A landmark south Manchester pub known for its iconic Lemn Sissay poem painted on the wall is set to be demolished TODAY. It comes after a fire tore through the derelict building earlier this week.
Fire crews were called to Hardy's Well pub on the corner of Wilmslow Road and Dickenson Road at around 11.45pm on Wednesday (May 24). Firefighters worked to make the site safe but the owners of the beloved building say the situation is 'out of their control'.
The owner of the iconic pub told the Manchester Evening News he had tried 'as hard as we can' to make the site safe, adding he was 'very upset' by the demolition.
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In 2015, Rusholme & Fallowfield Civic Society successfully applied for the 200 year-old building, named after Hardy’s, the Hulme-based Crown Brewery, to be listed as an Asset of Community Value.
Formerly the Birch Villa, the pub, at the bottom of the Curry Mile, closed in 2016. Campaigners have been embroiled in a fight to save the premises ever since.
In April 2019, plans to extend the landmark building, which features Lemn Sissay's famous poetry mural, into 35 flats and eight shops were submitted for approval. However, the plans were withdrawn in 2021 and it is understood that no work has taken place on the site since.
Poet Lemn Sissay penned the pub's famous mural after a conversation with the then landlord, during which he was challenged to write a piece for the side of the building. Legend has it traffic calming measures had to be introduced near the junction with Dickenson Road to prevent crashes as so many people were slowing down to read it.
Mr Sissay previously told the M.E.N he would write a new poem on a new building should it be lost.
"Growth does mean buildings are lost and new ones appear," he said in 2016. “But we will never ever get that space back if it goes.
“It is a building with all sorts of historical significance to Rusholme and that entire area. Landmarks are democratic as it is the people who choose them and this has become one entirely on its own.
“What started as a pub chat has taken me to Desmond Tutu unveiling a piece of poetry in the city of London. So I very much hope it stays.”
It was the second blaze in two years at the landmark pub.
Dr Abdullah Bin Saleh Alnaeem, director of the building's owner, Eamar Developments, said: "We are very upset. It is the second time in two years. We have tried as hard as we can to make it safe, but this has happened and it is out of our control."
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