Remains of 200-year-old pub unearthed

Archaeologists are excavating a site in Manchester after builders stumbled across the remains of a 200-year-old pub and hundreds of bottles of brandy that astonishingly were still filled with liquid.

The former Astley Arms in Manchester’s northern quarter, demolished in the 1980s

The pub, according to Manchester Evening News, is the remains of the Astley Arms, which was first recorded in 1821 and run by landlord Thomas Evans.

The pub was renamed as the Paganini Tavern in 1840, returning to the Astley Arms by the 1950. It reopened as Cornbrook House in 1928 before being partially rebuilt in 1986 and later demolished.

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While the building was standing into the 1980s, some of the artefacts discovered by builders dated back to its very earliest period, with personalised crockery marked with its first landlord’s name, Thomas Evans, discovered, along with keys, pots for quills and pipes.

Some 200 bottles of brandy, still containing liquid, were also found buried at the site, believed to date back to the 1900s.

“A lot of bottles have been found, maybe around 20. And three or four of them are full of brandy”, James Alderson, site developer of Mulbury City, told the Manchester Evening News.

“We opened the cork on a few and you can still smell it. It’s amazing knowing there’s so much history at this site and it’s really exciting. I never expected this kind of thing to be found but we are really fascinated by it all.”

Some of the items recovered from the site are expected to be put on display in the Museum of Science and Industry.

A 13-storey skyscraper is to be built on the site.