Facebook Postings 2015

What would Local Historians Frank Manders, Clarence Walton, The Dodds sisters, John Oxberry, Peter Haywood, Joan Hewitt, Chas Taylor et al make of Facebook Groups eg Memory Lane, Felling Past and Present, Felling Group etc? This is just a sampling of the value of shared memories. They would have loved it and I'm sure they would have seen the historic merit in recording the views of ordinary people on everyday subjects.
Here's a few postings. I doubt whether the actual postings will last into history and they are not searchable. These reproduced samplings are searchable and postings on this website will survive into history, if not online then certainly in a printed form
This is the sort of record for the future that a tape recording of folks chatting in a pub 100 years ago would be. A great insight into what people were thinking and talking about


JB  This is an interesting photograph. I had forgotten there was a William IV pub on Bottle Bank. Here we see the pub on the day of Tot Anderson's funeral. Tot owned and ran the pub and the Gateshead Post reports "People lined every inch of the route to St Mary's Church in Gateshead where a service was held"

'This is an interesting photograph. I never knew there was a William IV pub on Bottle Bank. Here we see the pub on the day of Tot Anderson's funeral. Tot owned and ran the pub and the Gateshead Post reports 'People lined every inch of the route to St Mary's Church in Gateshead where a service was held''

  • 32 like this.

  • JB Can't find my pic of the lined streets but it's here
    http://www.gatesheadhistory.com/local-people.html
    Gateshead history in words and old pictures from Gateshead Council's collection online at http://www.ise...
    GATESHEADHISTORY.COM|BY JON BRATTON

  • DN Here it is JB x
    Denise Neilson's photo.

  • JB How did you do that Denise?

  • DN Screenshot John on my IPhone you bring picture up and press on the home button and side on/off button at same time it goes into the camera roll xx

  • JB  I've only got iPhone 3 with no internet. I have lots of websites so people assume I'm a techie but I'm exactly what you'd expect from a 66 year old. Next time I want to show a pic I can't find in my file of thousands i'll give you a hollah x

  • DN Go ahead JB no problem xx
  • PS Impressed.

  • KTW  Amazing I wonder what year this was. He must have been a real celebrity of his time. Will read more of the Gateshead History site later. Many thanks Jon and Denise x

  • DN 1937xx

  • KTW Cheers - will ask my dad if he remembers this - he would have been 8 xx

  • ILW Great photo,I only remember Bottle Bank as a rather run down area,it looks great here though. I would like to know more about Tot Anderson he must have been local royalty.

  • JB He was the publican and if you look at the main sign above the pub and next door shop it says Robinson and Anderson. He will be that Anderson. Lots of folk lived in Central Gateshead and with draughty houses and no TV the pubs were much more important ...(More)

  • JB This is stuff from my website about the Queen's Head
    "The Queen's Head Inn deserves special mention as it was obviously the posh hotel of Gateshead and being near the bottom of Bottle Bank it was very close to Newcastle and was often used as the place 
    ...(More)

  • TD Knocked about that area in 1964 when me ship used to tie up at Gateshead Quay,only remember the Queens Head,think there were still building alongside it but that could be a fault of memory.

  • SH Wow- just amazing!!! Thanks for this- I'm fascinated 

  • KTW Very interesting and t must have felt another world a couple of streets along in Pipewellgate.

  • JB More on Queens Head off internet
    The "Queen's Head" stood almost opposite the site of the Goat's Inn (HER 7861), at the middle of the steepest part of Bottle Bank, on the right-hand side going downwards. It was in its day the most important hostelry in
    ...(More)

  • DN  It used to be called the Nags Head 
    The Old Nag’s Head was Tot’s after the long-term manager Thomas “Tot” Anderson. It was a popular port of call for seamen who would bring souvenirs back from their travels. The walls were decorated with wine-skins, a swordfish, strange weaponry and ships in bottles.

  • KTW If only it was still there!

  • JB  KTW, you have to bear in mind we're talking of a large span of time. Pipewellgate (Rabbit Bank) was once new and would have a magnificent view over to Newcastle. Many of the houses were big..posh you might say. As it worsened the wealthy folk went to the green fields of Bensham and the big houses became tenaments, which hastened the area's decline

  • KTW Yes bad sorts moved in - some of my ancestors. Great info and will help me add info to my family tree. Many thanks x

  • JB  DN,the William IV closed in the late 30's ie after senior Tot's funeral. Tot junior moved to the Old Nag's Head

  • DN Okay blame Google LOL! x

  • JB Too many Tots!

  • JB The Robinson & Anderson Co was Tot and a bookie called Alec Robinson. The firm, became tenants in the pubs of James Calder & Co. John Boothroyd the former head of Local History of Gateshead Council said of the big funeral turn out "Tot was a Gateshead personality"

  • JB It was the Journal's fault. Here's the info they were given
    Jon Bratton's photo.

  • ILW read Denise's link with interest, one paragraph was really interesting to me..............".One visitor’s comment has John Boothroyd smiling, then heading off for more research. “I was born in St Cuthbert’s Road,” the chap says, “and The Victoria was a...(More)

  • JB Never seen a photo of it. Underhand was a nickname for the Victoria . It may have gone before your time. There'll be references to it in the Trade Directories. The pub was originally owned by Arrol and Sons who were Scottish brewers. It was taken over by Allsopp's. Best I can do

  • ILW Thanks Jon............ yes it was gone before my time (born 1948) well maybe it was still there at that time but I cant remember it



JB Sodhouse Bank, back then when the Three Tuns had not been rebuilt (in 1923) and the church at the top of Kells Lane was not modern. See from today's pic nothing much has changed

Jon Bratton's photo.
Jon Bratton's photo.

  • 27 like this.

  • JB The building with the dormer window is the same

  • AS I have wondered which buildings these were . Now with the comparrison picture I know

  •  BO Zion chapel is on the first one and not the second,, taken from further up the bank?

  • TC Why was it called sodhouse bank?

  • JB Coz houses were roofed with sods of grass

  • BO Was the Paddies after the tatties died


  • TC How interesting
    ..why was it changed?

  • BO Leaked

  • JB They only used sods coz they were amateur built houses by dirt poor scoundrels and vagabonds

  • JB Another Sheriff Hill piccie
    Jon Bratton's photo.


  • JB  Is that a garage where the vets is now?

  • BO If you look past the Tunns the old Methodist church still stands,, not many pics of that going




News Feed




January 2015

JB Had a pint in the Metropole today. It's good with lots of nooks, good decor, trombone lighting..but a few too many TV's for my
liking. Pics on the wall are about brewing. I would have expected a theatre theme. Got chatting to a guy formerly in the pub trade and he just would not accept the building's origin as a theatre. That it's ornate, has three storeys and the previous and current pub signs were theatrical in theme altered his view not a jot
I left with a suggestion that he consult Google when he got home



Jon Bratton's photo.
Jon Bratton's photo.
Jon Bratton's photo.
  •  23 people like this.
  • GG Pleased that it's got a new lease of life though. I hope it extends to other pubs further up the High St!
  • AT Obviously not a Geordie then
  • JB He's lived in Gateshead all his life
    PB I cant remember it being a theatre but I remember the name scala on the front ,I don't think I've been in the met xxx
  • KB It's decent in there 2.15 a pint not bad. The trafalgar is a miss

  • JB
  • Jon Bratton's photo.

    JG Scala Theatre


    Located in the centre of Gateshead, Tyne & Wear at the corner of High Street and Jackson Street, it had entrance on High Street and also on the Jackson Street section of the Metropole Hotel, which was the corner building built with the theatre. Originally opened as the Metropole Theatre on 28th September 1896 with the play “The Sign of the Cross”. The proscenium was 28 feet wide. It was converted into a cinema by the Thompson & Collins circuit on 11th February 1919 and re-named Scala Theatre. It had a rear projection system, with the projection box built on the rear of the stage. Taken over by Denman/Gaumont British Theatre in March 1928. It was given a Moorish style makeover designed by interior designer John Alexander. In 1930 it was equipped with a British Acoustic(BA) sound system.

    The Scala Theatre was closed on 29th September 1956. The auditorium was demolished in 1960, and the façade/foyer on High Street went over to retail use, but now the entire building has been demolished and replaced by shops. The corner Metropole Hotel survives, together with its Jackson Street theatre entrance.
  • CH I didnt have clue what it used to be till was looking for stuff for here, hope it stays nice & bright & doesn't go downhill
  • JB In fairness, the main part of the building that was the theatre was demolished in 1960. My ex publican also mentioned the entrance to the Scala on the High Street elevation of the building. He said in his time the 1st floor of The Metropole part of the building was open and there was a big dance floor up there.Now only the toilets and an office are accessible on the 1st floor
    Jon Bratton's photo.

  • JGI've just put a photo up of the inside,,for some reason it would not post when I put the write up on here just now...

  • JB This website has some good stuffhttp://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/GatesheadTheatres.htm
    King's Theatre / Empire Theatre / Essoldo Cinema -...
    ARTHURLLOYD.CO.UK

  • JB The two Scala entrances
    Jon Bratton's photo.

  • IS Scrubbed up canny it has

  • MD Great pictures of it now.  Only ever went in the old one twice (drank on the Fell or the Toon rather then Gateshead).x

  • JB It took a special breed to drink on Gateshead High Street though I miss Harry the Broon Ale King who "worked"..attended...for Gateshead Council and was always only one drink away from being drunk. The Metropole, Wetherspoons and The Central Bar are the new breed of High Street pubs and of course there's now a new student population.

  • AKK hope it does pick up , some nice buildings

  • on web put how many theatre's in gateshead was there clicked on Arthur lloyd great info on theatres in gateshead

  • Great info from a great post thank you all

  •  was this the pic?
    Jon Bratton's photo.


  •  
    High Street was a viable night out in the late 80s! Then the alchys and smack rats took over! Nice to see a decent pub in the town again!

  •  We visited the Metropole whilst visiting at Christmas.....loved what they,ve done with it...shock for my nieces was in the ladies toilets,obviously you didn,t venture there Jon,is a two seater stall..trying to explain to the girls that when her Mam and I were young ,girls often accompanied each other to the toilet great to catch up on the gossip..never seen this before...the pix are NOT being posted on Facebook..

  •  The pubs at the top of the High Street aren't worth saving, the only buildings of any note were / are the Metropole and the Grey Nags Heed, the whole of the top end needs sweeping away and rebuilding.

  •  I started drinking in '89 ....what you said was my & my friends reason for not drinking there. A bf took me as he drank there (we didn't last long). Would be nice to see the high st. modernised & popular.x


Thomas Wilson's house up for let so they turned it into Lowery's Lane Car Park but not before waiting nye on another Century, allowing it to become a dangerous but fun adventure playground for little tykes, including myself

Thomas Wilson's house up for let so they turned it into Lowery's Lane Car Park but not before waiting nye on another Century, allowing it to become a dangerous but fun adventure playground for little tykes, including myself
Pity the kids weren't as enterprising as their dad

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/.../bsiIlds.../s1600-h/P1020002.JPG

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308-318 High Street, Gateshead, c1929

308-318 High Street, Gateshead, c1929