By Maureen Fahey

The site of Baker's Vaults in Market Place was previously occupied by the George & Dragon pub. 

Formerly owned by the Brierley family, it was taken over by William Baker in 1824 and then by his son Charles in the 1830s. 

The inn, which projected some distance into the Market Place, was demolished in 1861 for the construction of the Market House, now known as the Market Hall, and replaced by Baker's Vaults, which occupied about half the area of its predecessor. 

Charles Baker, a successful business man and twice mayor of Stockport, designed the new hostelry in the Romanesque style, with a large central bar serving several 'snugs', ie private areas partitioned off by glass screens known as blinkers. 

The Baker family owned much of the property on that side of Bridge Street Brow and what is now the Jewel on the Hill was once the inn's off licence and retail department, while what later became the King's Arms was the tap room. 

(Image via Stockport Heritage Trust)

The law decreed that all public bars, which were known as vaults, must each have a separate entrance and Baker's Vaults had four, all interconnected. The name of the inn however derives not from these vaults, but from the underground chambers that were excavated in order to store wine and spirits, and as a brew house for beer. 

Although the said wines and spirits were the mainstay of the business, Charles Baker has the distinction of having introduced Guinness to Stockport and on the 27th of April 1838, the North Cheshire Herald proclaimed that 'Charles Baker, Wine and Spirit Merchant, respectfully announces that he has just received a supply of the celebrated porter, in prime condition, and fit for immediate use'.  

Conversely, the Stockport Advertiser decried Charles's undoubted business acumen, asking loftily – and no doubt with a degree of envy – if it were not disgraceful that a mayor of the town should be the keeper of a gin palace. 

This was a rather ignoble jibe, likening Baker's Vaults to the disreputable premises that sold cheap gin to the masses, resulting in drunkenness and debauchery and providing the inspiration for the artist William Hogarth's painting 'Gin Lane'. 

(Image via Stockport Heritage Trust)

Undeterred by the sniping, Charles built Baker's Vaults into a thriving concern, one of a number of exclusive establishments offering only the very best quality wines and spirits to the upper echelons of society, while providing cheaper, good quality beer to the working classes.  

He built a splendid mansion on the site of the present St Mary's Church in Heaton Norris, overlooking the town from its vantage point high above deep sandstone rock cutting. The house boasted two parlours, a kitchen with a detached brew house, five bedrooms, a China closet, a water closet, garden, hot house, stabling, gig house, good cellars and an abundant water supply.  

Charles died, aged 78, in 1877 and is buried in Southport but the family's name lives on in Heaton Norris, in Baker's Terrace and in Baker Street, both close to the church. After the death of Charles's son John in 1896, Baker's Vaults was taken over by Kay's Atlas Brewery, which was in turn taken over by Robinson's Unicorn Brewery in 1929. 

The pub remains a popular watering hole to this day. 

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