The Bull's Head - Fairfield Street  The Bull's Head sits across
London Road from Piccadilly Station and across Fairfield street from
the old Fire Headquarters. As you can see from the sign,
this pub regards itself as "Your Local in the Heart of the City".
Today it is a Marston's pub but during its life it has also been
affiliated with both Wilson's and Burtonwood.
 I have seen it suggested that
the pub dates from 1786 but surprisingly it doesn't appear on the 1849
map of the area, shown below. In those days the street layout was
somewhat different but I have marked the building at the corner of
London Road and Granby Row with a red spot. This is where the
Bull's Head should be. The Wheat Sheaf Pub, 5 buildings to
the left is marked but not the Bull's Head. However, perhaps it
is an oversight because it is clearly bigger than the dwellings between
it and the Wheat Sheaf.
 By the time the Adshead Map was
published in 1851 (an excerpt is shown below with the permission of
Chetham's Library), The Bull's Head is there on the corner of Granby
Row, with the Wheat Sheaf to its left.
 At some point in the next 35
years the configuration of the streets changed dramatically.
Fairford Street was born. It was pushed through diagonally from
London Road just to the left of the Bull's Head cutting a swathe
through the houses. In my version of the 1886 map below, you can
see that this left the Bull's Head on the island site you see it on
today.
 You can see the new layout in
the aerial photograph below. The Bull's Head is 1ndicated by the
red arrow. The Wheat Sheaf Pub was a victim of either the street
re-alignment or, more likely, it was swept away when the fire station
was built.
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