The Old Wellington Inn is a half-timbered

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

 public house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

 in Manchester city centre

Manchester City Centre

Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...

, England. It is part of Shambles Square

Shambles Square, Manchester

Shambles Square is a square in Manchester, England, created in 1999 to house the rebuilt Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair's Oyster Bar next to The Mitre Hotel.- Etymology :...

, which was created in 1999, and is in close proximity to Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral is a medieval church on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester...

. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

The oldest building of its kind in Manchester, it was built in 1552 next to the market square on what is now Market Street, in what was known as the Shambles. In 1554 part of it became a draper's shop, owned by the Byrom family, and the writer John Byrom

John Byrom

John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS was an English poet and inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand. He is also remembered as the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn Christians Awake, salute the happy morn.- Early life :John Byrom was descended from an old...

 was born there in 1692. The building had a third storey added to it in the 17th century. In 1830 the building became a licensed public house, known as the Vintners Arms, and later the Kenyon Vaults. By 1865 the ground floor of the building was known as the Wellington Inn, while the upper floors were used by makers of mathematical and optical instruments. Later, in 1897, the upper floors were used as a fishing tackle shop, known as "Ye Olde Fyshing Tackle Shoppe".

In the 1970s the height of the building was raised by 1.4 metres (55.1 in), and the whole structure was relocated into the Shambles to make space for development of the Arndale Centre

Manchester Arndale

Manchester Arndale is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. The centre was built in the 1970s when many other cities were constructing large malls. Manchester Arndale is the largest of a chain of Arndale Centres built across the UK in the 1960s and 1970s...

; the Inn was reopened in 1981. It was damaged in the 1996 Manchester bombing

1996 Manchester bombing

The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 15 June 1996 in Manchester, England. The bomb, placed in a van on Corporation Street in city centre, targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused widespread damage, estimated by...

, and was reopened in February 1997, with costs of £500,000 paid to repair the damage. However, in preparation for the city's development in the bomb's aftermath, it was decided that the building, alongside its neighbour Sinclair's Oyster Bar, should be dismantled and rebuilt 300 metres (984.3 ft) towards the cathedral to form Shambles Square

Shambles Square, Manchester

Shambles Square is a square in Manchester, England, created in 1999 to house the rebuilt Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair's Oyster Bar next to The Mitre Hotel.- Etymology :...

. The move was completed by November 1999, when the pub reopened.