a b c d Jones, David (9 June 1974). "The small beer versus the brewers". The Observer. London. p.15. Louise Thompson, who worked behind the bar for more beer money, recalls ‘drinking out-of-date vodka mudshakes after hours, until the cleaners would arrive in the morning’. Chris Lambley Boddington family; Person record". Boddington-family.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012 . Retrieved 22 October 2011. Over 6,000 people were poisoned and 70 people died from arsenic in the beer of many of the city’s breweries. While the illness was prevalent across the MidlandsandNorth West England, Manchester was the most heavily affected by it. Once the place to go if you liked R’n’B, this venue was huge. So popular, it would have queues along the front, around the corner and all the way up the side street – in any weather.

Brothers would steal their sister’s hair straighteners, making them pong of sweaty hair, but still deny using them. S isters would steal each other’s clothes and replace them the next day, with more than a hint of cigarettes and booze, sprayed over with cheap Exclamation from the local Superdrug. Louise Patton Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Quiz solution". 8 March 2012. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014 . Retrieved 8 March 2012. It became such a phenomenon worldwide, that it’s even mentioned by Joey in an episode of the Iconic 90s sitcom Friends. Darby, Ian (19 November 1998). "New Whitbread role for Gilliland". Brand Republic . Retrieved 6 June 2012.

Gibbs, Geoffrey (9 September 1986). "Boddington braces up for Bavarian-style brew". The Guardian. London. p.24. In 1971, Allied Breweries sold its 35 per cent stake in the company, leaving Whitbread 25 per cent and the Boddington family 10 per cent, with the remainder of company shares held by small shareholders in the Manchester area. [27] That year Guinness Draught stout and Heineken lager were introduced into the tied estate. [28] During the 1970s the company operated within a 70-mile radius of Manchester, and growth was driven by the increasing popularity of its main product, Boddingtons Bitter. [26] [29] The Observer commented in 1974 that Boddingtons cheap pricing and distinctive flavour afforded it an unusually loyal following. [26] In 1981 the same newspaper commented, Hall, William (28 October 2004). "Manchester united in battle over Boddingtons". Financial Times. London . Retrieved 22 October 2011.

While I’m a North-West lad, I grew up on the western side of the region and had little exposure to Boddingtons in the years that were considered to be its heyday. I have to say on the few occasions I did sample it in the 1977-80 period, for example in the Old Garratt in Manchester city centre, I did rather wonder what the fuss was about. Ali Saeedian fondly remembers outrageous club nights in Manchester’s Gay Village before the pandemic. He says: “Nights such as ‘Cha Cha Boudoir’ that elevated the standards of club performances to new levels where nothing was impossible and a spectacular show was put on no matter what, and in turn launched countless drag careers in Manchester. Hundreds of Boddington’s barrels were poisonous due to the sugar that was used during the fermentation process. In such a competitive beer market, breweries often replaced high-quality barley malt with low quality barley malt supplemented with sugar – sugar that was made by heating starch with acid to form glucose. Boddingtons flagship beer, Boddingtons Bitter, achieved nationwide recognition and became the epitome of the brand. Boddingtons beer brands are now owned by the global brewer Anheuser–Busch InBev, which acquired the Whitbread Beer Company in 2000. Strangeways Brewery closed in 2004 and production of pasteurised (keg and can) Boddingtons was moved to Samlesbury in Lancashire. Production of the cask-conditioned beer moved to Hydes Brewery in Moss Side, Manchester, until it was discontinued in 2012, ending the beer's association with the city.We wrote a#BeeryLongreads piece on it which is worth a look but, in brief, 1970s real ale campaigners and aficionados loved Boddington’s Bitter because it was pale, dry and very bitter. Somewhere along the line, it lost its spark. The iconic advert shows an athlete chasing an ice cream van, where Melanie pops her head out of an ice cream van with a pint of bitter instead of a cone to an athlete to say: “Do you want a flake in that love?”

Dye, Dave (10 May 2022). "BODDINGTONS. The Cream of Advertising". Stuff from the loft . Retrieved 27 July 2022. But it wasn’t really Boddington’s — it was an impostor, especially when, after 2004, new owners Interbrew moved production out of the City. Some Mancunians continued to drink it out of habit or nostalgia, while CAMRA members and other beer geeks wouldn’t be seen dead with a pint of its ‘smooth’ keg incarnation.a b c Hall, William (28 October 2004). "Manchester united in battle over Boddingtons". Financial Times. London . Retrieved 22 October 2011.

Boddies joins cream of Games sponsors". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media. 15 January 2002. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012 . Retrieved 22 October 2011.Within five years, Henry Boddington became the sole proprietor of the company, transforming Boddingtons into a family business with his sons joining the management. The 1870s and 1880s witnessed the expansion of Boddingtons, acquiring several breweries and extending the Strangeways works. Whitbread actually raised the Boddington family’s stake to 23%, and by 1971 Allied Breweries had sold their 35% stake – leaving the family with 10% and Whitbread with 25% of it. CrossingTheLineDVD/Youtube