‘Loved it in there. We used to feed the croc crisps’
The Lion and Lamb pub (formerly The Wrecker) in Victoria Avenue, Blackley, Manchester
Manchester is not short of pubs with bags of character.
However, one unique hostelry from the past may well be the most colourful of them all. Formerly the traditional Lion and Lamb on Victoria Avenue in Higher Blackley, in 1971, the pub was transformed at the cost of £40,000 into a shipwreck-themed Polynesian paradise.
Called The Wrecker, the pub wowed its patrons with the sights and sounds of thunder, alligator pools and exotic greenery. The pub’s tropical-themed décor included a giant Easter Island head peering over one of the bars, plus “buxom ships’ figureheads, and carved Polynesian gods.”
A colourfully written advertisement in the Manchester Evening News in January 1971 for The Wrecker pub read: “When one of those everyday kind of days has taken its frustrating toll, do you ever dream of running away to sea?
“To the island paradise of the Pacific, in particular, where Robinson Crusoe and the mutineers from the ‘Bounty’ and Swiss Family Robinson seem to share a timeless world of sun and water.
“Well, of all things, you can escape there now, just by taking a trip to Blackley, Manchester. To the new ‘Wrecker,’ in fact, the exciting getaway place that’s just been created, out of the prosaic ‘Lion and Lamb’ as was.”
The Lion and Lamb pub, Victoria Avenue, Blackley, 1968(Image: @Manchester Libraries and Local Archives)
The article says the new Polynesian island-themed fantasy pub was owned by the Inn Keepers’ Associates, which run themed pubs in London and Manchester.
As well as the pub’s ample car parking space, it describes how The Wrecker has “two live alligators floating in their own pool, fed by a plunging waterfall.” But that wasn’t all.
The article continued: “Behind them, a projected cyclorama (or moving film) of the Pacific sky passes swiftly from cloud through storm to thunder and lightning, and then to cheerful, bright blue skies”.
The bars inside The Wrecker also had suitably themed names such as ‘Castaway’ and ‘Cyclone’. Downstairs, a huge mast is said to have risen to a “real Crow’s Nest” on the upper “deck” of the pub.
As well as “portholes where live fish peep in as if you were really shipwrecked”, there’s no doubt that the pub’s owners went all out on the theatrics for The Wrecker. The pub also offered food options such as chicken in a basket and the standard grog.
The Wrecker, Blackley, 1971(Image: @Manchester Libraries and Local Archives)
While a tropical shipwreck-themed pub seems a bit out of place in 1970s north Manchester, The Wrecker made a good go of it for nearly a decade.
However, in July 1979, the Manchester Evening News ran a story announcing that the pub would return to its traditional roots.
Featuring a photo of then-landlord Brian Smethurst sitting amongst the rubble and Polynesian sculpted heads of the pub in mid-transformation, the journalist wrote that the South Pacific dream had finally “turned sour with pub regulars in north Manchester.”
Manchester Evening News, July 11, 1979
Tired of the gimmick, trade began to drop off, and the pub “started to attract an undesirable element who took its new name too literally”. Even an attempt to give the place a new image by calling it the Mariners’ Tavern failed to solve the problem.
The Wrecker and its outlandish South Seas theme had finally gone, and soon, it was back as a more traditional pub, returning to its original name, the Lion and Lamb.
Lancaster Taverns, a division of Manchester brewers Wilsons, spent £100,000 restoring the pub to its former glory. Out went the Easter Island heads, and back came the traditional fireplaces. Sepia photographs were added to the walls to complete the pre-war pub atmosphere.
The Mariners Tavern in Victoria Avenue. Soon to be transformed back to the Lion and Lamb. July 1979(Image: Mirrorpix)
Roger Wigram, brewery boss of Lancaster Taverns, said: “The idea is to get the pub back as near as dammit to what it was before.”
Adding: “When these gimmick pubs were opened it was not thought that the novelty would wear off so quickly as it did.”
According to the brilliant Pubs of Manchester blog, the Lion and Lamb stayed open for another 20 years before closing in 2003. It was demolished soon after, and now a block of residential apartments stands in its place.
The Lion and Lamb closed, prior to demolition’We used to feed the croc crisps’
But not everybody has forgotten about The Wrecker. In a recent story about ‘dodgy’ pubs posted on the M.E.N’s Facebook page, many people shared their memories of the unusual theme pub.
June Camlin remembered the thunder and lightening inside The Wrecker and how it “rained inside spasmodically,” adding, “It was an amazing pub.”
June Bcaine remembered “the tree growing right up from floor to ceiling!” Which was likely the original mast that rose to the top of the pub.
People have also posted about remembering The Wrecker on the popular We Grew Up In Manchester Facebook group.
Frank Wharmby posted: “Went in when it was the Lion and Lamb. Always empty then when it changed to a theme pub the Wreckers. It was dark in there and had a baby alligator swimming around in two foot of water – poor bugger, didn’t last long. Wouldn’t get away with it today”.
Christine Young said: “It had real life alligators in a pool, and sometimes it reeked”.
Donna Roberts said: “I remember it well. Definitely real crocs, great atmosphere and always full, happy days”.
While Jay Smith posted: “Loved it in there. We used to feed the croc crisps. On the final day the landlord done a bunk and let the locals drink the boozer dry. I think they was [sic] still in there two days later.”
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