Looking Back at Howdon
Pictured is the Main Street in Howdon. In the centre is the Royal Oak Inn and the free house was the Ship Inn. The entrance to the Tyne Tunnel now stands at the site of this community, which went largely unrecorded at the time of its demolition.
Newspapers of the 1840s contain references to a Ship Inn at Howdon Pans, run by Thomas Ridley until he died in about 1853 and his widow Sarah Ridley. Sarah’s daughter Elizabeth Dodds Ridley held the pub until about 1890, when they moved to the Railway Inn, Willington Quay.
The Royal Oak may have been opened about 1853 by William Robinson tailor, who held it until about 1861.
Both pubs had a number of short lived tenancies after their founders and ceased trading about 1930.
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