Guide Post
The Shakespeare, Guide Post
Last Updated:
17 Jan 2025
Guide Post
This is a
Pub
55.160103, -1.603068
Founded in
Current status is
Extant
Designer (if known):
Still operating
The first of the Guide Post pubs from Sheepwash Bank - the Shakespeare. Is this the last of the villages historic public houses?
It sits on the edge of the planned settlement, which culminated in the first half of the 19th century around the same time as Grainger in Newcastle. As such, there was plenty of grand and uniform buildings - this being one of them.
It’s not the same building, but you can see the conforming style with the Anvil Inn (2nd pic, source unknown) which stood closer to the roundabout.
The Shakespeare was originally a beer house in the 1850s, and was the northernmost building in the village. A beer house had a restricted license to only sell ale, as opposed to a fully licensed public house which could sell anything. They were much cheaper to gain.
The landlord at this time, William Stevenson, made great efforts to cater for the community. He held a great ball with a buffet and quadrille band in here - I just wonder how cramped it must have been!
There was also a quoits ground adjoining and rabbit coursing was also hosted from here. Singing competitions, pigeon shooting and dog racing too which really gives you some idea into how important this was as a community space. Consider too plenty of illegal gambling also occurred here, with “basins and dice” witnessed with a man taking numbers. Dominoes was also being played in the next room - the horror 😱
It’s fantastic to see this place still operating, and it’s possible to assess this as the oldest building still standing in the settlement. Maybe in a few decades we could see it listed…
Listing Description (if available)
The Ordnance Survey of 1866 shows the Shakespeare as the solitary northernmost building at Guide Post - a beer house and possibly the first in the village. It stood next to a clay pit, presumably where much of the brick stock to construct the village came from which later became the site of the Primitive Methodist Chapel. The Shakespeare is very possibly the last building at Guide Post from this era.
The second map is a composited plan from the 1890s and 1920s. The Shakespeare is much more integrated with the village given further development towards Sheepwash Bank. This more detailed plan gives us an idea just how many public houses & inns stood in the village at that time, catering for the countless folk who lived here and worked down at Choppington Colliery. The 1871 census tells us residents were agri labourers & corn gringers, but also cartmen, colliery labourers, millers & enginemen.
There's plenty of modern housing development along Sheepwash Bank by this stage, making the Shakespeare (seen at the bottom of this map) an ideal centre between Guide Post and Sheepwash. You'll also notice plenty of allotment gardens occupying the surrounding land to help feed & support the fairly rural local community.
The Shakespeare in December 2024
