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FRANK L MILHENCH

Frank Milhench was the licensee of the Top House public house 1956 to 1958. I have nothing other than the article below. If you have anything about Frank and his family to add to this page please e-mail me to have it included.
Top House
Micklehurst Road
Mary Nield obtained a beer seller's licence for her shop at New Hollins, Micklehurst, about 1860. She continued to run the business until 1896, when she sold the house and land to Mrs Frances Thomas.
The shop/beerhouse was an old, stone building, so Mrs Thomas had the place completely rebuilt in 1898 and decided to apply for a full public house licence. Unfortunately, Mrs Nield had placed a condition on the sale of the land, stipulating that no public house was to be built upon it. (The Nield family owned the Commercial Inn, so it is understandable that they didn’t want another full licence in the neighbourhood.)
Mrs Thomas had to be content with a beer and wine licence for the new building, which she called the New Butchers Arms. Although she had originally agreed not to apply for a full licence, Mrs Thomas did not give up. She tried seven times, and at her last attempt, in 1904, an exasperated solicitor at the licensing sessions said, "Are you just trying to make us all weary?"
Mrs Thomas decided to call it a day and in the following year her son William was in charge. William continued the family tradition and turned up at the 1905 brewster sessions to put his case for a full licence.

 He had not picked a good year to apply. The Compensation Act had just been passed by Parliament and the police and magistrates were more concerned with getting rid of licences than granting new ones! Also ranged against him were the local Church Temperance Society and the landlord of the New Bridge Inn, who certainly didn't want another public house on Micklehurst Road!
 
Gartside's Brewery of Ashton bought the New Butchers Arms in 1910 and William Thomas stayed on as their tenant. He made his final application for a full licence in 1914. At the February sessions he was told that there were 18 licensed victuallers, 5 beer and wine houses and 5 beerhouses in Mossley, giving a ratio of one licensed house to 356 people.
Gartside’s Brewery employed a solicitor, Mr Simisier, to put their case. He stated that the New Butchers Arms was in every way suited for a new licence. The population was increasing and the nearest public house (New Bridge Inn) was 400 yards away, lower down the road. The two nearest on the Micklehurst side were the Dysarts Arms and the Stamford Arms at Heyheads, both more than a mile away. There were three large factories near the New Butchers Arms and their employees often asked for spirits.
Gartside's were evidently keen to get the New Butchers Arms fully licensed as Mr Simister then offered to surrender the licence of the Old Pack Horse if the new licence was granted. Interestingly, at that time the Old Pack Horse was owned by Lord Stamford’s trust. (At the brewster sessions a year later, Mrs Thornton, landlady of the Old Pack Horse, said that negotiations were 'pending' for the sale of her house to a brewer.) It would appear thai Gartside's Brewery only wanted the Old Pack Horse for its licence, which they could use to bargain with. They probably had an arrangement with Lord Stamford's trust to buy the pub if a deal concerning the New Butchers Arms could be struck.
Gartside's offer did not sway the licensing magistrates, however. Arthur Lees, solicitor for Mrs Woods of the New Bridge Inn, restated the old agreement made when Mrs Nield sold the original beerhouse in 1896. The magistrates returned to the court after considering the application and gave Mr Thomas and Gartside' s Brewery an emphatic "No!" The New Butchers Arms had to wait almost 50 years for its full licence.
William A Thomas was still tenant of the beerhouse when Bent's Brewery of Liverpool merged with Garttside's in 1939 and indeed, he stayed on until 1951. His 46 years at the pub is a Mossley record. Next came:
Robert Eccles                            1951-1956
Frank L Milhench                     1956-1958
Albert Griffiths                          1958-1960
Thomas Lewis                           1960-1961
Vincent V Street                       1961-1962
Wilfred Lawton                       1962-1965
Celia Taylor                             1965-1977
Jack Swindells                         1977-1983
Martin Yates                           1983-1988

Bass Charringion acquired the New Butchers Arms in 1967 when they took over Bents Garttside's.
The three nearby factories have now gone, the railway viaduct has gone and so has a lot of other old property nearby. For many years the pub was known as the "Top House" (much easier to say than "New Butchers Arms!") and on 21st May 1984 Martin Yates made this the pub's official name.
The present licensee is Barbara Wallwork, who took over in 1988.
(Extract taken from the publication Mossley pubs and their licensees 1750 to 1991. Author Rob Magee ISBN 1 85216 065 9
10 Mossley Cross next door to the Old Pack Horse pub is where my grand-father Samuel Booth lived with his father John Booth and mother Jane Milhench)