Pub where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 'discussed communist revolution' shuts down amid redevelopment

Drinkers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your Starbucks!

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Setting the world to rights down the pub is a practice enjoyed not only by Brits but 19th century Prussian leaders of communist thought, as evidenced by The Crescent pub in Salford, which was once a place where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels would apparently discuss class struggle in capitalism over pints.

The pub, fittingly called The Red Dragon during The Communist Manifesto authors' lifetime, has been "closed until further notice" according to the Manchester Evening News.

The future is now uncertain for the Grade-II listed building which, somewhat ironically given its communist history, could be the victim of redevelopment, the pub sitting in an area of town being transformed.

The Marx-Engels monument in Berlin, Germany (Photo: Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Neither MEN or The Independent has been able to contact the pub at the time of writing.

Its website describes it as "one of the most Historic Pubs of Salford...built in the 1860s (and) where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels once drank and discussed revolution and the theory of Communism."

ManchesterHistory.net disputes this fact however, musing that Marx and Engels, who notoriously did spend much time in Manchester, may have held their talks when the building was still terraced housing.