EACH district of St Helens is full of pubs we have loved and lost in recent years; from the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor going north to the Lingholme in Dentons Green, and from the Grange Park in the west to the Cherry Tree in Parr.

As we have documented in recent weeks, in the aftermath of the Swan closing, dozens of pubs have gone since the 80s – razed to the ground or converted into a different use.

Lost St Helens Pubs since the 1980s>

Pubs closing is not a new phenomenon.

Reader John Riley sent in a magnificent document featuring hundreds of pubs that he has had in his possession for more than 40 years.

He writes: “I am glad I can share this it would be a shame to lose such a valuable piece of our history.

“One thing is for certain it would take a while to complete a pub crawl in the St Helens of yesteryear.”

Although plenty of us were brought up on the tales from boozers our parents and grandparents used to sup in, this fascinating list of old pubs reveals some unusual names.

I wonder how many of these former pubs our readers have heard of and have memories of through personal experience or passed down anecdotes.

Some of these pubs have tales attached to them – particularly the reasons behind the Red Rat name, how the Van Tromp came to be built and what was different about the Hare & Hounds.

The latter was St Helens’ last surviving beer house.

There are endless names of former pubs we could have listed but we are particularly interested if any of these St Helens hostelries stir any memories.

A small selection of some interesting lost St Helens pubs.

Hare & Hounds, Eccleston Street, closed 1977.

Druids Arms, Ashcroft Street, closed November 1970.

Cuerdley Arms, Church Street, demolished December 1970.

Bears Paw, Westfield Street, closed 1950.

Young Prince, Westfield Street, closed April 1950.

Red, White & Blue, Westfield Street.

Churn Inn, Tontine Street, 1935.

Crystal Palace, Waterdale Crescent, closed 1935.

Ell Bess Vaults, Sherdley Road, closed 1932.

Red Rat Inn, Ellambridge Road, closed 1927.

Van Tromp, Church Street, closed 1922.

Soldier, Peasley Cross Lane, closed 1922.

Quiet Woman, Heath Street, closed 1912.

Hero Inn, Ashcroft Street, closed 1911.

Three Asses, Duke Street, closed Feb 1908.

Nancy Hotel, Pocket Nook Street, closed 1907.

Same Place Again, Baldwin Steet, closed 1906.

Lorne Hotel, Parr Street, closed 1973.

Hawk & Buck, Peasley Cross.

Hand & Heart, Traverse Street, closed 1963.

Lord Nelson, College Street, closed 1971.

Half Mile, Park Road, closed 1957.

Email your memories of any of the above pubs to: mike.critchley@nqnw.co.uk