"Red King" Public House Whitefield

Named after the character in Alice through the Looking Glass, and the only public house so named, the Red King, at Whitefield was built in 1885 as a replacement for the William IV beer‑house. Road improvements at the junction of Bury New Road and Moss Lane to improve access to the intended Whitefield Station had necessitated the demolition of the earlier beer-house, although the station was eventually built on Stanley Road.

As with the Smut Inn and Black Friar, literary quotations again appeared; one over the door on Bury New Road: WELCOME THE COMING SPEED THE PARTING GUEST and a further quotation on Moss Lane in small individual gold letters under the chimney: THERE IS MEASURE IN EVERYTHING. The Moss Lane elevation also has a date‑stone for the rebuilding and a monogram HB while on Bury New Road there is yet another terra-cotta distance marker set into the brickwork giving distances to Manchester Town Hall, Radcliffe Bridge and Bury in miles and yards. Early photograph (c1915) shows a door into the Vault immediately to the right of the main entrance; this has since been removed and the opening incorporated as part of the bay window. Although built at Boddingtons’ expense, the landlord of the William IV became the registered owner of the Red King. Bought by Boddingtons about 1900.

WELCOME THE COMING SPEED THE PARTING GUEST
True friendship's laws are by this rule express'd,
  Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.
        Homer ("Smyrns of Chios"), The Odyssey (bk. XV, l. 83), (Pope's translation)

THERE IS MEASURE IN EVERY THING
If the prince be too important, tell him there is measure in every thing.
[1598 9 Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 59]