A short history of the Dozen
Nobody seems to know who first did the Didsbury Dozen, or whether there was ever one official list. It's been going in one form or another since at least the 1980s, when Didsbury was still a student area, and the pubs have changed hands, changed names and closed many times since.
This guide began around 2011 as a well visited page on another website. Back then we couldn't find "the original" route either, so we pieced together the version below from the pubs that had been around longest. Treat it as a good guess, not gospel.
The original route, then and now
Starting by the church on Didsbury Green, working north through the village, then out along Barlow Moor Road to finish in West Didsbury. "Then" is the name each pub started out with.
| # | Then | Since | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Didsbury Inn | Also known as the Church Inn | The Didsbury |
| 2 | Ye Olde Cock Inn | Loch Fyne at The Old Cock | Ye Olde Cock Inn |
| 3 | The Crown | Famous Crown | |
| 4 | The Royal Oak | The Royal Oak | |
| 5 | The Albert | Fletcher Moss | |
| 6 | The Dog and Partridge | The Dog and Partridge | |
| 7 | Times Square | O'Neill's, the Stokers Arms, the Dockyard | The Salmon of Knowledge |
| 8 | The Station Hotel | The Station | |
| 9 | The Wellington Hotel | Squires, the Cavalcade, the Grey Mare, the Neptune, the Clock Tower, then restaurants | Kennedy's |
| 10 | The Nelson | The Nelson | |
| 11 | The Barleycorn | Became a restaurant in 2010. Not a pub any more. | |
| 12 | The Woodstock Arms | The Woodstock Arms |
You can still walk most of it. The Original Dozen route follows the same order, with the Head of Steam standing in for the Barleycorn.
Pubs that changed their names
If someone's directions mention a pub you can't find, it's probably one of these.
Gone but not forgotten
- The Barleycorn
Turned into a restaurant in 2010.
- The Milson Rhodes
A Wetherspoon named after Dr John Milson Rhodes, a Didsbury doctor. It was later the Botanist and then the Wishing Well. Now closed.
- The Hogshead
Big, cheap and cheerful, with the toilets up a lot of stairs. The building was later split: the Head of Steam has one part and Tesco the other.
- The Four in Hand
Was on the West Didsbury version of the crawl. Now closed.
- The White Lion
One of Withington's three Lions. Closed in 2005.
- The Golden Lion
Another of Withington's three Lions. Only the Red Lion is left.
Why "The Station"?
Didsbury had a railway station on Wilmslow Road, opposite the row where The Station and the Head of Steam now sit. The Slug and Lettuce is built on its old goods yard. The line closed in the 1960s, and the Metrolink now runs along the same route.