRA magazine, has proved helpful.

The pub was featured on the front page of in October 1991, when it was selling Coachman Bitter, "the new brew from former Greenall Whitley employees", at GBP 1.22 a pint. A photo accompanied the article, clearly showing the pub sign as "Greenall Whitley TOMMY DUCKS".

The December 1992 edition of WD was headlined "GREENALLS DUCK OUT", with a story about Greenalls wanting to knock it down for an office block. A different picture this time, but again the name was very definitely "TOMMY DUCKS".

But, as reported in the March 1993 edition, "Tommy Ducks was pulled down in the early hours of Sunday 21st February" (1993).

The February 1994 edition reported that a wake would be held "to commemorate the first anniversary of the demise of what was Manchester city centre's most famous public house. The wake will be held on the brick croft car park on the site of Tommy Ducks. Greenalls' chairman, Peter Greenall (pictured), will be presented with a special award for pub demolition, to wit, a bulldozer". (A toy one, from memory.)

My most outstanding memory of TDs was seeing Windsor Davies, the noted thespian, propping up the bar there, between scenes of a play he was in at the Palace Theatre. He looked as miserable as sin. Must have been playing in a tragedy.

Also while most people remember the knickers on the ceiling, does anyone remember the coffin in the glass case??

Peter

yes - now you mention it. Also found this page about the Panama Jazz Band that used to play there - i presume it was them i saw in the 70s,

M.

I have dug, or rather, I have asked a chum to dig "Some notes on Tommy Duck's, aka Princes Tavern, 8 East Street.

"East Street was built in early 1800s, certainly before 1830. The first record I have of a beerseller at No. 8 is John Whittle in 1843. There is no record of a name for the beerhouse.

"The building was put to other uses in the 1850s and early 1860s. At that time there were textile mills on Oxford Street and the 1863 directory describers 8 East Street as a 'Makers-Up Room'. Then there was a beerseller called James Robinson there in 1865, and Thomas Duckworth a few years later.

"The Prince's Theatre was built at the top of Oxford Street in 1864, which probably accounts for the reopening of the beerhouse and its name, the Princes Tavern. See map (at ) - the beerhouse isn't far from the back door of the theatre.

"Tommy Duckworth was from Salford and before he moved to the Princes he may have been at a beerhouse called the Globe Tavern on Barrow Street, off Oldfield Road. He was at the Princes Tavern until the 1880s.

"The beerhouse was acquired by brewers Groves and Whitnall of Salford about 1903.

"The photo (at ) shows Tommy Duck's as a G+W house in the 1920s or 1930s, by which time the nickname had been adopted on the sign. Jack Oliver, the licensee named on the lamp over the door, was there from the 1920s to the 1940s. Mrs Frances Oliver took over and was still there in the 1950s. She obtained a full licence for the pub in March 1957." (I presume from this last remark that it was previously just an alehouse.)

In addition to the map and photo already mentioned, I have also scanned in a photo of the pub in the 1980s, as used on the cover of "What's Doing". It's at .

Thanks for the info - love the pics.

M.

My good chum, Neil Richardson, has very helpfully pointed me towards an even better source of old photos of Tommy Ducks, and indeed of many buildings in olde Manchester and Salford. This is Manchester Library's Local Image Collection at .

There is a search facility - type in "Tommy Ducks" and you'll get 26 results, mostly pictures from the 1970s and 1980s but also some from

Type in "Princes Tavern" and you get some shots from the 1890s and

There are no results for "Princess Tavern". There are several for "Princes Theatre" but none that show a pub in the same shot. No results either for a "Prince of Wales", apart from pubs in Collyhurst, Gorton and Miles Platting.

Anyway, a fascinating site which I commend to you!

It certainly is.

thx

marc