Stanley Abattoir
Athletic and Social Club,
Prescot Road,
Old Swan, Liverpool
L13
There had been a market for livestock in the Old Swan area since 1830. Stanley Market was on a main corporation tram route, Prescot Road being the main road from Liverpool to the manufacturing districts of East Lancashire and Yorkshire. The site was acquired by Liverpool Corporation in 1901 and a new building for livestock and an abattoir costing £670,000 was opened by the Earl of Derby on 14 September 1931.
The largest meat market
in Britain had a social club attached to the massive premises which catered for
the staff of the huge slaughter house, their families and friends. At a time
when they probably knew as much about vegetarianism as Transcendental
Meditation the Quarry Men appeared here in a somewhat unusual engagement
arranged by their mate / "manager" Nigel Walley. The Quarry Men were
booked for a Saturday night dance on 16 November 1957, playing (as they
regularly seemed to do during their formative years) on either side of the
interval.
It is reported that
their allegedly “cacophonous” performances were not well received and they were
not re-booked. It seems they had spent some time calming their nerves in the
nearby Cattle Market Public House which resulted in one or two band members
being a little "worse for wear". (see also Finch Lane L.C.P.T).
At the time the area
would have been quite unfamiliar to them being several miles and several buses
away from their homes in South Liverpool. Within a few years however they were
making regular appearances at St John’s Hall in Tuebrook, little over a mile
away down Green Lane and hanging out at the home of Al Caldwell (Rory Storm) in
nearby Broad Green.
A still from the film "Nowhere Boy" showing how the Quarry Men would have looked at the time of their appearance at Stanley Abattoir.
A busy scene at the
Abattoir in 1958
Between 1956 and 1958 a
serious outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease spread across the United Kingdom,
peaking in 1957 when 20 counties in England and Wales, mostly in the North-West, were affected. Over 30,000 animals were slaughtered as a
result.
On 28 December 1957,
just over a month after the Quarry Men appeared, the abattoir was shut down
after foot-and-mouth disease was found in cattle waiting to be slaughtered.
Inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture were called in when eight suspected
cases were found in carcasses. The Inspectors subsequently found 10 more cases
in live cattle at the abattoir.
After being given the
all-clear the abattoir re-opened on 2 January 1958 and operated until 1971.
Liverpool's only
wholesale meat and fish market continues to trade to this day selling meat
purchased from local North West farmers using local abattoirs.
The Abattoir looms in
the background of the former Stanley Public House which now stands forlornly on
Prescot Road.
Another public house on the same street. Completed in the same year as the abattoir, the Cattle Market at 329 Prescot Road was visited by the Quarry Men prior to their engagement. The pub has since been demolished. (Photo courtesy of Ged Fagan, 3.8.70).
Stanley Abattoir pictured in 1959, two years after the Quarry Men's engagement.
Links:
Do you have any more info on the Beatles and Rory storm my cousin owns his house at 54 Broadgreen road
ReplyDeleteHi, yes. If you look for Rory Storm or Iris Caldwell in the column on the right and click it you will be taken to all the links about them. I was actually taking photos outside 54 Broad Green Road last Sunday! Cheers.
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