Newcastle
Barley Mow Inn, City Road
Last Updated:
2 Jun 2025
Newcastle
This is a
Pub
54.970979, -1.602011
Founded in
Current status is
Ruined
Designer (if known):
Currently in limbo as a razed wreck
We normally talk about the buildings that didn't deserve to be knocked down. This one is far too stubborn to fall despite two decades of arson and disuse. Though the artwork has made it less of an eyesore, it's still a miracle this one is up for all the wrong reasons.
Still, it means we get to talk about it as one of the well known pubs on City Road - the Barley Mow. The name was a common one one time over, especially around breweries and agricultural life. I presume in this case it was referring to the sizeable Sandgate Bell's Brewery established here from the 1790s, but later moved to Bath Lane.
The original Barley Mow was opened in 1827, and is referenced in the Newcastle Journal of 13/08/1836. At this time it was a beer shop named the "Barley Mow High Bar", and was only licensed to sell ales rather than the stronger stuff - perhaps due to the drinking culture in these parts. Even in the 1830s there's countless reports of drunken violence and disorder inside and out the pub which I'm sure raised eyebrows with the petty sessions. Life was incredibly hard down here.
It was rebuilt sometime in the second half of the 19th century - potentially the 1860s as it was again put up for let in 1867. Just after, this pub was ran by Harry Clasper - the nationally renowned oarsman whose name is recognised across Tyneside. He held victory parties and meetings here with fellow sportsmen and compatriots. Sadly his granddaughter Susannah was found dead here, and I wonder if that encouraged him to move on soon after.
The "Mow" became famous for street fighting too. Fighting was illegal in Scotland, so it's said they came down the border on the train to fight in the yard of the Mow. The yard had padded walls with two ropes, and was used to settle money and disputes.
Operations continued here into the 2000s under various guises. The Fog & Firkin, the Stereo Bar, Beveridges etc. Before Beveridge's was fitted out in 1979, its owner said it was a dosshouse, a skid row if you will, but was totally renovated. I would only be a few decades however until it was closed forever due to repeated fires. Now, it just remains in limbo.
Listing Description (if available)
Here's the Ordnance Surveys through the mid 19th century to the late, detailing the great change experienced through these decades. The Barley Mow was reconstructed between these maps as it was once likely a great set of tall late 18th/early 19th century dwellings, slow converted into multiple occupancy houses and commercial premises. In fact there's shots of Milk Market in the 19th century which will give us a good idea of how this street looked.
The fringes of the city were physically at the hospital in the 1760s, though the riverside sprawl had developed over a longer term given the industries. The areas of Battle Field and Shieldfield were scarely built on, and were actually used for sport and dog fighting. Great gardens covered the area from the wall to the Ouseburn with the odd mill dotted around too. However, across the next century large and overbearing tenements and industries would build over these gardens and became part of the great engine that was Newcastle upon Tyne. Baths, schools, churches, warehouses, factories and most other things you can think of cropped up by the end of the 19th century, including the Mow.
The City Road and Milk Market area were still heavily industrialised in the 1950s, with the Keelmans Hospital housing some of these workers and the least well off folk in the city. You'll see the long continental wharves lining the Tyne as well as once Europe's largest grain warehouse. Immediately next to the hospital was the Jubilee School which you can see on a shot below as well as a long gone maternity hospital. Many of these buildings do still survive though. Such provided an immediate custom for the Mow alongside other pubs on the road including The Albion and the Druids Arms.
The ruined Barley Mow in April 2025
Barley Mow in 1920. Source: Newcastle Libraries
The Barley Mow in its twilight years in the 1980s/90s. Source: Newcastle Libraries