It wasn’t until the mid-seventies and as a result of another awful disaster, this time at Ibrox Park in 1971 when 66 people died after barriers collapsed on a stairway after an Old Firm game, that clubs were required by law to be in possession of a safety certificate before their grounds could be opened to the public.
1970 (19 May) Shopping: Asda, based in Leeds, built a prestigious new store, which opened its doors to the public on Tuesday, May 19, 1970, on the site of Hesketh’s Mill. Hesketh’s Mill had stood at the junction of Moss Bank Way/Crompton Way and Blackburn Road in Astley Bridge for the previous 100 years
Things were a little different back then from the 24-hour business it is now. The shop did not open until 10am and closed at 6pm, but for a “family shopping experience”, the store stayed open until 8pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and there was no Sunday opening at all.
A seven-page spread in the previous day’s Bolton Evening News had given the public some indication of what they could expect from the town’s first major large supermarket, which when it first opened sold tyres, wallpaper and paint as well as the more commonplace items we find in store today.
1970 (18 Jun) Robert Spencer Redmond elected MP for Bolton West.
1970 (Jul) In July, at the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Ron Hill became the second man ever to break the 2:10 barrier, clocking a world record time of 2:09:28. Hill was timed in 29:24 for the first 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) at Edinburgh, the equivalent of a 2:04 marathon pace, described as "suicidal".
1970 (27 Aug) Lisa Ashton, English female darts player and four-time British Darts Organisation women's world champion, born in Bolton.
1970 (5 Oct) Bradley Fold Railway Station closed.
​
1970 (Nov) The Flag Hotel, Great Moor Street closed in November 1970.
1970 (16 Dec) Uriah Heep at Bolton College of Art, Bolton, England.
1970 Sabini’s on Churchgate becomes the Sandwich Inn
1970 The Queen’s Cinema showed films again for a short time in 1970.
1970 Bolton's last brewery, Magee Marshall's Crown Brewery, closed in 1970.
1970 or 1966? Great Moor Street station demolished.
1970 Laurance Douglas Reed was elected as Conservative member of Parliament for Bolton East, serving until 1974.
1970 In 1970, Ron Hill won the 74th Boston Marathon in a course record 2:10:30.
1970 Ron Hill won the gold medal for the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in 1970
1970 In 1970, Ron Hill became the first British runner to win the Boston Marathon, by a wide margin, shattering the course record by three minutes with a time of 2:10:30.
1970 Francis Lee represented England in the World Cup Finals in Mexico.
​
1970 The membership of The Operative Cotton Spinners Provincial Association of Bolton and Surrounding Districts fell to 187 members.
In such circumstances it was decided to wind up the Association.
1970 There was a railway line from Bury to Bolton via Little Lever (with a station at Bradley Fold) though this was closed in 1970.
1970 The Moss Street wash house closed in 1970. (<1924)
1970 In 1970, Relphs merged with Lucas Funeral Service and retained the name.
c.1970 Commercial Hotel closed
On the corner of Oxford Street and Hotel Street, backing on to Market Street and facing Victoria Square (> 1972)
1970 The film “Spring and Port Wine” released
Directed by Peter Hammond and written by Bill Naughton. It starred James Mason and Diana Coupland
It was filmed on location in Bolton and at Lee International Studios in Wembley, London
1970- 1989 Brian Finch wrote 150 scripts for ITV 1 soap Coronation Street
1971 (8 Jan) Former Bolton School pupil Geoffrey Jackson was kidnapped by Tupamaros guerillas in Montevideo, Uruguay.
He was released after eight months of captivity, on 9 Sep 1971. Later it became known that Edward Heath, the Prime Minister at that time, negotiated a deal for Jackson’s release £42,000 was paid for his release, which was brokered by Salvador Aliened, the Chilean president who enjoyed contacts with the Tupamaros rebels
1971 (Jan) Maurice Edwards died It wasn't only cars and tipping gear which absorbed the talents of Maurice Edwards and his brothers. In 1908 they began making flying machines, and made engines for A.V. Roe. The engines were tried out first in a big room at the back of a Bradshawgate garage, but the brothers also actually flew them in practice hops at Manchester race course. By far the most distinguished flyer to use an Edwards' engine was John Alcock, who won a knighthood for his famous Atlantic flight. When Alcock applied to join the newly-formed Air Corps at the start of the 1914 war he was accepted because of his previous experience. This had been gained in short hops along that same racecourse in a biplane built by Manchester and Bolton enthusiasts. The engine had been made in a small room over Bradshawgate business premises by the four brothers led by Maurice.
​
1971 (Feb) The Flag Hotel, Great Moor Street, was demolished in February 1971.
1971 (11 Mar) The Jumbles Reservoir is a heavily modified, high alkalinity, shallow reservoir in North West England. It lies in Jumbles Country Park, in the valley of Bradshaw Brook, partly in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, and partly in Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire. It was opened on 11 March 1971 by Queen Elizabeth II for the then Bolton Corporation Waterworks (since privatisation the reservoir is now owned by United Utilities). The reservoir's original purpose was to guarantee water for the Croal-Irwell river system and the associated industries
1971 (May) St Joseph’s School: The Junior department started to be built in May 1971
1971 (Summer) Jimmy Armfield took over as manager of Bolton Wanderers.
1971 (Sep) In a telegram to the Prime Minister of the day Edward Heath, Bolton East MP Laurance Douglas Reed proposed the forcible repatriation of citizens of the Republic of Ireland living in the UK as a means of persuading the Irish premier, Jack Lynch, to act against terrorists. Part of his telegram read: “Bolton and Lancashire would take a poor view of any show of weakness over the continuing use of the Republic as a base for the IRA gunmen”.
1971 (1 Oct) Mott The Hoople and Medicine Head played the Casino Club, Bolton, UK.
1971 (5 Oct) On 5 October 1971, Garry Jones scored all three goals in Bolton's victory over Manchester City in the League Cup.
1971 (5 Oct) League Cup Third Round - Wanderers 3, Man City 0 at Burnden Park.
Garry Jones 16/ 65 /79 min pen
Wanderers - Third Division: Jimmy Armfield
Teams Wanderers: Wright; Ritson, Mowbray, Waldron, Hulme, Rimmer, Nicholson, Seddon, Garry Jones, Greaves, Byrom. Sub: Hunt.
Manchester City: Corrigan; Book, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Towers, Summerbee, Jeffries, Davies, Lee, Hill. Sub: Mellor.
Man City – First Division: Three Wanderers old boys – Francis Lee, Freddie Hill and Wyn Davies – in their star-studded ranks.
1971 (11 Oct) Slade played Casino Club, Bolton.
1971 (2 Nov) Van der Graaf Generator at Bolton Institute of Technology, Bolton, England
1971 (16 Nov) The first episode of the British television drama serial Casanova screened on BBC2
Written by Dennis Potter and starring Farnworth-born actor Frank Finlay in the title role
1971 (22 Dec) Arsenal paid a record fee of £220,000 for Everton’s Alan Ball Jr.
1971 In 1971 66 people died after barriers collapsed on a stairway after an Old Firm game at Ibrox Park.
1971 Jimmy Meadows had a bizarre 81-day spell in charge of Bolton Wanderers in 1971 as team manager under general manager Nat Lofthouse. This spell saw the club virtually condemned to their first-ever period in the Third Division.
1971 In 1971 Eddie Kilshaw managed the Huyton boys’ team which won the FA Trophy, no mean feat for a team from a place the size of Huyton. A number of the players signed for professional clubs but the only one to make any name for himself was Peter Reid of Bolton, Everton and England fame, later Sunderland manager, the assistant manager of the team was Alan Bleasdale.
1971 Tillotsons sold the company to St Regis International of New York
1971 Tillotsons Ltd bought by St Regis Paper Company of New York, and Marcus Tillotson, the last of he founding family to be connected with the Bolton Evening News and Chairman since 1956, retired
1971 The Bolton WtE is a waste power station constructed in 1971 in Bolton, and is a major landmark of its skyline. The incinerator burns up to 20 tonnes (22 tons) of household waste per hour or 85,000 t (94,000 tons) per year, and can generate up to 11 MW of electricity.
1971 Arndale Centre which opened in 1971
1971 Pool Street South car park opened in 1971. Built on the site of the Bark Street Tavern.
1971-1972 Francis Lee set a British record for the number of penalties scored in a season with 15 of his 35 goals coming from the penalty spot. Many of the penalties resulted from fouls on Lee, earning him the nickname Lee One Pen
1972 (21 Jan) Nearly 600 workers at Bolton's giant Eagley Mills were this afternoon told that they are soon to lose their jobs. Workers were called together to be told by a director of J & P Coats that the factory - regarded as the 'Rock of Gibraltar' among Bolton textile firms - is to die in June.
At the same time, Littlewoods Mail Order Ltd, at Croal Mill, were announcing 300 redundancies, making it the blackest day in Bolton for many years.
1972 (27 Jan) Nathan Blake, Welsh former professional footballer, born. He played in the Premier League for several clubs representing his country at the international levels. Blake was relegated from the Premier League five times, a record he holds jointly with Hermann Hreiðarsson. He was relegated in 1993–94 at Sheffield United, twice for Bolton Wanderers in 1995–96 and 1997–98, in the following season for Blackburn Rovers and in the 2003–04 season while at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
1972 (15 Feb) Thin Lizzy at Bolton Institute of Technology, Bolton, England
1972 (29 Feb) Michael Francis Pollitt, goalkeeper, born in Farnworth
Educated at Thornleigh Salesian College
Whilst at Rotherham he registered the highest number of clean sheets in the club’s history.
1972 (Mar) St Joseph’s School: The Junior department opened in March 1972.
1972 (22 Apr) Vinegar Joe (Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer were in this band).
1972 (28 Apr) Thin Lizzy at Bolton Institute of Technology, Bolton, England.
1972 (Apr) The Commercial Hotel, stood on the corner of the Victoria Square. The pub closed in April 1972 after a bitter battle which even reached the debating chamber at the Town Hall.
​
1972 (Apr) Robert Warren, aged 21, fatally stabbed outside The Cromwellian Club in Bank Street, Bolton in April 1972.
1972 (5-7 May) Fri-Sun- Bickershaw Festival, Lancashire, U.K.
​
1972 (16 May) The Flax Mill chimney comes down. Note that a lot of clearance has already taken place just this side and to the left of the chimney leaving one lonely building on the corner of Bark Street and Bridge Street.
1972 (16 May) Flax Mill chimney demolished
1972 (12 Jun) Peter Freeman made his boxing debut. He beat Dave Roden on a technical knock-out at the Hilton Hotel, Mayfair.
​
1972 (13 Nov) Motown legends The Four Tops performed at Blighty’s in Chapel Street, Farnworth Monday 13 Nov 1972
1972 The building of the rest of the Leisure Centre in Horwich started
1972 Bolton Harrier Ron Hill competed in the Olympics. He ran the marathon in Munich in 1972.
1972 In 1972, Howard Devoto (born 1952) went to Bolton Institute of Technology (now the University of Bolton) to study psychology, and, later, humanities. During these college years, he met his future Buzzcocks bandmates Pete Shelley and Ben Mandelson.
1972 The old Flax Mill chimney, once intended for preservation as a landmark and monument to Bolton's industrial history, demolished
1972 Parish Church School on corner of Silverwell Street / Churchgate demolished
1972 St George’s Hotel and block between Bark Street and St George’s Road demolished ready for building of Market Place 13 years later
​
1972 St George’s Hotel demolished.
At the top of Knowsley street, opposite St George's church was this public house. It was rebuilt in 1932, closed in 1968, and it was demolished in 1972, and the Market Place now stands in its place.
​
1972 Commercial Hotel demolished
Made way for a Mothercare store
​
1972 Ron Hill: His final Olympic games was at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where he finished sixth in the marathon at the age of 33.
1972 Bolton Harrier Ron Hill competed in the Olympics in the marathon in Munich in 1972.
1972-1973 Bolton Wanderers won the Third Division Championship.
1972–1976 Barry Siddall Bolton Wanderers made 137 appearances.
1973 (20 Jan) Smithills Dean Church of England Primary School, Smithills Dean Road, Bolton was finally dedicated and opened on Saturday, 20th January, 1973.
1973 (6 Jun) In a qualifier for the 1974 World Cup against Poland in Chorzow, Ball became only the second England player to be sent off in a full international, after grabbing Leslaw Cmikiewicz by the throat and kneeing him in the groin in a player scuffle
1973 (2 Jul) Peter John Kay, English comedian, writer, producer, director, and actor, born in Croston Street, Daubhill
He once worked for Francis Lee’s toilet roll manufacturing business
Autobiography “The Sound of Laughter”
1973 (17 Jul) Budgie at Bolton Town Hall, Bolton, England.
1973 (14 Aug) Augustine 'Jay Jay' Okocha, Bolton Wanderers midfielder, born in Enugu, Nigeria.
1973 (Oct) The last meeting of The Operative Cotton Spinners Provincial Association of Bolton and Surrounding Districts was held. (>21 Feb 1975)
1973 (6 Nov) Bolton manager Jimmy Armfield gave Sam Allardyce his debut for the "Trotters" on 6 November 1973, in a 2–1 defeat League Cup to Millwall at Burnden Park.
1973 (17 Nov) Sam Allardyce (Bolton Wanderers) made his Second Division debut in a 2–1 defeat to Notts County.
1973 (22 Dec) Alan Thompson, English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, born.
1973 (Dec) When languishing in Liverpool reserves Jimmy Armfield at Second Division Bolton persuaded Peter Thompson to go on loan in December 1973.
1973 (Dec) Peter Thompson joined Wanderers in an £18,000 move from Liverpool in December 1973 and made his debut in a 1-0 victory over Sunderland later that month.
c.1973 Mike Walsh (born 1973) was snapped up as a 17-year-old by Bolton Wanderers.
1973 John Byrom scored twenty when Bolton won the Third Division title in 1973.
1973 The Stanley Arms closed in 1973.
1973 The Lilian Hamer old people’s home was built in 1973. (>2009)
1973–1978 Peter Thompson (Bolton Wanderers) scored 2 goals in 117 appearances.
1974 (Jan) Peter Thompson signed for Bolton Wanderers for £18,000.
1974 (Feb) After a succession of candidacies in unwinnable seats (South Worcestershire in 1959, Banbury in 1966, and Bath in 1970) David Young was elected to the House of Commons on his fourth attempt for Bolton East
1974 (1 Apr) The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton was formed.
1974 (May) Chapter and Verse Book Shop opens in King’s Arms building Deansgate after Operation Mobilation had used the premises for some time as headquarters.
1974 (14 Jul) Maxine Peake, actress, born in Bolton
Educated at Westhoughton High School and Canon Slade School
Joined Bolton Octagon Youth Theatre at 13
1974 (10 Oct) Winifred Ann Taylor elected MP for Bolton West (Labour)
(>1983)
1974 (13 Dec) Sara (Sarah Joanne) Cox, radio DJ and TV presenter, born in Bolton.
1974 Mike Walsh made his debut as an 18-year-old and quickly established a reputation as a no-nonsense defender. This was rewarded by his manager Ian Greaves who made him captain.
1974 Robert Matthewson (1930 – 2000) was in charge of the remarkable 1974 FA Charity Shield match. This was Brian Clough's first major match as manager of Leeds but became better-known for a double sending-off. Matthewson sent Leeds United's Billy Bremner and Liverpool's Kevin Keegan off for fighting, the first-time players had been dismissed in a major British club match at Wembley.
1974 The Town Council succeeded the Urban District Council in Horwich
1974 Commercial demolished and Mothercare built
1974 Bolton County Borough abolished and Bolton (with Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Little Lever, South Turton, Westhoughton) became Bolton Metropolitan Borough.
1974 The Spinners on Brownlow Way was completed in 1974
1974-1975 Derby won the Football League Championship for the second time.
It was the second championship of Francis Lee’s career
Lee scored 33 league goals that season making him the top scorer in the division.
1974-1980 After leaving Huddersfield in the summer of 1974 Ian Greaves joined Bolton Wanderers as assistant to Jimmy Armfield and when Armfield took over the vacant manager's position at Leeds United he was promoted to the top job, taking over a squad that included Sam Allardyce and Peter Reid. In his time there he again won promotion to the top division and also reached the League Cup semi-final while the club were still in the second division. Unfortunately, Bolton's First Division performance was disappointing and Greaves was sacked on 28 January 1980.
1974-1980 Ian Greaves (Bolton Wanderers) manager - 256 games 100 wins 73 draws 83 losses win % 39.06.
1974–1981 Mike Walsh (Bolton Wanderers) scored 4 goals in 177 appearances.
1974-1981 Mike Walsh stayed with Bolton from 1974 to 1981. During this time, he made 169 league appearances (+8 as sub), scored 4 goals,
1975 (20 Jan) Bolton textile firm, Dart Yarns of Union Road, is to close - the third textile closure in Bolton announced this year.
1975 (21 Feb) The Operative Cotton Spinners Provincial Association of Bolton and Surrounding Districts was formally removed from the Registry of Friendly Societies.
Remaining members were transferred to the Rochdale Operative Cotton Spinners Association.
1975 (22 Feb) Isotope at Bolton Institute of Technology, Bolton, England.
1975 (1 Mar) Judas Priest at Bolton Institute of Technology, Bolton, England
1975 (Nov) "Syncopating Sandy" Strickland died in November, 1975.
1975 The Houghton Weavers formed
1975 Bob Williamson's 1975 album Superturn.
1975 Bridgeman Street Baths was forced to close due to soaring running costs. They were demolished to make way for a business centre.
1975 Thomas Walmsley and Sons was a company that manufactured wrought iron.- Production lasted for more than 100 years until 1975 when it was the last plant in the United Kingdom to produce wrought iron. Much of the plant, the wrought iron rolling mill, the Rastrick boiler and the steam engine that powered it were preserved in working order by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust for its Blists Hill museum where it is used to demonstrate the process to visitors. A steam hammer supplied to the company by Nasmyth & Wilson of Patricroft is preserved outside Bolton University
1975 Thomas Walmsley and Sons - After 1975 the company became steel stockholders as 'Walmsley Steelstock' and closed in 1984.
1975 By late 1975, Trafford and McNeish had recruited a drummer and formed, in effect, an embryonic version of Buzzcocks.
c.1975 Havercroft Maternity Home, Victoria Road Bolton BL1 5AU closed
​
Mid-1970s In mid-1970s Ben Mandelson (born 1953) was a student in Bolton Institute of Technology (now Bolton University), where he met Howard Devoto, future Buzzcocks and Magazine frontman.
​
​