The landmark poem on the side of a pub that's been lost forever
28.05.2023 - 07:49
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
For almost 30 years, visitors to Rusholme were greeted by the sight of Lemn Sissay's poem Hardy's Well. Written in 10-inch capital letters on the gable end of the pub of the same name, it celebrated the joys of drinking with friends in a good old-fashioned boozer.
Designed as a tongue-twister for literate drinkers to try to recite after a few pints, the vast majority of its 98 words begin with a 'w'. And when it was created in 1994, it was possibly the first major piece of public poetry in the country.
But on Friday the landmark pub and its much-loved poem were demolished, less than 48 hours after a fire tore through the building. The blaze broke out Hardy's Well on the corner of Wilmslow Road and Dickenson Road at around 11.45pm on Wednesday.
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Despite the best efforts of fire crews, it was ruled the building was unsafe and had to be knocked down. On Friday, the pub's owner 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.
The 200-year-old pub, at the bottom of the Curry Mile, opposite Platt Fields Park, closed in 2016 and had stood empty ever since. Formerly the Birch Villa, it was popular with Manchester City fans during the club’s time at nearby Maine Road, as well as locals and students living on and around Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road.
Sissay often drank and played pool in the pub after moving to Manchester from Wigan when he was 18. During a conversation with a pal and the then landlord one night in 1994, in which he said poetry should be more widely seen, he was challenged to write something for the side of the building.
The landlord was true to his word