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<\/p>\nPieces of rubble from the pub currently adorn the poet’s bookshelves<\/p>\n
Hardys’ Well Pub, Wilmslow Road(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
His poem, which once adorned the gable end of Hardy\u2019s Well, on Wilmslow<\/a> Road, is still the work Lemn Sissay is most often recognised for – despite the pub being demolished three years ago.<\/p>\n The former University of Manchester<\/a> chancellor says he can be anywhere in the world and people will mention the importance of the work – which adorned the gable end of the pub for almost 30 years. And it’s so iconic that even his friend Peter Hook, the New Order bassist, says he would like a piece of the rubble as a memento.<\/p>\n Now, Sissay has told the Manchester Evening News he would love to see his iconic Hardy\u2019s Well poem returned to a wall in Manchester.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of the Hardy\u2019s Well poem is that you can’t force a landmark onto people. People choose a landmark,\u201d he says. \u201cThat’s what a landmark is, it’s not got anything to do with corporate, this, that or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n Lemn Sissay has received some of the brickwork from his Hardy’s Well mural(Image: Lemn Sissay)<\/p>\n Sissay\u2019s famous poem was designed as a tongue-twister for drinkers to try to recite after a few pints. The vast majority of its 98 words begin with a ‘w’.<\/p>\n At the time it was created, in 1994, it was possibly the first major piece of public poetry in the country. It adorned the Rusholme<\/a> pub on the city\u2019s famously dense Wilmslow Road for decades.<\/p>\n Legend has it, traffic claiming measures<\/a> had to be introduced near the junction with Dickenson Road to prevent crashes, as so many people were slowing down to read it. But the much-loved local landmark came crashing down in 2023 after a devastating fire at the pub.<\/p>\n The blaze broke out at Hardy’s Well at around 11.45pm on May 24, 2023. Less than 48 hours later, it was demolished after being deemed unsafe.<\/p>\n (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n Since then, there has been a gaping hole at the corner of Wilmslow Road and Dickenson Road and the site is currently used as a surface level car park. After the demolition, someone retrieved four pieces of the rubble for Sissay.<\/p>\n He uses them as bookends. But his friend Peter Hook is apparently keen to have one.<\/p>\n \u201cPeter, I’ve got one for you, if you really want it,\u201d the poet says.<\/p>\n Sissay says the Manchester Evening News coverage of the Hardy\u2019s Well demolition was in some ways just as important as the poem itself. \u201cIt documents the moment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever landmarks happen in our towns we register when they’ve been taken down, who they’ve taken down by and why. It’s on the record. This mattered to people. You get documentary evidence of that.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you’ve got this beautiful shot of it actually being broken and taken to the dirt by the big claw. So it’s kind of wonderful for me as an artist.<\/p>\n (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly I could be anywhere in the world where somebody will come to me and say \u2018I went to university and I saw this poem every day\u2019. Or \u2018I worked at the BBC<\/a> and I would go to see it every day and that route was so important\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Lemn](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_AMR_MEN_301225_LS.jpg\")
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