IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hotspur Street, NORTH SHIELDS, NE30 4EE

Ringtons Limited is a tea and coffee manufacturing business based in Newcastle upon Tyne which was founded in 1907 by Samuel Smith. The company delivered tea across the nation through a door to door service, initially by horse-drawn vehicle, a service which still continues today. For many years Ringtons Tea Depot occupied this site, which after the depot closed, was developed for housing. The development includes a number of features, such as the interesting diamond-shaped windows, which echo similar features in nearby properties. For a selection of detailed free to download walking routes in the area visit www.northtynesidewalks.co.uk

A stone plaque set into the façade above the entrance would seem to suggest that this building was erected in 1882. This is incorrect. On the 16th May 1810, foundation stones were laid on this site, in the presence of a large gathering, for what was to be a Wesleyan Chapel. The chapel opened sometime later and continued to be used as such until 1870, when it was replaced by a new Wesleyan Chapel on Front Street Tynemouth on the site where Timothy Duff Court now stands. In 1882 alterations were carried out to the building so that it could be used as a Sunday School. A later photograph shows that the current stone date plaque was merely part of a larger stone frieze set into the then brick façade of the building which bore the wording, "Wesleyan AD 1882 School". In 1972 the building was purchased by the Tynemouth Priory Theatre Club, and converted into a 189-seat theatre. The theatre club, which is a registered charity, was formed in 1946 by Miss Ria Thompson with the first plays being performed in Holy Saviour's Parish Hall, Manor Way, Tynemouth. For a selection of detailed free to download walking routes in the area visit www.northtynesidewalks.co.uk

This post box, previously sited across the road on the corner of St. Oswin's Place, stands outside the current post office at 27-31 Percy Park Road and dates from the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). The Royal Mail is a key partner in the Government's Coronavirus testing programme and collect completed testing kits from over 35,000 specially selected post boxes of which this is one (see stickers attached to the box). For a selection of detailed free to download walking routes in the area visit www.northtynesidewalks.co.uk

The Priory Public House stands on the corner of Front Street and Hotspur Street and is a popular watering hole for both residents and visitors to the area. For many years the Priory was known as the Percy Arms reflecting Tynemouth exceptionally strong links to the Duke of Northumberland. The first floor of the building houses the Gulshan Restaurant which sells contemporary Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine. This restaurant opened in 2015.

When the first Ordnance Survey Six-Inch map of the area was published in 1865 (surveyed 1858), this part of Percy Street was named as 'Back Street' and continued uninterrupted along what is now St. Oswin's Place. This property stands close to the junction with Percy Park Road and forms part of the historic core of Tynemouth Village. For a selection of detailed free to download walking routes in the area visit www.northtynesidewalks.co.uk

A wonderful shop on Front Street, Tynemouth, a cornucopia of all that is beautiful and frivolous.