Home > Cheshire > Marple > Jolly Sailor Jolly Sailor

Picture source: Hania Franek

The Jolly Sailor was situated at 210 Stockport Road. This pub was built in 1835 and was a stop for mail coaches in the 19th century. It was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Smithy Court retirement apartments.

Source: Ian

The pub dated back to 1835 and was a stop-off for mail coaches in the 19th century. It had a bowling green, and until the 1980s it had stables located at the rear of the building. It was the location of Marple’s second post office from 1830 until 1875 and it was very much a village hub and meeting place for clubs, groups and societies right up until its closure in 2000. There was a campaign by locals and councillors to save the building and find an alternative use for it, but it was demolished in 2003, after a plan to replace it with retirement apartments was approved on appeal by the Secretary of State’s inspector. The ‘Jolly Sailor Steps’, the horse mounting block, which was located at the front of the pub and, it is thought, could have been built to serve an even earlier inn on the site, were saved, however. Marple Local History Society got permission to move them to the small green opposite, on the corner of Church Lane and Stockport Road, where they were rebuilt. They are marked with a plaque.

Dave Stearn, Opening Times magazine, May/June 2025

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