Former Unicorn Hotel, Hale Barns

Image: © Anthony O'Neil Taken: 4 Aug 2013

Since 1936 (until a few years ago) one of two pubs in Hale Barns village, the other being the Bulls Head. Now HQ for a security systems supplier. An intriguing old photo shows this building in course of construction BEHIND its predecessor - the Unicorn Inn - an 18th century hostelry. This was to avoid losing their license, which had to operate continuously - without closure - at that time. A regular at the old Unicorn Inn was Samuel Brooks, calico printer and banker, whose country residence (Prospect House) was half a mile up the road from here and who was one of the richest men in the North West in the 1850s. He owned 800 acres in Hale Barns and was a considerable local benefactor. His son became MP for Altrincham and endowed Hale Barns with its War Memorial, which still stands on the Green. Also extant is the impressive tudor-style building in Altrincham which once housed the Cunliffe-Brooks Bank. Brooks Drive Image runs from the main road (A538), near modern Prospect House, to Brooklands Road but never became more than a track for much of its length rather than the tree-lined carriage route Brooks had intended - to connect Hale Barns with his then extensive estates in Whalley Range, Manchester.

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