By Ron Historyo
Quite a few years ago I wrote a seven part Manchester Series. Of late I have been able to find a few more pieces of history.
Manchester fans will be aware that every year Kings Hall wrestling stopped for the circus and it was quite late starting up again. Picking up on opening night in 1955 I have the bill, and the promoter as always since wartime was Dick and Jessie Rogers. I don’t think Bartelli ever worked for Rogers, maybe just too busy with Wryton, or was it rivalry?
Why would Wryton move into the Free Trade Hall that night and go head to head? Who had the best show.
Crucially Belle Vue slightly cheaper.
The circus always stopped for the wrestling with the exception of Christmas 1950.
On the 20th December Wrestling was held in “The New Exhibition Hall” and twice a week until February 21st when it went back to the Kings Hall.
I wonder what the capacity of the Exhibition hall would have been? 1Eighteen shows were put on there whilst the Kings Hall was used for the Circus. In 1951 Belle Vue did over 100 Wrestling Shows due to this.
Graham Brook wrote on the Forum, “I am a huge fan of clowns and at Belle Vue I saw the great Coco and, when the Moscow State Circus paid a visit, the legendary Oleg Popov.” During the Belle Vue winter break Graham transferred his wrestling attention to The Houldsworth Hall in Deansgate, Manchester, where Jack Cassidy and Paul Carpentier would regularly promote names that did not appear at Belle Vue including Lord Bertie Topham, Klondyke Jake, Orig Williams, Pedro the Gypsy, and female wrestling.
I can no longer picture some parts of BelleVue. I do remember going into a Hall for Dancelands Disco, certainly big enough for some sort of Wrestling show. Cumberland Suite rings a Bell and was still going in 1985. By then I had no idea that Belle Vue was vanishing until I went to The ideal Homes Exhibition one day on the same site. The Cumberland Suite may have been part of the Elizabethan Ballroom.
Every so often things pop up and it is just another snip of sense or sometimes no sense at all. Gerry Hogarth Bills are quite rare When i find one I like to get them. Gerry working for Dick Rogers.
And finally The Blood Tub. Can anyone shed any light on the African Inche? Good challenge for someone like Ost or Sax. Maybe MM has something.
It must have been quite something in the old days. I even wonder could the most ardent enthusiast afford to go to every show? Some people loved it.
It was such an escape from often a dour life in the factory all week. Wednesday and Saturday Wrestling was sacrosanct, but so too was Bank Holiday Wrestling. 1951 Easter was an example of what happened every bank Holiday. Five shows in eight days. Jack Pye did three shows.
My own father-in-law told me Bill Benny was second only to Jack Pye in getting this great crowd going. They loved him.
I saw the Hall almost full around 1969 to perhaps less than a thousand at some shows in 1978. The seats were fixed benches and very old.
But if you think that was bad, I am moving on now to a venue called the Blood Tub, Ardwick Stadium. Promoter was Sam Cowan, aided by various members of the family. It was very much a family run event. He went head to head with Dick Rogers at Belle Vue on a Saturday night. Cowan must have owned the Stadium as he brought boxers and trainers in there to train three days a week. He was there to the bitter end when the car lot took over. His name does not seem to appear on either boxing or wrestling adverts.
What happened to the Stadium and when? Well a detective follows the trail and suddenly the bills in the paper dry up with no reports as to what had happened. A few years later an article about the blood tub talking very much in the past tense of the “Old Days.” Well I have here for you the last bills ever and the following year, the fate of the stadium. See bottom right. Nice to record this on here as I believe it to be a genuine discovery.
Onto Wryton now on Friday nights. Levenshulme Skating Rink was probably a mile form Belle Vue in Gorton. The sensible thing was to do Friday nights and that they did for at least 1948-1954 where Bartelli was a big star. Covered in my Manchester series but I can now reveal that it came to an end in 1954. Some of the structure was left up to make a sports club, the Levenshulme Sporting Club, that also doubled as a members night club. More about that club and club wrestling later. The final bills that went in the paper were these.
Also bordering Gorton,but on the other side, was Openshaw.
Wryton were not giving up although they were a bit nomadic with Manchester venues. No doubt their own Stadium in Bolton in 1958 was the eventual answer for Fridays. But the new home was the Whitworth Hall in Openshaw on the Old Ashton Road. Bartelli in his pomp, Jack Fay (Ernie Riley) and Billy Howes evident. Here are some of the early bills after the switch. So the end of the Skating Rink caused the end of the Wrestling.
Moving on, I reported in my Manchester series that the Levenshulme Sporting club had been the Palais Dance Hall, but it is clear from the 1958 Manchester Evening News that the Sporting Club was born out of the Skating Rink, so a little confusion.
1958 was pretty much the first year any wrestling went into the Manchester Night Clubs. The Russell Club in Hulme was a bit earlier, but that was more of a social club than a full blown Cabaret set up.1958 only had a few shows compared to the blitz that was to come that lasted until about 1963.
But clearly there had been some experimentation during 1958 before an announcement was made. Wrestling in these clubs had to have a link man, and here is the link revealed. Bill Benny is our man and these are the clubs he was involved with
Grand opening plans and one of the bills the following year.
You can see examples of two of the other clubs trying wrestling out earlier in the summer of 1958. One assumes it worked and Bill Benny committed to it. Somewhere people with money were backing these clubs. The Moss family were involved with others like the Domino club and the College Theatre. It’s a tangled web. I know Jim Lewis was connected to The Devonshire and I have my suspicions that Bernard Manning may have been tied up with the Northern in Harpurhey.
The Poster with Bob Monkhouse on mentions membership of 10 shilling for half a year. Adverts in general don’t mention any prices. I am sure if they had the room and you had the money you could maybe get in. Or maybe a member could sign you in. Social clubs tended to have cheap beer, but I bet these clubs added a bit on.
Fred Woolley and Danny Flynn left Joint Promotions to run Cape Promotions ultimately, I catch them here at the start of their time after Joint. The bill on the left is a return challenge match from a few weeks before, that bill with Streiger on shows it.
But what I find fascinating is the evening schedule. Wrestling is on at 8.00 after Frank Ifield who I remember so well, but only Fred and Danny wrestling. It’s timed for 35 minutes. It’s then nearly another one and a half hours before Wojjoski v Black Panther at 10,00. Three acts in the middle plus tombola. Did they think the crowd did not want too much at once?Or fear of the wrestling dominating? It certainly gives the wrestlers an early and late slot in order to flip to another club. the second bout is up to 50 minutes.
In a way Wryton formed a template putting wrestling into the Russell Social Club. Conroy is there so much you could almost suspect it was his patch. The Russell club did have cabaret later but I am thinking more Organ and Bingo at such a place.
The Roller Rinks were often used in the old days, at Rusholme they even had a Roller Hockey team, but it does not have a big wrestling history. It looks a strange mix to me. For a small time at the end of 1951 they put some wrestling on, but who promoted?
On every bill the main participants had travelled up from the south. It was so Dale Martins. O.k. Co-operation was in the air, but this does seem strange. Mc Manus came and Kwango, all the usual southern suspects, Capelli, Unwin, Stedman, Fisher, Mancelli, Britton, Sparks and more. On any one week they would not all fit in one car. Thursday nights too, but switched to a Monday for Assirati v Garfield. Then the advertising goes missing……Short venture !!!
1935 bills for The Blood Tub, Of note, Doug Clark V Barotte (Boratti), Jack Alker and Joe Carrol who came from neighbouring parts of Wigan, wonder if the Carroll’s trained Jack? Big shock ladies wrestling at The Blood Tub in 1935. Real pioneer stuff. Historically very good bills to have.
That’s the end of the road, for now at least. No better way to end than a few words from a man who knew the Manchester scene as well as anyone, and better than most, Eddie Rose.
” I started wrestling around 1963/64 and I worked for Panther (Grant Foderingham) firstly followed by work from Jack Cassidy, Lord Bertie Topham, Wrytons and several other more occasional promoters. Being new to the scene it was sometimes difficult to know who you were really working for.
The clubs varied: some were membership only others were private clubs. They had varied prices depending on the presentations they put on. It was very busy in Manchester area every night of the week with lots of wrestling shows I wrestled at least three times a week within 30 minutes of home in Manchester for about 10 years, mainly in clubs with larger halls usually Friday/Saturday nights. Eddie Rose
Ron Historyo
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Page added 26/10/2025
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