The Dog and Partridge is a Public House that is situated on Irlams o' th' Height, Salford in between two Joseph Holts pubs: the Wellington Hotel and the Waggon and Horses. It is placed between King Street and Queen Street which since 1991 were regarded as conservation areas. This means that the site of the public house is unlikely to be eligible for redevelopment.

It is unknown specifically when the pub actually first opened, however in the past it was well renowned for its great trade and was popular amongst couples and several of the Busby Babes including Salford born Albert Scanlon.

The pub had its hey-day in the 1960s to late 1980s mainly due to stalwart Land Lord Alan Jolly; it was not uncommon for patrons to have difficulty being served because of the pub's popularity. Jolly was known for having at least seven barmaids on duty on most nights.

The pub itself has always been regarded as the place to be on Irlams o'th Heights as it was not a Joseph Holts pub and despite the alcohol being slightly more expensive than its main rivals in the area it would always be full to capacity.

The Addition of a Beer Garden has proved very popular although with unpredictable summers and location it is not used on a regular basis. However, the recent smoking ban in England has increased it's popularity.

There has been a decline in trade in recent years although some of the busiest nights in recent years were under Norman Rowcroft's tenure when Manchester United completed the historic Treble in 1999.

The pub itself has endured some changes over the years with the addition of a conservatory area and as of June 2007 as basic smoking shelter to help enforce the non smoking law which came into force in England on July 1st 2007.

The Pub is considered by many locals as a focal point for meeting people such as the Rovers Return in Coronation Street. It has a rich history and heritage in the local community spanning over 100 years and is one of the few Original Public houses still intact since the development of the East Lancashire Road in the 1970s and this can be researched at many Salford Libraries with a wide array of photographs taken from the early part of the 20th century.

Alan Jolly sold the premises to Bass Breweries for a substantial sum and since then it has changed hands on numerous occasions, it currently belongs to Enterprise Inns and is being leased out to Mike Hadfield, Paul Cooper and Robert Semple.

Location and History

Irlams o' th' Height is an area within Pendleton, toward the north west corner of the city. It is on the extremity of the Salford City boundary, and stands next to the Swinton and Pendlebury area of Salford City Council. It also has borders with the rest of Eccles.

One of the main features of Irlams o' th' Height is the A6 dual carriageway running through it, with Bolton Road running parallel to it.

The village is on top of the Irwell Valley, and roads such as Bank Lane go down the valley to Duchy Road. There has been a settlement at Irlams o' th' Height for many centuries, and it is thought that the name derives from the Irlam family that ran the Pack Horse Inn. It was first recorded in the parish of Eccles in 1180[1]. The village became prosperous in the 19th century due to the industrial revolution, and became a well established community of handloom weavers[1].

Some parts of the area are now designated as a conservation area(see link [1076] ), centring on Queen Street, King Street and Claremont Road, as these retain the early street pattern. Thirty buildings are recognised as being of archaeological or historic interest in the Greater Manchester Sites and Monuments Register. The conservation area was designated in 1991, and it is 1.02 hectares (2.52 acres) in size.[1]

Irlams o' th' Height had a railway station until 1955 when it was closed due to a low number of travellers. It was on the Manchester Victoria to Wigan Wallgate line. Heading towards Wigan, the proceeding station was Pendleton (closed in the 1980s upon Salford Crescent station opening) and the following station was Pendlebury, closed in 1960. Pendleton College, a sixth form college is situated on Dronfield Road, on the site of the former Pendleton High School for Girls, which closed in 1973. Buile Hill High School is next door on Eccles Old Road (A576), close to Seedley. There is a large Co-op near the junction of the A580/A6 - the start of the A580.

One of the more curiously named areas of Salford - and an area likely to be misspelled! - is Irlams o'th' Height, reputedly named after a family of innkeepers called Irlam.

A mixture of private and council houses, with surrounding parklands and a good shopping centre along Bolton Road, it has seen many changes in recent years but has a thriving Claremont Community Association to fight its corner.

Claremont is sandwiched in between Irlams o'th' Height and Buile Hill and in its midst is much-rated Pendleton College, drawing sixth-form students from across the city.

Duchy, across the road from Irlams o'th' Height, is a bustling neighbourhood with a deep sense of community.

Pendleton is considered by many to be the heart of the old city of Salford and saw many changes in the 1960s with the demolition of old terraced streets, to be replaced by high-rise blocks and Salford Shopping City.

During the 21st Century very little has changed to the left and right of the pub namely King Street and Queen Street; however the Duchy Estate just off Bank Road is under way for development with several council homes being torn down in a bid to regenerate an area which has been run down and crime ridden for many years.

The Local Police Station is the newly built Pendleton Police Station opposite Salford Shopping Centre and there is also one in Swinton, both are roughly the same distance apart from the area.

Famous Customers

The following persons have drank in the public house on a regular basis/come in through friends.

Keith Gillespie - When trainee at United

Terry Cooke - When trainee at United

Eddie Colman - Busby Babes

Albert Scanlon - Busby Babes

Mike Sweeney - Radio DJ and member of the Salford Jets

Jordan Hadfield - Macclesfield Town Dynamo Midfielder

Danny Seward - Of Cops BBC 2 Drama/Where the Heart is and Local Boy

Peter Reid - Everton and England Midfielder

The Stories

Peter Reid attended a charity event and returned to the Dog and Partridge with several of the persons who had also attended. Reid complained that his Crocodile shoes were hurting and he took them off. After several drinks he walked to the toilets and on his return some of the locals had taken a pair of scissors to his expensive shoes and had proceeded to cut the toe ends off.
Reid saw the funny side of this and continued to wear the now destroyed shoes for the remainder of the day, and is now highly regarded by several people in the pub for his humour.

Keith Gillespie of Manchester United fame would come into the pub during the day time after training with some of his colleagues, John O'Kane, Pat McGibbon, Ben Thornley, Graeme Tomlinson, Terry Cooke and Simon Davies. On one occasion Gillespie was not doing to well on the fruit machine and kept losing and losing, as the pub had no more change to give to him, he resorted to going to the local bookmakers for change, as he did this, Ben Thornley calmly walked over to the machine put one pound in it and won three consecutive jackpots (two were repeats) collected the money took it over to the bar and changed the coins for notes, then all watched as Gillespie, without the knowledge, continued to feed the machine and of course be unsuccessful.

On 26th May 1999, Manchester United had just completed a historic treble, yet moments after the victory a fight broke out between two brothers as prior to Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjærs goal the bet they had made together, a 2-1 win to United was torn up to shreds leaving no way for the brothers to claim, which is alleged 2,500 pounds from a 25-1 bet.

Whilst Landlord/lady were on Holiday in August 2006, the pub was raided by three armed persons, (no arrests have been made) one of which assaulted young Bar Man Tom Brown, this took place around 23.40 hours and the remainder of persons still in the premises, all be it 4 of them proceeded to throw bar stools at the would be robbers prompting them to leave empty handed and at least a little dishevelled. Despite their heroics the Bar Stool throwers chose to stay anonymous.

Derek Lawlor an avid Manchester City fan currently owes Jim Henn 10 pints over the result of AC Milan and Liverpool in 2006/7 Champions league Final, with Lawlor favouring Liverpool.

On Monday 7th May 2007 local man Francis Swift was killed in a Hit and Run incident outside the Dog and Partridge and due to his injuries he died later at Hope Hospital, Salford. The incident was regionally reported and the full story can be viewed by the following link.[1077]

Land Lords and Land Ladies

The list is not accurate, with times and dates as these were not all available.

Alan Jolly - Referred as the best Land Lord to have been at the Pub. There is also a long standing joke started by customer Matt Hopkins, that the Answer to any question asked is Alan Jolly.

Elizabeth (Liz) Ruddell - from around 1992

Barry and Alison - from August 1998 to February 1999

Norman Rowcroft - from February 1999 to July 2001

(unknown) from July 2001 to Feb 2002

Billy and Moira O'Kane - from Feb 2002 to Jan 2007

Jim Henn - from April 2007 to July 2007

Pub Events

The Pub currently holds a disco and Shows all Premier League and other Football matches on the various wide screen TVs. There is also a Poker Event every Tuesday that has proved popular since the summer of 2006 and was originally started by current lease owner Mike Hadfield.

Staff Past and Present

Jim Henn Feb 1998 to Nov 2000 & Apr 2007 to Jul 2007

Ian Myerscough Mar 2007 to July 2007

Pat (Patrick) Dempsey Mar 2007 to Mat 2007

Will Bell Feb 1998 to Nov 1999

Donna Wolstencroft Apr 1997 to Aug 1999

John Phillip Prescott Jan 1999 to Jul 2000

Jeanette Hunter Jul 1999 to Sept 2002

Lindsay O'Kane Jan 2002 to Jan 2007

Tom Brown

Karen Jorgensen

Keith O'Toole

Laura Douglas Aug 1999 to July 2000 & May 2002 to July 2002

Michael Heaton

Neil Berry

Dawn Lonsdale née Stott

Viv Wolstencroft

Karen Hunter

Christina Hunter

Tracey Cassell 2002 to Present

Larissa Tamblin 2003 to 2004 & 2006 to Present

Lyvette Bryne

Dog and Partridge Football Team

The Pub currently sponsors a Sunday League football team.

External links

[1078] Video of Pub

[1079] Video of Pub

[1080] Group for current/former employees