Salford Arms // 146 Chapel Street
The Salford Arms is at a stretch of Salford, teetering on Manchester, that is dominated by pubs but there was once a time that you could have taken the existing count and multiplied it by five or more. Some of the pubs to have vanished from the area include the wonderfully named Round O’ Beef, and The Tripedressers Arms. Who’d have thought the vegetarian movement started so nearby! Across from the Salford Arms, on the corner diagonal from here is Copperheads – George Best’s favourite pub and much frequented during his time as owner of an Edwardian clothes shop on Bridge Street (now the Starbucks beneath Mojos). The shop is featured in the opening of the nostalgic film The Lovers! starring Richard Beckinsale, in which the
three male leads approach a girls gathered outside the es and whisk them away to time discotheque at Albert
group of premisa lunch Square.
The Salford Arms is next to the rather beautiful Model Lodging House. When the premises opened it was the first of its kind in the country and offered accommodation for 285 men, some of whom are said to have lived there for over 20 years. The purpose of the house was a dosshouse for homeless or drunks. When the site was being redeveloped into the apartments of today the contractors discovered that the main doors wouldn’t lock – the lodge was open 24 hours a day to everyone so the locks had not once been turned and thus ceased up.