To mark the reopening the former Irish pub will also be given a new name
The Ancoats boozer will be re-opening under a new guise(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Work is about to begin on the extensive refurbishment and extension of one of Manchester’s oldest pubs that has been shut for years.
The Shamrock, located on Bengal Street in Ancoats, dates back to 1808 and served the area for more than 200 years. The much-loved Irish boozer will now be changed into a Joseph Holt’s venue following a series of delays and setbacks.
In 2018 the pub’s former landlord was left devastated when Marstons, the brewery that owned it at the time, made the decision to close its doors.
However, the venue was thrown a lifeline in 2019 when it was confirmed that Joseph Holt brewery had acquired it, with plans for ‘considerable investment’ and refurbishment.
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It had been expected to open later that year, however the building remained tinned up with construction work going on around its premises ever since.
When the Manchester Evening News contacted Joseph Holt in early 2023, the brewery confirmed that the pub was still expected to reopen but would no longer be an Irish pub.
It said it would be refurbished into a Joseph Holt’s pub to give a “modern offering in keeping with some of the newer food and drink businesses moving into the area.”
The Shamrock on Bengal Street, Ancoats, dates back to 1808(Image: Manchester Evening News)
In February this year, the brewery said it was awaiting for plans to be approved with a tentative opening date also in the pipeline.
Now, after delays triggered by the pandemic, the family and owned business is finally about to embark on a major facelift of the property.
To mark the next chapter, customers are also being given the chance to have their say on the new name for the venue.
“As a family business with deep roots in the area, our pubs are very much at the very heart of the communities where they are located,” said Richard Kershaw, CEO of Joseph Holt.
The Shamrock on Bengal Street(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“With the moving forward of long-awaited refurbishment of The Shamrock – and with it a new name – we wanted our customers to feel part of the journey.
“So we brainstormed names for the pub that would respect the past and the local area while also looking to the future. Now we’re letting the people who matter most to us, our customers, decide which one to use.”
The options on the table for the new name include Victoria Arms – a nod to the flats and accommodation opposite the pub; The Fleet, a friendly tip of the hat to another former neighbouring pub; and The Linen Arms, inspired by Manchester’s cotton trade.
Two other names have also been put forward by the brewery: The Spinners Rest – honouring the mill workers who resided in the Ancoats area, and Queen Adelaide, which is named after another former pub on the main Ancoats Road.
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Voting is now open on the Joseph Holt website, and one participant who picks the winning name will receive free drink vouchers to celebrate the pub’s reopening.
When The Shamrock closed its doors several years ago, then landlord Gerry Ellis, who had at one point hoped to buy the pub himself, lamented the loss of ‘the last traditional pub in Ancoats’ at the time.
The watering hole had become a gathering place for the area’s Irish and Italian communities who made their homes in the neighbourhood.
It was one of the last vestiges of Ancoats as it was formerly known, before the influx of restaurants, bars and artisan bakeries arrived to cater to the growing number of residential developments in the area and the changing face of Manchester City Centre.