There's still a couple of buildings leading down the bank from before the newer bridge was constructed in 1936. The one striking survivor is the New Inn, more recently a furniture shop and youth centre (I think).

The New Inn opened on the Gateshead to Hexham Turnpike which followed this lane, as the Bridge End Inn. The 1778 bridge it was named after is actually incorporated into the current road bridge.

The original stone structure had stood here since at least 1817 on land owned by the Beaumont's, however its first mention as a pub isn't until the 1890s. I reckon in a previous life this was the house of a pretty genteel man - perhaps the manager of a local colliery or one of the Beaumont's. In the 1890s it was managed by a Mr J C Robson, who was a member of the Stella Military Band and hosted sports festivals for them and the wider community. If the Bridge End Inn was opened in this decade, then it lasted very little time until expansion.

It was renamed the New Inn by 1902, but the stone building only lasted a few years into the new century. The brick building we see today is very typical of the 1910s/1920s when pubs were continually evolving and modernising to attract a new class of clientele and traveller. They often had beds and refreshment rooms to lift their reputation. The landlord around the time of reconstruction was James Bell - an Irishman from Tyrone seen in the photograph below in front of the former grandiose arch.

The closure of the Blaydon Burn works at the bottom of the valley led to more tumultuous times in the coming decades, and with the new bridge it ultimately led to its decline and closure. The license was eventually transferred to a different pub and repurposed by the 1930s.