Highland Laddie, Wellington Road, Hanley

Highland Laddie, Wellington Road, Hanley

Highland Laddie - named after a song written by Robert Burns in 1796 - the pub was opened at the begining of the 20th century and was demolished in the May 2011 as part of the clearance of the City Waterside development.

Highland Laddie - Burtonwood

Highland Laddie - Wellington Road

the pediment over the entrance to the Highland Laddie

unusual tiles making up the base of the pediment

Parkers - Celebrated Ales

Founded in the 1860s, Parker's Brewery produced beer for the pubs all around the Potteries.

Registered as Parker's Burslem Brewery Co Ltd in 1889 when it had 110 public houses; sixty years later the number had risen to 468.

Parker's inns were recognisable by prominent proclamations to 'Parker's Celebrated Ales' in richly coloured tile and terracotta, located high up in their gables

the old co-op and the Highland Laddie on the corner of Waterloo Street and Wellington Road

photo: Jan 2008

the old co-op and the Highland Laddie

photo: May 2010

the Highland Laddie just demolished

photo: May 2011

"BULLDOZERS are returning to a major clearance area to flatten further properties. A total of 141 homes are to be demolished in Hanley, Middleport, Shelton and Meir.

Once work is completed, only a handful of houses will be left standing in clearance sites set out by Renew North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2004. Hanley pubs the Highland Laddie in Wellington Road, and The Globe, in Bucknall New Road, will also be torn down.

The council had looked into renovating the Highland Laddie, but the 19th century building will now be demolished. Historian Mervyn Edwards, of the Potteries Pub Preservation Group, said: "Even though it's a terrace pub, it does have a pediment on the roof of the Parkers Ales motif. "It's a bit of history that's in the process of going."

Bulldozers also moved into the City Waterside area of Hanley this week to knock down 63 homes. Demolition is being carried out in the Balfour Street area and properties along Bucknall New Road will be flattened next.

The work will leave only three properties occupied in the Hanley clearance zone; one in Dresden Street, one in Waterloo Street and the Hole in the Wall oatcake shop.

Mark and Sharon Glover-Jones are the final residents in Waterloo Street. They agreed a price with Renew for their home earlier this year. Mark, aged 31, said: "The cracks in our walls are so big now you can put your hands in them. They've got worse because of the movement of the ground. "This is not somewhere we want to bring up a child."

A total of 78 properties in Middleport will also be flattened.

Three residents remain in Bridgewater Street, one of which has agreed a fee to move out, and two in Trubshawe Street, both of which will leave in the near future. The demolition of the final 11 homes in Dimsdale Street will complete the clearance of the Slater Street area. The council expects a planning application for 108 homes to be submitted in May.

Final demolition work is also planned in Pyenest Street, Shelton, and Lea Place and Meadow Place, Meir.

Renew, which has knocked down more than 2,000 homes since 2004, ceased to exist on April 1 after the coalition Government withdrew funding. Its responsibilities have since been absorbed by the council.

Hardial Bhogal, director of city renewal, said: "The clearance work marks the end of a key stage in the redevelopment of these areas. We can now start to look positively at the redevelopment of these sites.""

Sentinel Newspaper April 2011

looking up Wellington Road towards Bucknall New Road

photo: May 2008

looking down Wellington Road - Berryhill fields in the distance

photto: May 2011

contents: 2010 photos