The Malt Shovels

The Malt Shovels at 38 Stamford Street is the next location on the trail. On the other side of the street, nearer to the old railway station, there was the Railway Inn at number 39 and this had a malthouse on its left; all now built over by the modern Spring Bank House. The Malt Shovels was originally called the Cross Shovels and at the time was in a prime location where Well Street (a previous continuation of George Street) met Victoria Street, both leading to the old turnpike road to Stockport and the new 1849 railway station. This part of Well Street has now disappeared and the only link with George Street is an alleyway at the end of the pedestrianized shopping precinct. Today Stamford Street carries on up to Old Market Place but this section of the street (Kingsway) was only built in 1821 as a wider alternative to the very narrow Victoria Street. The oldest part of the Malt Shovels is the white building attached to the later Victorian redbrick building and main entrance. The earliest record of the white building is in a 1735 lease which describes the property as a dwelling house near the Great Well in Altrincham. The house was rented to George Smith, listed as a maltster, and later in 1771 the house was leased to Thomas Neild an innkeeper who also ran the Green Dragon in Bowdon (now the Griffin).