Description
A man crosses the road in front of the Swiss Hotel. The pub stood at 8-10 Southern Street and was closed in the 1970s.
Swiss Hotel By Humphrey Spender - September 1937
- Copyright Bolton Council
- Image ref. 1993.83.07.09
- Page author:
I was brought up in this pub, and lived there between 1945 and 1961.My Grandfather,William Morris was the landlord. The pillars and outside cover were removed during the war being an hazard in the blackout. My uncle, James Morris was the first Bolton casualty of WW11. He perished on HMS Daring.
Thank you for sharing this David
Was your grandfather related to Edward Anderton Morris ?
He was one of my 3X greatgrandfathers sons and used to have a bakers on Bradshawgate. He had a son William.
I’m interested what, exactly was built prior to the (ginnel) passage through the semis ( kirkhope walk) and centre gardens on to the square grassy area .
1, Was there a public house or a dwelling with a cellar.
( area) right off Farley street, turning up onto kirkhope walk, right ( ginnel) passage.
Any, information would be gratefully recieved.
Family names etc espeacially females , if known that exact spot.
I was born in Center Street and lived there until 1966, my parents were regular patrons of the pub. One enduring memory is that every year the men would go off on a day out to Blackpool and we kids would congregate outside the Swiss (the men were inside drinking). When the coach came for them, they would exit the pub and before boarding, would throw pennies and ha’pennies to the ground and we kids would scramble to pick up as many as we could. My dad never failed to bring my brother Raymond and me gifts from his day out.
I also dated Valarie Dunn, the daughter of the last landlord, until they moved to Durham.
I lived in Tyndall Street, 1950s/1963. My Mum and Grandmother used to enjoy a Guinness at weekends. They would send me up to the Swiss to buy two pint bottles. Occasionally they would send me for another round. The landlady would pull my leg for drinking too much. Off sales were from a serving hatch, as you entered the main door turn immediate right and you entered the bar. Walk past that door and you got to the serving hatch. Happy Days!
Hello. My 4x great uncle ran the Swiss Hotel during the 1860s and 70s. His name was John Atkins and he was born here in Swansea in 1832.
Hi, I remember The Swiss very well. In fact my memories of growing up around that area of Brownlow Fold, and HALLIWELL, are still as fresh as they were in the 50’s and 60’s.
I lived at both 26 Darley St, with my dad Vincent Williams, my mum, Joan and my nana Mary (Polly) Williams. I was born in 1952. My dad had grown up living at 26 Darley St, next door to Francis’s newsagents.I remember every house on this part of the street, all the neighbours, their jobs, their personalities.
We later moved to 99 Darley St, oposite Plato St and Brownlowfold School. My great aunt, Cissy had died, and we inherited what became colloquially known as the ‘Toffee Shop’.
My paternal grandfather, Joseph Williams, was born to an impoverished life in Angel Meadow, in Manchester. He was a Blacksmith, and later his whole family moved to Horwich to find a better life at the Loco works in Horwich. He was born in1883, and later became the landlord of The Woodman Inn in Carlyle St, round the corner from The Queens, and a short distance from The Swiss. By all accounts, his pub was typical of the period, rough and ready, and actually featured as a transcription in the Mass Observation. It was interesting to hear, the ‘secret’ life of the vault in the Woodman, and their discussions about the Spanish Civil War, interspersed with unfavourable opinions on women, all touched with humour!
My job, apart fron helping to run our little front room shop, was to run errands, down the back street, to Tates’s grocers on the corner of Center St, opposite the Swiss.
My dad endorsed what has also been mentioned by Dennis Wheatley, I remember him too. The Swiss had trips out and the men for years had thrown their small coins to the kids. Morris’s chip shop was on the corner, a Friday treat where you could take your own dish, and ask for ‘scraps’
Interestingly, my nana’s family had all lived in these small terraced streets, Southern St, Center St, Darley St, Frazer St since they came from Ireland in 1870. My great grandad, Patrick Corrigan and his brother came from Ireland to escape poverty, and settled here.
a small world, and circumstances brought the Williams and the Corrigans together over time.
Now, to my point, I have never seen a photograph of either of these grandparents, Patrick Corrigan or Joseph Williams. I was hoping the somebody out there could offer a little assistance please?
Joe Williams died in1937, following an angina attack in the yard of Yates’s Wine Lodge, and my nana Polly continued to run the Woodman. She died in 1960 and would never discuss her family. I wondered what the Brewery supplying the pub might have been? Tetley’s ? Magees?
I also have some Angling Medals Joesph Williams won whilst part of the LMS Angling Society 1930?
We had to leave that wonderful little street when it was subjected to a Compulsory Purchase order, and a new life in Little Lever beckoned, but that old life could never be replaced, the memories live on. Any guidance gratefully received. Thankyou Sue Taylor.
I lived in Fraser Street from 1949 until 1961 when we moved ahead of the inevitable slum clearance schemes. My mum and dad frequented the Swiss. Other landmarks were Tates grocers, also in the photo, at the bottom of Center Street; Morris’s chippy at the end of Tyndall Street. The Church of the Nazerene at the top of Arden Street. Stott’s or ‘Top Shop’ at the top of Fraser Street. The Labour Club in Fraser Street. Audrey’s pie shop across on Tyndall Street from the top of Law Street on the corner where you could walk through to the ‘Rothull’ wall. The Lord Ashley pub and Gwen’s toffee shop a bit further down Tyndall Street towards where Merehall Street met Yarrow Place.
I was born in 1947 and lived on the other side of Chorley Old Road in Horatio Street (also now gone). I went to Oxford Grove School and used to like a girl called Joan Corrigan (I think) who lived on the corner of Darley Street and the road where the City pub was near the bus shelter. Nearby I think was Telford St where my mate John Hilliard/Dootson lived. My family and I used to go to the Gem cinema at the top end of Darley Street. As mentioned before Frazer St was nearby and there was a club there that my friends and I would frequent.