Wheatsheaf (Town Centre, HYDE)

The Wheatsheaf c.1910.

The Wheatsheaf was situated at 16 Manchester Road and can be dated back to at least 1878. Although I've not been able to find out much about it's history I've discovered that in the 1940s the Wheatsheaf had a famous landlord. George Wilkinson had been an gold medal winning olympic water polo player captaining the national team for 22 years. He'd moved to Hyde shortly after the 1900 olympics and upon retirement in 1925 became a publican. He was landlord of quite a few Greater Manchester pubs including The Sportsman in Hyde. The Wheatsheaf was the last pub he managed and he remained there until he died in 1946. The pub was demolished around 2004 and the site is now part of Topps Tiles car park.