Pubs are great places to catch up and have a laugh with your mates, or even striking up a conversation with a stranger who ends up becoming a friend for life.
The best pubs are not only vital community social hubs, they make a huge contribution to the local economy. But like any large city with a long established drinking culture, some pubs gain a reputation for being 'rough' or a bit 'dodgy'.
Ask anyone to name such an establishment and often the same pubs will come up time and again. Over the years, The MEN has published stories on a number of notorious pubs and how they had gained their reputation.
Read More: Manchester's 'toughest' pub where 'man shot with crossbow for booting sheep'
Read More: Notorious estate pub run by famous wrestler had heavy metal band called 'Flakey Snot'
Some had undoubtedly deserved their notoriety, having been connected to criminal activity. Other pubs, however, could be described as more 'rough and ready' establishments, perhaps gaining their reputation from their wariness towards new faces or the colourful characters who frequented them.
There was the pub said to be the scene of a crossbow shooting after a man "booted" another man's sheep. Another pub was described as a "hell hole" full of gangsters until its forced closure and eventual demolition.
Below we've listed five lost Greater Manchester pubs that gained a reputation in their time and what happened to them after they closed.
The Flying Shuttle
For many living in the Highfield area of Farnworth, the Flying Shuttle was the very definition of a 'local'. Away from Bolton and Farnworth town centres and right on a lot of people's doorsteps, it's a place that brings back genuinely happy memories for hundreds of people, despite gaining an unenviable reputation as one of Britain's toughest pubs.
One Facebook user described it as 'a great pub back in the day, especially in the 60s and 70s', while another reminisced: "I went in from its opening and loved the place. It was new and became very popular as did the landlord and landlady, Bill and Bridie."
Others remembered live music that could often be heard from nearby houses on the Highfield Road, Anchor Lane and the 'Bird Estate'. A common theme running through people's recollections is that it was better 'in the olden days' with pub-goers complaining of prevalent drug activity in its later years.
It was drugs that led to the pub's eventual downfall - in March 2012, The Flying Shuttle's licence was suspended by Bolton Council after police expressed concern about the pub being used by dealers. Licensing officer PC Garry Lee even compared the pub to the Wild West - stating that even John Wayne wouldn't have been able to sort out it out.
In the aftermath, arsonists reportedly started eight fires in one night in protest at the pub being closed down. Vandals even covered sections of the pub's sign with bin bags so that it instead read: 'The Lying Slut' and national press picked up on the story of its closure, with some branding it the 'toughest pub in Britain'.
In 2014, it eventually reopened but as a Nisa Local convenience store. Today, it is a 'Premier Store' and Post Office, with the beer garden replaced with parking for shoppers.
Billy Greens
In 2004, the now demolished Billy Greens pub in Collyhurst appeared in a Sky TV show called 'The Toughest Pubs in Britain'. Named after a renowned local boxer and well-known landlord, the pub was once the centre of life on the estate.
The episode kicked off with an interview with one male drinker who has a pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head. He said: "I call it Beirut, if you’ve not got a car burnt out outside your house in the morning you’ve had a good night."
The show centred around interviews with the pub's patrons, many who spoke openly of their disdain for so-called "grasses" and the dodgy people and goings on at the pub. One "ex-villain" told the TV crew: "It’s quite a known fact that in Collyhurst and the surrounding area, you were either a boxer, a footballer or a thief.
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"I took the Collyhurst way - the villain way. I’ve done time in Holland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland twice, Germany twice."
But perhaps the highlight of the show was the following anecdote from one of the pub's regulars: "The funniest thing I saw in this pub here was a mate of mine, coming back from United and Leeds away. Coming back from the game they’d nicked a sheep off the moors. They brought the sheep back to the pub on a lead.
“This other guy who was in the pub booted the sheep, and his mate had a crossbow behind the bar. He shot the crossbow at the guy that booted the sheep and it went right through his arm 'ere.
"And he’s wriggling about on the floor. So you’ve got like a sheep on the floor there, and you’ve got this geezer with an arrow in his arm. That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in here, we all just hit the f*****g deck mate, it was just like so funny it was like, wow."
Billy Green's was named after a renowned local boxer boxer and well-known pub landlord. The pub closed in 2011 and was being abandoned and burned out, eventually falling victim to the bulldozer. Where the pub used to stand there's now just a patch of wasteland left in its place.
Brass Handles
Now demolished, the Brass Handles pub in Pendleton shut after a notorious gangland bloodbath in March 2006, when two hitmen burst in and shot David Totton and Aaron Travers. Both targets survived, but the gunmen – Richard Austin, 19, and Carlton Alveranga, 20 – were overpowered and shot dead with their own guns.
The Brass Handles, on Edgehill Close, was bought by Salford council in 2010 and was torn down to make way for a regeneration scheme. Labour councillor, John Warmisham, who campaigned for the pub to be torn down, said: "It was a blight on the area and stood as a reminder of the terrible events that happened there.
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"A vandalised pub which had a history is not what I wanted for the area. I look forward to the land in the future being used in a positive way to regenerate the area for local people and attract new residents."
Father-of-two Andrew Berry, 28, has lived opposite the Brass Handles for 12-years admitted he was relieved it was being demolished. He said: "I used to go there when it was used by people of all ages from the community. Everything changed when a handful of gangsters appeared and it turned into a hell-hole."
Bobby Speirs, 41, from Prestwich, was jailed for life for masterminding the bungled ‘hit’ at the pub. Two other people were jailed for their involvement – Ian McLeod, of Manchester’s Doddington gang, and convicted gun-runner Constance Howarth.
The Eagle
A notorious flat-roofed pub built next to a doomed estate was once home to a host of memorable characters and a famous wrestling landlord. The Eagle pub has been described by a lost pubs of Manchester website as "one of the most notorious of the Hulme Crescent's boozers".
Situated between Robert Adam Crescent and William Kent Crescent, they belonged to a group of four long curved terraces named after the architects. The pubs of Manchester website describes some of the colourful characters that frequented the boozer.
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After stumbling across The Eagle on a night out, one former student remembered the locals clientele of the pub as "like inmates from an insane asylum". He described one former boxer who commandeered the pool table as staring at him with "mad red chicken eyes".
He also recounts another "heavy metal Rasta guy" as dancing in the middle of the pub to a tune that was playing in his own head. Back in 2019, after a photograph of The Eagle was posted on Twitter, more people began sharing their memories of the pub.
Liznaylor1 remembered: "The Eagle had a resident heavy metal band in the late '70s called 'Flakey Snot' - wasn't really a destination for the post punk crowd as you might imagine". However, some remembered having much more positive experiences at The Eagle.
Back on the pubs of Manchester website, one person remembered: "I used to live in Old Trafford, walked into university through the crescents on a daily basis. I clocked The Eagle early on.
"One Saturday night my mate and I were at a loose end. We said let's hit The Eagle. There was a private party but luckily the name of the girl whose party it was was on a banner. So I said I knew her and hey presto free drinks all night."
In the 1970s, the pub was run by the famous TV wrestler known as Honey Boy Zimba. Known for his headbutting in the wrestling ring, Zimba's real name was Ernal Stephens who died in 1999. Strangely, Hulme Crescents and The Eagle pub were also popular gathering spots for those on the Manchester punk scene at one time.
But, by the late 1980s, many families had abandoned and moved out of the area as they fell victim to vandalism and dereliction. The estates were demolished in the 1990s, just 30-years after being built, and along with them, The Eagle pub.
The Pepperhill
The Pepperhill on Bedwell Street was once one of the most notorious pubs of Manchester, having been associated with the Moss Side gang warfare. It became home to a gang of heavily armed drug dealers, who took their name, the Pepperhill Mob, from the pub.
With gang warfare rife in Moss Side in the 1980s and '90s, rivalry between the Gooch Gang - named after Moss Side's Gooch Close - and the Pepperhill Mob, saw a surge in violent assaults and drug related murders. At the height of it all, the Pepperhill pub was shut down, but its namesakes simply moved base, renaming themselves the Doddington gang.
After the pub was closed, many of the streets and alleyways on the estate were remodelled. It was renamed the Saltshaker and used as a community centre. These days the building is an Islamic centre..
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