Prior to been called Grizzly's it was the Cheadle Ex-Service Centre Club, The Club and Bar 19.

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Located on Bank Street this building has served a number of purposes in the town. Originally the building was the bank, which gave the street it’s name; having been built in 1819 as the Cheadle Savings Bank. The street was previously called Lower Street, presumably as it was lower down from the High Street, the name changed sometime in the late 1870s.

 

The census of 1851 shows that the bank was also doubling as a boarding and day academy ran by William Stevenson, the boarding pupils at that time were James Bakewell, George Rowland and William Rowland.

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When the bank closed in 1894 the building was sold in an auction held at the Royal Oak Hotel, it was brought by Edwin Dean for £320.

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The building served for a short time as the meeting place for the Cheadle Freemasons Lodge, before the group moved to the newly built town hall in 1895 (around 1916 moving to their current lodge building).

 

In 1940 the local British Legion secured enough funds to purchase the building, during World War II it served as the base for Cheadle’s Home Guard – in a yard over the road from the building is a concrete shed, believed to be a WW2 bomb shelter.

 

In November 1946 the building was opened as the ‘Cheadle Ex-Service Centre’, a social club for ex-servicemen.

 

In 1960 it was decided to allow anyone to become a member of the club; in an effort to increase profits.

 

In 1961 several members of Cheadle’s Post Office staff held a “steak and pie” supper, a number of awards were handed out amongst them the “safe walking award” which on this occasion was given to Charles Boon.

 

In 1962 the large upstairs room was turned into an upstairs bar area which could be hired for private functions.

 

The Cheadle Floral Arts Society met at the Ex-Service Centre in February 1966; the meeting included a talk about Constance Spry, the florist who was commissioned in 1953 for the Queen’s coronation.

 

During the 1970s the Cheadle Auto Club would hold regular meetings and film shows here.

 

A public meeting was held at the Ex-Service Centre in 1976 to discuss the possible revival of a town carnival. The meeting was a great success and Cheadle celebrated the Queen’s Silver Jubilee by holding a multi-day Festival; which then became an annual event.

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In 1978 “monsoon-type-weather” flooded the cellar of the bar, the Cheadle Fire Brigade came to the rescue by pumping out the water.

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The Ex-Service Centre was mentioned in a 1990 press advertisement, because it served Banks's Beer and the brewery was celebrating it's centenary.

 

At the end of 1991, it was announced that Joseph Brindley (landlord of The Lamplighter) was going to apply for a licence for the building. It was noted that the building belonged to the trustees of the Cheadle (Staffs) Ex-Service Centre Club. When this licence was granted, the building became a pub called The Club.

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The Club closed in 2005, for a major (and badly needed) refurbishment and re-opened in July as Bar 19. Initially a membership scheme was in place but this was dropped after a short time.

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Following Bar 19’s opening there were a series of noise complaints from local residents. Checks by the authorities failed to establish a major problem, although a noise limiter was installed as a precaution.

In November 2006, Becki Jones took over the bar and it was quickly discovered the noise limiter was not functioning correctly. A later visit from the authorities in June 2007, confirmed the limiter was working correctly and noise complaints had reduced. The smoking ban in July resulted in more noise complaints, due to customers smoking outside.

 

Under Becki’s ownership Bar 19 steadily gained a loyal customer base, which was a younger crowd than some of the other pubs in Cheadle, due to the entertainment and regular themed nights – not to mention the popular Beckioke!

 

After celebrating 10 years at Bar 19, Becki announced to her customers via Facebook that the business had been sold to Grizzly’s Brewhouse.

 

The official opening of Grizzly’s Brewhouse, was at 6pm on 16th December 2016.

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Despite making some changes such as serving food, the bar didn't retain all of Bar 19's customers and when one of the owners went back into the armed forces - there was a quick decline and it closed in March 2018.

 

Past Proprietors/Stewards:

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Ex-Service Centre:
Alf Millward (1946 - c.1950)

Mr and Mrs Robert Salt (Cheadle Post and Times 1962)
Malcolm and Shelia Coates (Cheadle Post and Times 1979)

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The Club:

Joseph Brindley [from Jan 1992] (Staffordshire Sentinel 1991)

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Bar 19:

Mark Ruhe (SMDC website July 2005)
Becki Jones (SMDC website, from Nov 2006) [2006 - 2016]

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