Ian Beesley shares striking images of Moulders Arms, Bradford

The Moulders Arms, Sticker Lane, was a community hub until it was boarded up and demolished in 1983.

Ian Beesley documented the last year of the pub's existence via a series of striking black and white pictures, which have never been published or exhibited before.

He says the site had all the ingredients of an old-fashioned pub; good characters who who regulars, a 'matriarch' landlady, outdoor toilets, games room, snug and people buying and selling all sorts of goods.

The boarded up Moulders Arms

Beesley recalls spending at least two or three nights each week in the pub and even became its regular piano player.

He said: "Whilst the Moulders Arms was never the most attractive of pubs, it was the hub of a once thriving community.

"It's like a different world now.

Dominoes played in the pub's games room

"After the surrounding streets had been demolished and their occupants scattered to new developments around the city, many would return to the pub that was the centre of their social lives.

"I got really involved in that project. I spent a lot of time in that pub. I became a regular.

"When I drive past where the pub was now, it makes me smile. It was a good place.

The pub's games room

The pub was on its own. The landlady, Winnie, drove it

"There was always something going on. Stuff was being bought or sold and money was raised for charities.

When it was closed and was all boarded up, the regulars used to go in through a back door

Inside the Moulders Arms

Mr Beesley recalls the last night the pub was opened before shutting for good. It was given free food and drink by the brewery and regulars were invited to mark the occasion.

He says a regular was outside using the outdoor toilet at 1am when he said to the others in the pub that he could see blue flashing police lights.

A solicitor, who was one of the invited guests to the pub's late night party, says it was not breaking the then 10.30pm curfew law as everyone had been invited.

The last beer delivery of Websters Brewery beer at the pub in 1983

Mr Beesley added the police officers came to the boarded up pub that night, agreed and even asked to take away the pub's dart board for the police station.

The Moulders ran a football team, a darts team, a domino team, it was the home to pigeonmen, allotment holders, the Buffaloes and a trade union, all who had a particular night for their meetings.

Even a Laurel and Hardy fans' group, called the Sons of the Desert, held regular meetings at the pub, showing films in an upstairs room.

The last meeting of the Buffs at The Moulders Arms

Beesley added the German grand piano in the pub was landlady Winnie's pride and joy. Any punter caught resting a pint glass or an ashtray on the piano was barred for a week.

He added: "Friday night was music night and anyone who could sing a song or play a tune was welcome.

It was there in 1982 I made my debut as a pub piano player

Punters having a good time at the pub's last night

"The pub was on borrowed time, the land behind the pub had been sold to an electronics company, who insisted, that if they were going to build their new factory in Bradford, bringing much-needed employment to the area, The Moulders Arms had to go.

"Against strong opposition from the public and Websters brewery, the Moulders was condemned.

"The Moulders Arms was demolished in 1983. The electronics factory closed in 1984."

The last night at The Moulders

Who is Ian Beesley?

He was born in Bradford in 1954 and after leaving school in 1972 worked in a mill, a foundry before going to work at Esholt Sewage works, where he was part of the railway gang.

Encouraged by his workmates to go to college and find a career, he took up photography and eventually was accepted to study at Bradford Art College, after which he went to Bournemouth & Poole College of Art.

On graduating he was awarded a Kodak Scholarship for Social Documentation and started to document the demise of industry particularly in Bradford and West Yorkshire.

Punters outside the pub for its last Sunday lunchtime of trading

His work is held in the collections of Bradford City Art galleries and museums, the National Media Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Photographic Society, the V & A London, the National Coal Mining Museum for England and The Smithsonian Museum Washington USA. He has published 40 books.

In 2012 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and in 2019 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bradford for his outstanding contribution to the art and culture and the social and economic development of the city of Bradford.

The front of the Moulders Arms

He is currently artist in residence for the Bradford Institute for Health Research, Gallery Oldham and Yorkshire Water.

Winnie's pride and joy was bought by a local coal man for his daughter. The piano that had stood proud in the music room for many years was heaved onto the back of a coal wagon and driven away with Winnie’s tears and my aspirations as a pub piano player

Pickled eggs and hand pumps

Boarded up pub

The piano was landlady Winnie's pride and joy, always tuned, always polished. Placing a drink or an ashtray on the top got you barred from the pub for a week -

When the pub was all boarded up, regulars could enter by the back door and still enjoy a

The pub's snug

The bar at The Moulders Arms

A cartoon picture of Winnie, the pub's landlady

Landlady Winnie pulls a pint