A Tyneside street 90 years ago in time
THEN AND NOW: PELAW, GATESHEAD, IN THE 1920S
THE buildings remain largely the same, but there have been one or two changes around here. Our main image shows Shields Road, Pelaw, Gateshead, in the 1920s.
As its name suggests, it was once part of the main route through Hebburn, Jarrow and beyond towards South Shields, seven miles away.
The shop premises on the right of the photo are still with us. The one with the shutters down is now Jaff’s Hairdressing For Men. Next door, what was then the prosaically named Felling Shop operates today as Discount Wine And Food Centre.
And then there’s the pub. The Station Hotel, named after the nearby railway (now Metro) station, is today the popular Pelaw Inn.
As was the case 90 years ago, the rare and exciting arrival of a bulky camera in the street had attracted the attention of some of the locals on the traffic-free main road.
It’s on the left of our photograph where it’s been all change. Today the long stretch of buildings is gone. Then, they defined the thriving area of Pelaw.
At the turn of the last century, the Co-operative Wholesale Society built an almost mile-long string of red-brick factories along Shields Road on what had been open fields between Heworth and Bill Quay.
Many of the goods that filled the shelves of scores of Co-op shops known as the “store” - around the North East were made here.
There was a drug and drysaltery works, as well as engineering, cabinetmaking, printing, tailoring, shirt, clothing, quilt and bedding factories.
When all the factories were operating at their peak, they provided jobs for 3,000 local people.
The well-known Pelaw Shirt Factory, which had made attire for troops during World War II and employed 150 workers, was one of last standing as the new millennium dawned. It was finally demolished in 2011, marking the end of an era.
Most of the other factories had closed during the 1970s and 1990s as consumer tastes changed and business waned.
The cabinet-making factory, which became the Brentford Nylon works in the 1970s, is today the Stonehills modern business park. It is home to the last of the old CWS buildings.
Most of the nearby terraced streets and shops built for the factories’ workers are also still standing.
Meanwhile, out of view on the left of our 2018 image in place of the old CWS factories, stand two huge stores that symbolise a modern, very different retail world to that of the 20th century Co-op - Aldi and Lidl.