Local historian, Andrew
Lamberton, says: "The building was started as a wholesale wine and
spirits merchants by Thomas Hall in 1787. It continued in the family
until 1871.
"In 1874 it was taken over
by Travers Pickmere of Pickmere and Holden until 1914 when it became
Ye Olde Vaults. There have been several licensees since then.
"It was always known
locally as 'The Potting Shed.' There are various tales of ghosts and
stories of tunnels."
An advertisement in a
Nantwich publication of about
1910 for Pickmere and Holden lists them as wholesale and retail
wine, spirit, ale and porter merchants, and describes them as
"successors to J.Hall, established upwards of a century."
A reference to the Halls, of course (see above).
The pub closed in February
2011 when a For Sale went up on the front of the building. Then, towards the end of that year, the building became home
to Retro, a "party music venue" open on Tuesdays, Fridays and
Saturday, run by two local men. But the application from Fat Face will not, it
is reported, be considered until later in the year.
The closure of Ye Olde
Vaults would mean the word "vaults" would disappear from Nantwich pub
names. The Union Vaults, further along High Street, is now called
The Union - which is possibly the shorthand form by which the
customers have always known it. At least it doesn't have one of those strange,
modern names.
ANOTHER application from a national
chain will also be considered later. This is from Marks and Spencer,
which has its eye on the former
Nantwich Health Centre in Beam Street.
I have always been
lead to believe that M&S would not open a Nantwich store because it already
had one in Crewe, just four miles away. But a couple who attended a
public meeting about the future of the health centre, in June
2011, told me that at that meeting they had seen plans for a two-storey building on the
site - an M&S store with a restaurant on the upper floor.
Although the former
health centre is only a single-storey building, a two-storey
replacement wouldn't look out of place as it would stand next to
Nantwich
Public Library and not far from The Gables, both with two floors. Of
course the Police Station across the road from the new store, and Cheyney Hall adjacent to it, are both single-storey buildings.
