In the shadow of towering shipyard cranes, this was Wallsend's Ship In The Hole pub 30 years ago.
Sitting just yards from the River Tyne, for decades it served the thirsty workers of Swan Hunter and the local community, but like the yard and the terraced streets it is now gone.
The Ship Inn stood on Gainers Terrace, and over time adopted the 'In The Hole' appendage to differentiate it from another Ship Inn just up the road.
Our photograph was taken in June 1991 - but there had been a bar at the location since before Queen Victoria ascended the throne.
A Ship Inn is listed at Wallsend Quay in 1834 in a district called Lishman’s Houses.
Later, the 1857 Ordnance Survey map shows the Ship Inn lying between the wagonways to Coxlodge Staiths, a few yards from the Tyne. Very little else was built until the mudbanks were reclaimed.
Moving into the 20th century, between 1938 and 1953 The Ship was managed by Harry Armstrong, and from 1953 to 1959 by Ted Shields.
For the next 24 years, until 1983, Mr and Mrs Frank Pike ran the place. The pub was taken over by Dryburgh when they became tenants.
The deeds referred to the pub as being at Lishman’s House, while the area around the building was known locally as 'The Hole', thought to stem from the fact it could be reached via a tunnel which ran under the
Riverside railway line.
The timing of the demise of The Ship roughly matched that of Swan Hunter shipyard. The old boozer closed in 2010, and lay empty for three years before being demolished, with the pub's signage being sent off to Beamish Museum.
Then, in 2014, we reported the exciting news that archaeologists had found the original Roman baths which served Segedunum fort in Wallsend at the site of the bulldozed pub.
The baths were long forgotten, having last been seen in 1814 when they were discovered during the building of coal staiths on the river, 120m south of Segedunum fort.
Roman baths contained a steam room, cold and tepid rooms, as well as a changing room, and these baths would have been used by the soldiers and civilians of Roman Segedunum.
It was indeed a tale of two watering holes.
