Manchester Pub Signs – Gullivers
by A pub sign with a literary connection.
GULLIVERS ****
109 Oldham Street Manchester M4 1LW
Obviously drawing inspiration from Gulliver’s Travels , by Jonathon Swift, A small pub, in the Northern Quarter, dating back, as a continuously licenced premises, to 1823. 
Despite its modest size the pub always has lots of lively customers, so the association with the hustle and bustle land of Lilliput seems apt.
On this very literary poster, Gulliver is in the land of the inch-high people, the one voyage reference known to folk who haven’t read the book.. Gulliver also saw flying cities, giants and talking horses. Shipwrecked, the hero is seen here well dressed and slightly bleary eyed, holding a little waving Lilliputian in his hand. Gulliver looks slightly hung over, in a state of not quite believing where he is, or how he got there, perhaps wondering if it was a dream or how much he must have drank to find himself seeing the ultimate in midget people..
The name and sign are modern additions, as the bar was previously known as ‘The Albert’ and ‘The Grenadier’.
A minor, casualty-free kitchen fire briefly closed the bar in the 1990’s, shortly after my first visit there.
© Copyright. Arthur Chappell
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