Time to venture down the Wild West that is the Bigg Market - a feast of architecture once you dismiss the heaps of tinnies strewn across the footpath on a Sunday morning.

This is the City Vaults today, but was once known as the Royal Court Buildings. It was built around 1884 for W R Pape by John Johnstone. Amble born Pape was a gunsmith by trade, opening his first dealership in Newcastle back in 1858 and produced his first sellable shotgun a year prior. He also held dog shows down at the Corn Exchange, later encased within the Town Hall at the bottom of the street. He clearly made a pretty penny, as this was a prospective investment not just for his own premises but to lease to others too.

Beforehand, it was home to the Unicorn Inn and the Golden Lion which you can see below - some of the last 17th (possibly 16th) century pubs along the Bigg Market. You might also notice they feature the lowping on stone which does the rounds on social media every now and then. It now stands outside the Castle Keep. Newspapers reports state it was to be rebuilt, which seemingly never happened.

There were warehouses and commercial premises, but much of the site became the Royal Court Grill. It was a public house as well as a buffet, hotel and billiards saloon. The proprietor in the early years was a Mr John Hunter, and clearly catered it for the upper kind of clientele. An art sketching club also took place here in the 1900s hosted by Johnson Hedley, who many may know for his gorgeous landscape paintings around Sunderland. Also, a walkway once allowed you to reach the Royal Court Yard at the rear until around 2 decades ago. Cockfights and the like used to be held down there.

It remained the Royal Court Grill until it was renamed the City Vaults in the early 80s - then a wine bar and buffet ran by Joshua Tetley & Son, but now it's much more of a Bigg Market haunt you'd expect.