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.
Built in the 1960s, they were hailed as a state-of-the-art answer to rehoming tenants following the slum clearances. However, Manchester's housing chief would later condemn them as "an absolute disaster" due to their serious construction and design flaws.
The pubs of Manchester website describes some of the colourful characters that frequented the boozer. 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".
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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."
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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.
Stephens was born in Sierra Leone but later emigrated to the UK with his family. Based in Manchester, Honey Boy took part in many televised bouts against other big name rivals including Giant Haystacks in the 1970s and '80s.
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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.
Despite their demolition, many people still remember the Crescent estates fondly. Back in 2017, in a story featured in the MEN on the lost estates, former Robert Adam Crescent tenant Mark Burnett said: “It was a great place to live. When you are young the problems didn’t chime with you, you don’t notice the damp walls and electricity going, and cockroaches.
“You just notice your mates. Each of the Crescents had its own football team and we used to play against each other. Playing knock on the door was fun - we just moved from one Crescent to another.
"We set up dens in the garages and made our own bikes. It was a great time to live and grow up. We would get together and go to the cash and carry and buy stuff in bulk and share it.
“Living on the Crescents everyone looked out for each other. Your next door neighbours’ parents would be like a second set of parents to you - in fact you had a whole bloody Crescent of parents - who would tell your own what you had been up to."
