Newcastle
The Hawthorn Inn (Sachins)
Last Updated:
30 May 2024
Newcastle
This is a
Pub
54.966748, -1.618295
Founded in
Current status is
Extant
Designer (if known):
Now operating as Sachins
Morning. Now known as Sachins, this restaurant used to be the Hawthorn Inn named after the works only a few feet away. Its ornate decoration and glazed tiles also date from that era, though it's now a little more muted and less flamboyant.
The inn is first recorded a few decades after the engineering works were first established. This was in the 1850s, when it was put up for let by the Manor Brewery who were based near Silver Street at Manors. John Reed Atkin was landlord for a few years in the lead up to the letting.
A Mr John Errington was in charge through the 1860s - a keen boatman who hosted races and refreshments were rowing was at the peak of its popularity in the area. Clasper and his contemporaries likely knew him.
The pub looks like it was rebuilt or re-fronted around the turn of the century and is very typical of that style. Very much a hunch, but it does look like this is the corner of a terrace which extended about half the length of Forth Banks in the 1850s. Hawthorn House next door was formally used as a pattern shop from 1859, so this may have been the time the rest of it was demolished.
It ended up in the hands of Vaux, and is locally listed today. Would be nice to see those tiles un-rendered though.
Listing Description (if available)
The Ordnance Surveys shown illustrate the Forth Banks area between the 1890s and 1910s. You'll notice one drastic change, which is the widening of the railway to Carlisle and the advent of the King Edward Bridge. This resulted in a total realignment of the roads below the bridge and the reduction of the infirmary gardens which became the Labour Exchange. The Forth Banks Goods offices also claimed a site streetside, taking over the old cement works and a yard in the goods station itself.
If we turn the clocks back to 1864, we can see a similar vista to that in the 1890s. However, the Central Station was still much smaller, with the southernmost platforms yet to be constructed and were still carriage and wagon sidings. Stephenson's Works also expanded through the decades, absorbing much of the area between Forth Banks and Orchard Street.
Sachins in 2024
The Hawthorn on Forth Banks in 1949. Source: Billy Embleton https://www.flickr.com/photos/36891793@N08/51670250696
The pub in 1966. Source: Newcastle Libraries