Hardy's Well, Rusholme

Demolished 26/5/2023 due to the building being deemed unsafe following a very serious fire in the near-derelict property. Closed 16/7/2016. Planning Application 119100/FO/2018 | Erection of a part two, part three, part four and part five storey building to provide 8 ground floor A1 retail / A2 financial and professional services at ground floor and 35no. apartments above with associated access, parking and landscaping arrangements. Withdrawn 14/6/2021.

History: As of Sept 2015 the pub had the protection of Asset of Community Value status and was run by a team of volunteers manning the bar and running events to make this into a real community-focused space. Formerly the Birch Villa, this was one of Hulme-based Hardy's Crown Brewery houses (note the Hardy's mosaic on the front of the building); there had been a Birch Villa here since 1837. It was sited at the southern end of the Curry Mile, and was noted for its poem (this is by Lemn Sissay, a local poet) writ large on the gable which dominates the wall overlooking the beer garden. Inside this large, high-ceilinged, slightly care-worn, one roomed pub there was a cosmopolitan mix of locals and students. Its draught real ales served as welcome respite to the endless offering of Asian lager from its restaurant neighbours. Evening meals featured steaks, lamb shanks, pizzas, burgers and strangely enough curry! Weston’s Old Rosie was the cider, and you could find entertainment in the two pool tables and the two goldfish behind the bar. The large outside area beneath the famous poem had tables enough to seat 100 people. CAMRA magazine "What's Doing" described it thus in the March 1978 edition - '"...two pubs in one. The front door leads into a large, carpeted lounge which is a very popular rendezvous. The Dickenson Road entrance leads by way of a flight of virtiginous stone steps into a plain one-room bar with a raised square-domed ceiling".