Marsden Grotto
Encyclopedia
.jpg)
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
located on the coast at Marsden
Marsden, Tyne and Wear
Marsden is a suburb in South Shields, North East England, located on the North Sea coast.The original village of Marsden, was demolished in the 1960s due to the risk of erosion from the encroaching shoreline. What remains are five rows of Victorian terraced houses, which were originally built to...
in South Shields
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...
, Tyne & Wear, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-U.K. The pub is one of the only 'cave bars' in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, other 'cave bars' include the Caves of Xoroi in Menorca. The Grotto is now a pub/restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
serving mainly seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
.
The Grotto is partly dug into the cliff face and fronted with a more conventional building opening onto the beach.
Currently The Grotto includes a large bar, the inside cave with another bar and pool room, a bistro
Bistro
A bistro, sometimes spelled bistrot, is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. Home cooking with robust earthy dishes, and slow-cooked foods like cassoulet are typical...
, a heated terrace on the beach and a full restaurant upstairs. Access is either by lift from the car park or by a zigzag stair case on the cliff at the side of the building. The lift is housed in a brick shaft rising from the front of the building.
Jack the Blaster
The retired quarry man, Jack, and his wife set up home in a cave near Marsden Rock. The dwelling was accessed by stairs down the cliff, thought to be built by Jack. Jack and his wife would sell refreshments to visitors to the beach.Peter Allan
Peter Allan bought the Marsden Grotto with money left to him by his father, also Peter Allan. His father was the game keeper of Sir Headworth Williamson. When Williamson’s wife was swept out to sea on her horse on Marsden Bay, he gave all his horses to his ostlerOstler
Ostler is a surname, and may refer to:*Blake Ostler, American attorney*Gordon Ostlere, English surgeon and anaesthetist*Nicholas Ostler, British linguist*William Ostler, English actor...
, who painted the White Horse on Cleadon Hills, and all of his money to Allen, his gameskeeper.
Peter extended the caves to include a ballroom and kitchen, turning Jack's house into an inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
.
In 1848 John Clay, who later became the first mayor of the County Borough of South Shields, bought The Leas
The Leas
The Leas is a large area of land owned and maintained by the National Trust along the coastal cliffs of South Shields, England.It is popular with dog walkers, joggers, kite flyers, horse riders, cyclists and other activities...
and claimed that the land gave him rights to The Grotto. Allan battled with Clay in court and was forced to pay £50 costs and £10 annual rent for 20 years. Allan sunk into depression and died in 1849 leaving his wife and eight children.
After Allan’s death his family continued to run The Grotto for an additional 35 years. In this time many improvements were made, along with further excavations implemented by Allan's children. A catastrophic cliff fall in 1865 almost destroyed the inn. Large retaining walls were built to protect the internal structure.
Harton Coal Company
The Harton Coal Company acquired The Grotto in the latter half of the 19th century. It had substantial success during this period, but it was also allowed to fall into disrepair.Vaux Breweries
VauxVaux Breweries
Vaux Breweries was a major brewer based in Sunderland. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The Company was founded by Cuthbert Vaux in Sunderland in 1837 and for nearly 170 years was a major employer in the town....
took over The Grotto in 1898. They decided to clean the place up as it was littered with empty beer barrels that draymen would not collect. In 1938 Vaux purchased The Grotto and set upon a large refurbishment program. The buildings joined on to the caves were rebuilt to a high standard. A lift was also added to the surface.
In 1999 Vaux decided to concentrate more on their hotel and leisure business rather than operate as a brewery. A buyer could not be found for the Marsden Grotto and it closed down.
After Vaux
The Sunderland restaurant firm, Tavistock, purchased the Grotto in a poor condition. Although it had only been closed a few years it was in a bad state. The premises were totally refurbished and the grotto opened as a high class seafood restaurant and bar. Following its purchase of the Roker Hotel in Sunderland, Tavistock was made an offer it could not refuse and the Grotto was sold to London Inns & Restaurants in 2003. The Grotto later passed to Oxford Hotels and Inns Management Ltd.. In September 2007, South TynesideSouth Tyneside
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear in North East England.It is bordered by four other boroughs - Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, and North Tyneside to the north. The border county of Northumberland lies further north...
Council, who are responsible for the stairs adjacent to the pub, closed them off due to a damaged step, pending repair. Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, formerly Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of Tyne and Wear, England, providing emergency fire cover to a population of 1.08 million people and a geographical area of 540 square kilometres...
ordered the pub be temporally closed to the public until the stairs reopen as they are the only means of safe evacuation from the pub, especially at high tide. The Grotto reopened on 21 March 2008.
Ghosts
There have long been tales of hauntingsGhost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
at the Grotto, mainly relating to a smuggler
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
named John the Jibber who was reputedly murdered by his fellow criminals after selling information to HM Customs. It is said that he was hung in a barrel in a cave close to the present lift shaft and left to starve. Until the pub was sold by Vaux, it was said that the landlord would leave out a special tankard of ale each night after closing and, in the morning, it would be empty. Local DJ and TV presenter, Alan Robson
Alan Robson
Alan Robson MBE is an English radio DJ who presents the late-night Night Owls phone-in show on Metro Radio, a regional commercial station in North East England, owned by Bauer Radio. He has written many books and starred in many TV shows...
drank from the tankard during one of his live Metro Radio
Metro Radio
Metro Radio is an independent local radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne and broadcasting to Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland. The station's output is principally contemporary pop and dance music...
shows, allegedly sparking off a series of supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
phenomena that eventually forced the then landlord to quit. This included flying ashtrays smashing against the wall and flooding in the cellar after all the beer taps were inexplicably turned on. Unfortunately the original tankard was lost during refurbishment. A replacement is on display, but is no longer filled up each night for the ghost. The pub was also the venue for a uktv
UKTV
UKTV is a digital cable and satellite television network, formed through a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Scripps Networks Interactive, spun off from The E.W Scripps Company in 2008...
investigation in 2001, where paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
researchers claimed to have identified at least seven different spirits.