Wade Street

Wade Street, Halifax: a 17th-century cellar beneath a street of mills and pubs

Wade Street once ran from the bottom of Crossley Street, near Northgate, down through the Winding Road area towards Mulcture Hall Road. Much of the street has disappeared through redevelopment, but its old photographs and local records reveal a place where industrial buildings, chapels, pubs and small businesses stood close together.

Its most unusual surviving story concerns a building that was already centuries old when it finally closed as a pub in the 1970s.

The Brewers Cellar — dating back to 1629

According to a local-history account, the Brewers Cellar at No. 8 Wade Street was built in 1629 and closed in 1975. That is a remarkable lifespan for a building in an industrial neighbourhood repeatedly changed by redevelopment.

A stone relief carving of a malt shovel, taken from the neighbouring Malt Shovel, was incorporated into the wall of the yard. The carving is a small but evocative reminder of the street’s brewing and drinking culture.

The exact original purpose of the 1629 building would need confirmation from architectural or documentary records, so it is safest not to assume it began life as a pub simply because of its later name.

A street of industrial premises

Wade Street was part of the dense industrial landscape around Northgate. Historic photographs show substantial mill buildings alongside the narrower streets, with Wade Street running between them. The nearby streets included Broad Street, Ann Street, Malt Shovel Yard and Gaol Lane.

The street also had links with local religious life. Zion Chapel, a former Congregational chapel on Wade Street, was built in 1819. Historic England describes its impressive ashlar frontage with four Doric columns. The building has since disappeared as a chapel, and the site is now the Halifax Bus station

The chapel’s history reflects the importance of nonconformist worship in Halifax, where congregations built meeting places close to the neighbourhoods in which their members lived and worked.

Pubs and everyday life

Wade Street and neighbouring Ann Street were associated with several pubs, including the London Tavern, Malt Shovel and Crown and Cushion. The latter stood at the bottom of Ann Street near Winding Road.

These were everyday social landmarks in a working neighbourhood, serving people who lived nearby or worked in the surrounding mills and workshops. Unfortunately, the available evidence does not establish enough detail about each pub’s opening dates or clientele to tell a reliable story of their individual histories.

What remains?

Much of Wade Street was lost as Halifax’s town centre was redeveloped. Today, old photographs are essential to understanding its former layout and the relationship between its mills, pubs, chapel and adjoining streets.

Wade Street’s history is a reminder that Halifax’s heritage is not confined to its grand landmarks. Sometimes a 17th-century building, a carved malt shovel or the record of a vanished chapel can tell us just as much about the town’s past.

At the top of this picture the vertical roads from right to left are Broad Street(see zebra crossings, Wade Street(where the bus on Crossley Street is facing), Ann Street(more prominent half way down), Malt Shovel Yard (top half where cars are parked) and Gaol Lane to the left of the large mill)

Brewers Cellar at 8 Wade Street was built in 1629 and closed in 1975. There was a stone relief carving of a malt shovel was taken from the neighbouring Malt Shovel and built into the wall of the yard(see below).

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Ann Street, Halifax: the old inn with a music and picture gallery

Ann Street was part of the closely packed network of streets behind Northgate, in an industrial neighbourhood of mills, yards, pubs and modest homes. It ran through the same area as Wade Street and Winding Road, where generations of Halifax residents lived and worked close to the town’s commercial centre.

Its most remarkable story is attached to the Malt Shovel Inn, an old Halifax pub whose unusual attraction was a music and picture gallery.

The Malt Shovel: a pub dating to 1629

According to Malcolm Bull’s Calderdale Companion, the Malt Shovel stood at 2 Ann Street, near Northgate, and was built in 1629. It was described as one of the borough’s oldest established inns.

The pub had an unusual feature: in 1708, its landlord sold two-penny tokens admitting customers to a Music and Picture Gallery. The attraction was still being mentioned in the 1850s, when Benjamin Milne was the licensee.

The original building was demolished in 1824 when the road was widened, and the inn was rebuilt further back. It survived into the early 20th century, closing in 1913 before being demolished.

The gallery makes the Malt Shovel more than just another old pub. It suggests that, centuries ago, Halifax drinkers could find organised entertainment and pictures in a public house — although the surviving account does not tell us exactly what the gallery displayed or what performances took place there.

Other pubs in the neighbourhood

Ann Street was also associated with the London Tavern, recorded at 4–6 Ann Street. It was a Webster’s pub, but its licence was refused on 9 February 1910, and it closed in 1911.

At the bottom of Ann Street, where it met Winding Road, stood the Crown and Cushion. Records show that it opened in 1888 and closed in 1969.

Together, these pubs give a glimpse of a neighbourhood where public houses were woven into everyday life. Their histories also show how the licensing decisions of the early 20th century could bring an end to long-established local businesses.

A vanished street in an industrial Halifax

Historic photographs show Ann Street among the tightly packed streets and large industrial buildings around Northgate. The street formed part of a neighbourhood in which workshops, mills, pubs and homes stood close together.

Much of that setting has disappeared through redevelopment. Today, the surviving records are especially valuable because they preserve details that might otherwise be forgotten — from the name of a pub landlord to the unusual entertainment offered inside an inn.