Recalling the old Golden Lion pub

Reader George Crozier has been in touch with some fine memories of an old South Tyneside pub '“ and an appeal relating to it.
The Golden Lion  was the first hotel in South Shields to offer accommodation to travellersThe Golden Lion  was the first hotel in South Shields to offer accommodation to travellers
The Golden Lion was the first hotel in South Shields to offer accommodation to travellers

Mr Crozier’s recollections involve the Golden Lion, which used to be in Biddick Lane, South Shields.

“My dad, Frederick Crozier, was manager there for Newcastle Breweries,” he explains.

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“It was on the corner of Green Lane and Boldon Green, and goes back a long way.

“I was a boy when we went there. It had stables for about four horses, which in years gone by, would have been enough to change a coach. It also had a lovely quoit ground with seats and everything around it.

“It was fenced off, but still attached to the pub.”

Mr Crozier, who was a plumber by trade and worked for Newcastle Breweries, said his dad was originally a patent maker, but moved into the licensing trade when he took over the Crow’s Nest pub, in Newcastle.

As well as managing the Golden Lion for about seven years, Mr Crozier senior also managed the Dock Hotel, in Tyne Dock (which was known locally as the Boody Bar).

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Referring to the Golden Lion, Mr Crozier said: “It was a canny little pub, with a snug and a back room and a main bar.

“A railway line, the Sunderland to South Shields line, used to run at the bottom of the pub’s garden. By the railway line was a pigeon hut, where the pigeon men used to meet.

“During the war, there was a barrier built up alongside it, across the road.”

He also recalled that one of the pub’s regulars was MP Billy Blyton, who was made a life peer (Baron Blyton, of South Shields) by Harold Wilson on December 16, 1964.

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Mr Crozier asked if I had any old photographs of the Golden Lion. A search of the Gaszette’s archives did turn up a picture of a Golden Lion pub, but this one related to South Shields’ first hotel.

As a result, if anyone has any images of the old pub, then please get in touch.

In the meantime, I have included a number of photos of other South Tyneside pubs, in the hope that they stir fond memories.

If they do, please drop me a line with your memories.