Wallsend High Street






9th September 2014



Duke of York Public House.

No. 179 High Street West. Built early 20th century. Three storeys in neo-classical red terracotta and red brick. Replaced a smaller inn of the same name.

Source: Sitelines.




Last Orders Public House.




Border Road Junction.




The Ship Inn Public House.

Formerly the Robin Hood PH. Named after an earlier Ship Inn shown a little to the south on Ordnance Survey first edition (NZ 3003 6579). Records exist of a Robin Hood as far back as 1828. Occupied 1886 by John Butchart. The inn has had many names including Chadwick’s. The current building has 1913 written on the drainpipe.

Source: Sitelines.




Former Ritz Cinema.

Opened on 15 May 1939. Built for the Associated British Cinemas (ABC) chain. Designed by the firm Percy L. Browne, Son and Harding. The cinema could seat 1092 people in the stalls and 544 in the circle. It was in Art Deco style with sinuous lines of curving plaster and decorative grilles around the extraction vents. The Ritz Cinema closed on 8th September 1962 and was converted to a Mecca Bingo hall. This closed on 9 October 2011. Formed by two three-storey buildings linked by a single storey section in the middle.

Source: Sitelines.




Manhattan's.

Formerly the Black Bull Hotel then the Little Waster (after the NE comedian Bobby Thompson). Existed in 1858 amongst buildings known as Turners Buildings. The first floor also held the Wallsend Companions Club. This was built as one large building (c1900) and has not altered visually since. It is a very impressive building that dominates that part of the street.

Source: Sitelines.





The Forum.




Atkinson Street Junction.




The Anson Public House.

Built to replace the Station Hotel and the Railway Inn both demolished in the late 1960s to make way for The Forum shopping centre. The bar of the Anson has been called the Penny Wet Bar - Penny Wet being the nickname of the Station Hotel.

There used to be a sign on the wall of the pub which stated the following: 'On New Years Eve in 1966 the Station Hotel closed its doots and Mr and Mrs James Moses walked the short distance to its replacement, The Anson, where they continued as the House Managers.' On the 3rd January 1967 the pub was officially opened by the mayor Councillor R Flemming. It was only the third pub in Wallsend to be opened since the war and was built by R W Bell and Co in the style to compliment The Forum shopping centre. The pub was named after the 35,000 ton HMS Anson launched in 1942. The pub underwent a full refurbishment and re-opened in 27th April 2007.

Source: Sitelines.





Station Road Junction.



Market Woman.

1966 by Hans Schwarz. A green-black bronze female figure, 2.6m high, holding a backet containing chickens on her head. The statue stands in a flower bed to one side of the Forum shopping centre. Commissioned by J. Seymour Harris and Partners, developers of the shopping centre.

Originally sited on a low brick base it was moved to its current location in 1993. The figure is a female Roman-era peasant, the site lying close to the east end of Hadrian's Wall. The statue was deliberately rough, hand-finished and has a patchy nature to the colour, to give an impression of age. The stoicism of her pose contrasts with the flapping hens in the basket. Reasons for being listed: aesthetic quality, material, historic interest (Schwarz draws attention to the subjugation of the local population by Emperor Hadrian) and contribution to the public realm.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines.





Town Hall.

Town Hall, now Borough offices. 1907-8 by E.F.W. Liddle and P.L. Brown for the Borough of Wallsend. Bright red brick with ashlar plinth and dressings. Welsh slate roof with copper corner turret roof. Baroque style. Two storeys.

Round-headed double door and balustraded balcony to first floor window under arch. Borough arms in panel above. Round-headed mullioned and transomed windows in ground floor. Sash windows first floor with Ionic columns and balustraded parapet. Clock in right pavilion. Opened 16th September 1908 and cost £15,657. The council chamber is lit by nine stained glass windows representing local heraldic devices. The clock was presented by first Mayor, William Boyd.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Sitelines.




Coach and Horses Public House.

Circa 1907 for W.B. Reed and Co., brewers, by company architect Watson. Brick with ashlar plinth and dressings; plain-tiled roof with flat stone gable copings. Jacobean style.2 storeys, 3:5:3 bays.

Central renewed double door recessed in deep panelled reveals and shouldered architrave; modillioned cornice and segmental canopy to porch with Ionic columns. Uneven block jambs to ovolo- moulded cross windows under pediments. Projecting 3-bay gabled ends; the left with central door and round-headed windows in arcaded ground floor, and much ornament beneath alternately - pedimented first floor cross windows in aedicule; the right with pedimented ground-floor cross windows under 6-light stone mullioned and transomed windows in aedicule; small Venetian windows in gable peaks. 5-bay left return to Coach Road has 3 full-height canted bays alternating with stone- coped shaped gables. Porch with high round canopy in second bay.

Grade 2 Listed. Source: Historic England.





Park Road Junction.























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