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This pub was renamed around 1982/3 to The
Bitter End, when it underwent a Whitbread refurbishment in the style
referred to as "house of horrors" by CAMRA. This involved fake bookcases
and other junk being strewn about the walls, and was supposed to appeal to
the younger drinker. It did at least then offer traditional beer,
including Mild and Bitteer from Whitbread's Chesters brewery in Salford.
At this time I was
working in the Schedules Office for Greater Manchester Transport in
Stockport, and this change of name presented us with a problem. The Red
Lion was named as a timing point on bus timetables, in fact it was the
terminus of route 310 from Stockport and appeared on the destination blind
on the buses. A debate ensued whether to change this to match the new
name, which might be changed again (I don't actually know how many years
it lasted). I recall some internal documents did show The Bitter End, but
the public timetable was eventually altered to read "Gatley (Stonepail
Road)", which was already used for the 45 service from Manchester which
terminated nearby.
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