Look! The Broken Doll! The Globe!

(Report by Russell)

Currently on show at the Literary and Philosophical Society on Westgate Road in Newcastle is an ongoing exhibition of photographs from the West Newcastle Picture History Collection. The theme is ‘pubs and clubs’ to be found within a few square miles west of Newcastle city centre. Stretching west of St James’ Boulevard to Scotswood Bridge (within spitting distance of Blaydon Jazz Club!) and north to Stamfordham Road in Westerhope, black and white prints on show in the Lit & Phil’s ground floor exhibition space give an indication of west Newcastle’s once flourishing pub trade.

Most of the hostelries are long gone, all, no doubt, with a tale to tell. The Broken Doll stood as an old-style spit and sawdust boozer on Blenheim Street. Matthew Charlton beers were on the bar. A lick of paint would have ruined the place, a public house without redecoration since the year dot. A Saturday afternoon blues venue par excellence (the Blues Burglars were regulars, the joint packed to the rafters), ‘progress’ intervened. The Broken Doll was demolished to make way for St James’ Boulevard (never a more ludicrous name for a road in a northern ‘post’ industrial town), memories survive intact. Broken Doll t-shirts were de rigueur, today a collector’s item.

One photograph on show – taken in 2005 – describes one premises as the last pub on Scotswood Road. That pub is the Globe. Rescued and revived by the Newcastle Jazz Co-op, today the Globe is a thriving shareholder-owned jazz venue. Prints are available to purchase, call in to the Lit & Phil for details.

Russell