Sunderland Pubs - 2

Currently there are plenty of pubs closing, but in this post I want to highlight a few great pubs which are not only surviving, but are thriving, despite the best efforts of short-term planners and get-rich-quick merchants.

The Dun Cow, High Street West, in 1990.

This pub, built between1901and 1902, was designed by the renowned architect
B F Simpson. The bar is one of the few pub interiors of special historical interest in Sunderland. There is extensive Art Nouveau woodwork and a back bar that has been described by CAMRA as one of the most stunning in Britain.

 

 

The Dun Cow. The main front bar is separated from a small rear sitting room by a curved wooden and glass screen.

 

The fabulous back bar in The Dun Cow. One of the most ornate surviving back bars in Britain.

Fitzgerald’s on Green Terrace.

I’m not a great fan of pub chains, but the Sir John Fitzgerald group is a notable exception. This small, family-owned company has been in business for several generations and runs 15 pubs in the North East.

Fitzgerald’s in Sunderland is a traditional pub frequented by students, locals, regulars and visitors to the city and is a regular winner of CAMRA Real Ale awards, boasting a bar full of guest beers.

 

Two old friends of mine, Terry ‘Smudger’ Smith and Tony ‘Ginger’ Doyle, enjoy a swift half with Terry’s son, Chris. This photograph was taken in The William Jameson, a Weatherspoons pub in Sunderland, on the day when Sunderland played their first home game of the 2013/14 season against Fulham. As you can see by the smiles on their faces, this photo was taken before the game.

 

Another photograph taken in The William Jameson, this time showing another old school friend, Tommy Lee (right) and his wife, Janet (left) with a couple of their friends. Tommy was a great footballer at school and had trials for several professional clubs. He is the only lad I know who turned down a trial with Manchester United.

The last pub in this post is a real success story. A few years ago The Isis on Silksworth Row in Sunderland was an abandoned and dilapidated Grade II-listed Victorian pub. With great foresight, the owners, The Jarrow Brewery, have bucked the trend of pub closures and have invested £500,000 in a fabulous refurbishment.

This photograph of The Isis was taken in 1990 when the future of the building was far from certain.

The Isis reopened in 2011 and is now booming with a full bank of twelve hand pumps all delivering excellent ale. In truth, I didn’t try them all on this occasion, but the ones I did sample were in top condition. This picture shows the landlord, Christopher Taylor, in action.

 

Originally this pub was known as The Ship, but after the crew of a ship called ‘The Isis’ were regularly paid off in the bar, the pub officially changed its name to The Ship Isis. The Jarrow Brewery commissioned a specially made ‘Isis’ mirror which shows a beautiful image of the ancient Egyptian goddess.

The pub – reputedly the city’s most-haunted – showcases the brewery’s range of award-winning, traditionally brewed real ales, such as Rivet Catcher and Venerable Bede as well as many other beers from the region.

The Isis has featured in local history books and television programmes due to its reputation of being haunted. Mary-Ann Cotton, the Sunderland-born serial killer, is rumoured to have buried two of her children in tunnels which lead from the pub’s cellars down to the river bank.

Both downstairs bars were busy when I visited, but if you fancy a quiet pint there are further rooms upstairs.

After historical research, the Isis has been restored to its multi-roomed, original layout, and now has its original fireplaces.

The ship’s wheel draped in hops provides a dramatic ceiling decoration in the main bar and a link to the pub’s maritime past.

This view from the upstairs lounge in The Isis shows Sunderland football club’s Stadium of Light on the north side of the river Wear.

Newcastle and Gateshead I

People who have never visited the North East are frequently unaware of the fantastic architecture to be found in Newcastle city centre. In fact, this city has more listed classical buildings than any other city in the United Kingdom, in particular the wonderful range of buildings in Grainger Town, known as 'Tyneside Classical'. There are also several unique bridges crossing the River Tyne, including the iconic Tyne Bridge, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the High Level Bridge and the Swing Bridge. The past few decades have also seen an increase in the number of attractive modern buildings, typified by The Sage in Gateshead.

 

 

The River Tyne walking upriver along the Quayside

 

 

The Crown Posada, The Side in 2004.

The Crown Posada is approximately 250 years old and was named by a 19th century owner and sea captain who had a wife in Spain and a mistress in Newcastle whom he installed in the pub. Posada is Spanish for inn or resting place.

The pub has hardly changed at all since the Victorian era. As you enter the pub from the street you step into a long, narrow room, divided by mahogany and stained glass screens into three areas; a tiny snug, a standing area in front of the bar and a comfortable lounge area with seating. There is an old gramophone on the bar which is still used to play records. I have visited this pub on several occasions and have never had a bad pint!

 

 

O’Neill’s, Neville Street

In 1971 the British crime film, Get Carter, starring Michael Cane, was released. Most of the action took place in the North East and Newcastle and Gateshead featured prominently. Now, over 40 years later, these places have changed considerably, but it is still possible to pick out a few of the locations used in the film.

One pub that featured in the film was The Victoria and Comet; this was a really rough pub back in the 1960s and was known locally as the Spit and Vomit. The building still stands, although it has been reinvented as an Irish theme pub called O’Neill’s.

 

The Bodega, Westgate Road, with my daughter, Vicki.

If you would like to taste a range of real ales in Newcastle, look no further than The Bodega. This was originally an old music hall attached to the Journal Tyne Theatre. There are usually 9 real ales on offer; 3 permanent ales and 6 guest ales. The permanents include Durham Brewery 'Magus' (3.8%) and Big Lamp 'Prince Bishop Ale' (4.8%). Weston's 'Old Rosie Scrumpy' (7.3%) is usually available on draught.

This pub boasts a traditional long bar, Victorian stained-glass domes and elaborately tiled floors.

The Bodega, which is Spanish for wine cellar, was originally called The Black Bull Inn, but after closure, it was bought by the Sir John Fitzgerald chain and re-opened in 1995 under its current name.

The Station Hotel, Half Moon Lane, Gateshead

This unassuming little pub is a fine example of the old town pub that is fast disappearing from our streets. It is situated on the south bank of the Tyne in Gateshead, only a short walk from the river and tucked under a railway bridge,

 

 

The Station Hotel. Note the narrow, wedge-shaped lounge.

The North East of England seems to have had more than its fair share of engineers and inventors. Perhaps the most famous is George Stephenson, ‘The Father of Railways’ who not only designed and built one of the first steam locomotives, ‘Locomotion’, but built several of the early railways including the Stockton and Darlington railway (the first in the world to carry passengers on a steam locomotive). The rail gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches which he used is now the world’s standard gauge.

 

George Stephenson’s most famous locomotive is The Rocket which is commemorated by the Wylam Brewery in the name of their Best Bitter.

George Stephenson also designed one of the world’s first miners’ safety lamps which he demonstrated at Killingworth Colliery a month before the scientist Humphry Davy presented his design to the Royal Society. Although the two designs differed, Stephenson was accused of stealing Davy’s idea and Davy was awarded a prize of £ 2,000. Later a House of Commons committee exonerated Stephenson and awarded him £ 1,000. Davy and his supporters refused to believe that an uneducated man could produce such a design – both Stephenson’s parents were illiterate and George Stephenson was illiterate until the age of 18 and paid for himself to learn to read and write.

From an early age George’s only son, Robert, worked with his father on several projects and became a successful engineer in his own right. His many achievements included the ‘Planet’, a locomotive far more advanced than the Rocket. He was Chief Engineer for the London to Birmingham railway and designed and built several bridges, including the Royal Border Bridge over the river Tweed at Berwick and the two-deck High Level Bridge for road and rail from Gateshead to Newcastle.

The Bridge Hotel, Castle Garth, Newcastle

This large, comfortable pub, overlooking the River Tyne, always has a good range of well-kept real ale. At the far end of the bar is a raised area with a good view over the Tyne. There is live music (including folk and jazz) most nights of the week in the 1st floor function room.

One afternoon I popped into The Bridge for a swift half (well, pint) and a bite to eat. The landlady mentioned that she had made a few sspecial Scotch eggs. I couldn’t decide which one I preferred, so I tried them all. This photograph shows the haggis egg, the black pudding egg and the bacon and cheese egg served with piccalilli and home-made chutney. They were all absolutely brilliant!

The Bridge Hotel at night

Football fans will be well aware of the fierce rivalry between Newcastle United and Sunderland AFC. However, the conflict between these two neighbouring cities goes back for several centuries to the English civil war when Newcastle supported the Crown and Sunderland the Parliamentarians. But as you can see, some football supporters still manage to get on very well! This photograph was taken a couple of years ago in The Pickwick Pub in Basle, Switzerland and shows Benji Berger, Vicki Allen and Alan Cassidy.

The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle

The Free Trade Inn, St Lawrence Road. Newcastle

The Free Trade is a traditional pub to the east of the city with a fantastic view over the river Tyne. I dropped in here for a quick bevvy with Terry Smith and was struck by how friendly the people in this pub were.

 

The entrance to The Free Trade Inn.

 

 

A regular enjoying a pint in The Free Trade.

A quiet corner in The Free Trade

 

Young Terry Smith with the Free Trade cat.

Another view of the river Tyne with the Gateshead Millennium Bridge framing the Sage

 

 

Sunderland Pubs - I

Sunderland

Sunderland is a major city in the north east of England, but like many northern towns, Sunderland has lost much of its heavy industry, notably ship building (Sunderland was once the biggest ship building town in the world) and coal mining. Likewise, many of its old pubs have gone, but some gems remain.  These include The Dun Cow, The Saltgrass, The Museum Vaults, The Mountain Daisy, Fitzgerald’s, The King's Arms and the recently-refurbished Isis.

 

While Newcastle Brown Ale is recognized world-wide, for many years Sunderland was associated with Double Maxim Ale, brewed in the centre of the town by Vaux Breweries. This brewery was founded in 1837 by Cuthbert Vaux and during the following 160 years expanded as a successful family business with its roots in Sunderland.

Vaux advertising board in Sunderland, 1990

By the 1990s, the Vaux Group had expanded into hotels. Despite the brewing business being profitable and an offer to buy it having been received from management, in March 1999 the Board accepted the advice of the Corporate Financier, BT Alex. Brown, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, and decided to close breweries in Sunderland and Sheffield. The management buyout would have protected both breweries, the pub chain and the 3,200 associated jobs. Instead, an assessment based on shareholder value resulted in the unnecessary destruction of a profitable brewing dynasty going back 160 years. Vaux brewery, which was a major employee in Sunderland, was razed to the ground in 2003. The site is still unoccupied today. (Reference: Wikipedia).

In 2000 two former Vaux directors and the former head brewer together formed the Double Maxim Beer Company, buying the beer brands and recipes. They resurrected the Samson and Double Maxim beers.

 

The Vaux Dray in 1990. Once a common sight in Sunderland

Double Maxim

Maxim Ale was first brewed in 1901 to celebrate the return of the Maxim gun detachment from the Boer War. 'The Maxim' was the world's first self-powered automatic machine gun. Major Ernest Vaux (one of the original brewing family) commanded the detachment, which was part of the Northumberland Hussars. Initially, the beer was reduced in strength because landlords complained of their customers falling asleep. In 1938 Vaux Breweries increased the strength of the beer and Double Maxim was born.

 

 

 

The Museum Vaults, Silksworth Row, in 1990

 

 

The Museum Vaults in 1998. This pub was a beerhouse until 1978, when it became one of the last pubs in the town to be awarded a spirit licence.

 

 

 

The Brewery Tap, which adjoined Vaux brewery, in 1998. This pub was demolished a few years later along with the brewery.

 

The King's Arms, Deptford, in 2006

The Saltgrass in Deptford, Sunderland in 2006. This pub is a little out of the way, but well worth finding. A genuine pub with a real fire, well-kept beer and occasional live music.