The Macc Lads.

In the early 1980s The Macc Lads burst onto the music scene, the "rudest, crudest, lewdest, drunkest band in Christendom" with their irreverent, foul-mouthed and politically incorrect lyrics with common themes of binge drinking, sex and fighting. Around the same time, Eric and I burst onto the employment scene in south Derbyshire with our irreverent, foul-mouthed and politically incorrect antics of binge drinking, sex and fighting. OK, perhaps we weren't totally like that, but I frequently enjoy reminding him that after his first Tuesday night out with the lads he failed to make it into work the following day.

Four and a bit decades on and Eric and I burst onto the Macclesfield pub scene. For a town that's less than twenty-five miles away, and one that I regularly drive through, I had never visited a pub there (I'm ignoring my brief visit to the Puss in Boots after the National Hill Climb Championship up to the Cat and Fiddle way back in 2002, as it's a bit out of the town centre) so, whilst on our vernal equinox excursion in Melton Mowbray, we decided that for our summer solstice sojourn the lads would go to Macc for the day. Yes, it was a little early to mark the solstice but, with quarterly blood tests being taken a couple of days prior, it seemed like a good idea to do it before the results came in. Just in case the planned trip to Macclesfield would become an unwanted one to chemotherapy. Anyway, it would be a good way to celebrate, if that's the appropriate word, the second anniversary of diagnosis.

Except we didn't get to Macc. On the morning of the planned visit I received a message from Eric. He'd been sick in the night and we'd have to rearrange. We'd have to wait a bit to experience the Castle, the Nag's Head, the Jolly Sailor...

One boozer that we won't be setting foot in when we do get to Macc, for the simple reason it no longer exists, is the Queens Arms on Ryle Street. Or maybe on Hobson Street. Sitting on the corner where one thoroughfare bisected the other it seems to have hopped between them in various historical documents. Here it is marked on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan from the surveying of 1870-71.

The Ordnance Survey Town Plan from 1870-1871.

The earliest that I've been able to trace the pub back to is 1851 when was occupied by Irishman William Kent and his family.

Extract from the 1851 census.

William and family had moved to Congleton by the time of the next head count and the Queens Arms was being run by Ann Swindells...

Extract from the 1861 census.

...but he really must have missed the place, for he was back there, with a new wife, in 1871.

Extract from the 1871 census.

The pub seems to have been missed on the 1881 census, failing to make an appearance on either Ryle Street or Hobson Street, but the Queens Arms was rediscovered a decade later when Thomas Sutton was pouring the pints.

Extract from the 1891 census.

By 1901 the Queens was occupied by another Thomas, baker Thomas Bradley.

Extract from the 1901 census.

Could he be one of those in an apron in these photographs from around that time?

The Queens Arms around 1901.

Ten years further on the the Queen's history the Macclesfield Courier and Herald reported on 18th March 1911 that there was some discussion over whether or not to renew the pub's licence.

Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

The census which was taken a fortnight later tells us that a John Anderson was the publican in residence and the licence must have finally been allowed as it was transferred to a Peter Johnson later that year, as reported in the same publication on 21st October.

Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

By the time of the 1921 census a William Farrow was there and he was still there when Kelly's representatives logged him two years later.

Extract from Kelly's 1923 directory.

In 1928 the pub's ownership changed when the North Cheshire Brewery Company was acquired by fellow Macclesfield brewers Londsdale & Adshead, but William stayed on as landlord. In fact William Farrow was the Queens Arms final landlord. Two years later the Queens Arms was referred for compensation under the 1910 Licensing (Consolidation) Act. This was reported on Friday 13th June on the front page of the Macclesfield Times.

Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

The battle to keep its licence was finally lost and the Queens Arms subsequently closed. Today the building on the corner of Ryle Street and Hobson Street is in residential use.

The former Queens Arms in 2017. © Google 2026.

The Ordnance Survey map extract is copyright and has been reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the terms of this CC BY licence.

The newspaper images are courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

If you've read this far, then thank you. Possibly, like me, you may have some sort of interest in bygone boozers. Clicking here will take you to a searchable/sortable index which you can use to see if I've already featured any lost locals from your locality. You can also subscribe to ensure that you don't miss any future posts. Simply click here to return to the home page (opens in a new tab), follow the 'Subscribe' link and complete the form to receive an email notification of any future post. Or you could simply follow the link at the top of this page.

©2026    www.bygoneboozers.co.uk