The landmark poem on the side of a pub that's been…

The landmark poem on the side of a pub that's been lost forever

For almost 30 years, visitors to Rusholme were greeted by the sight of Lemn Sissay's poem Hardy's Well. Written in 10-inch capital letters on the gable end of the pub of the same name, it celebrated the joys of drinking with friends in a good old-fashioned boozer.

Designed as a tongue-twister for literate drinkers to try to recite after a few pints, the vast majority of its 98 words begin with a 'w'. And when it was created in 1994, it was possibly the first major piece of public poetry in the country.

But on Friday the landmark pub and its much-loved poem were demolished, less than 48 hours after a fire tore through the building. The blaze broke out Hardy's Well on the corner of Wilmslow Road and Dickenson Road at around 11.45pm on Wednesday.

Despite the best efforts of fire crews, it was ruled the building was unsafe and had to be knocked down. On Friday, the pub's owner told the Manchester Evening News he had tried 'as hard as we can' to make the site safe, adding he was 'very upset' by the demolition.

The 200-year-old pub, at the bottom of the Curry Mile, opposite Platt Fields Park, closed in 2016 and had stood empty ever since. Formerly the Birch Villa, it was popular with Manchester City fans during the club’s time at nearby Maine Road, as well as locals and students living on and around Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road.

The pub's famous mural, by Lemn Sissay (Manchester Evening News)

Sissay often drank and played pool in the pub after moving to Manchester from Wigan when he was 18. During a conversation with a pal and the then landlord one night in 1994, in which he said poetry should be more widely seen, he was challenged to write something for the side of the building.

The landlord was true to his word and, shortly afterwards, the poem Hardy's Well was painted in full in black letters on a white background onto the gable wall. It soon became a south Manchester landmark and the first piece of public poetry in what became a UK-wide project for Sissay.

It proved so popular that legend had it traffic claiming measures had to be introduced near the junction with Dickenson Road to prevent crashes, as so many people were slowing down to read it.

Sissay told the M.E.N this week: "When that poem was put up poets weren't doing that. They weren't putting their poems on the side of buildings.

"It became a landmark, and that's not something you can make happen, people make landmarks. People still contact me from all around the world saying the poem reminds them of their time at university or in Manchester, that it reminds them of a brilliant time in their life.

"I'm extremely proud of that. The poem has done me a lot of good, it's really helped me and my career, but I don't think it's a sad moment.

"I would have loved it if it could have been put somewhere else, but life moves on, things change, Manchester changes. I don't have a problem with it going now."

Hardy's Well

Wait waterless wanderer. Whoever walks
to the well will wade into a wonderous world.
A world which will waken the wilting
wallpaper of work and worry. Well? Worry
will wait while wells wand whirls a warm-
hearted wackiness into a weary week.
Whereafter waves and waterfalls of
wonderment will wash all weakness. A way?
Well? A world wide web of wholehearted
wholesome wisdom and wit waits wipe away
worries. Wells work wonders for wrinkles.
Why wait. Why wonder. Why worry. Why
wain. Why whittle. Why wither. Walk in. Well.
What we waiting for. It'll double you. At
Hardy's Well.

- Lemn Sissay

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