Yahoo News Gateshead's The Schooner to change name as new landlord takes over famous pub with 'haunted' past
Its one of Gateshead's oldest and best known pubs but The Schooner is no more, with the South Shore Road venue to re-open with a new name and a new owner at the helm.
A big favourite of locals and visitors alike, with plenty of home and away fans flocking there as for Gateshead FC matches at the nearby International Stadium, The Schooner has also earned itself a great reputation for its Sunday dinners, as well as being a real champion of live music, with a variety of acts on every single weeks and its own festivals to its name over the years.
However, The Schooner, which was famous for some spooky goings on, with reports of glasses flying off tables, is now getting ready for a new era, with plans now officially confirmed for it to now be known as The Fog on the Tyne, when it's expected to re-open next month.
Get all the latest TV and showbiz news and gossip from Chronicle Live with our free newsletter
It was the bar's new owner, Fred, who revealed what's in store for the popular haunt, when he took to The Schooner Facebook page on Wednesday to write: "Hi, I’m Fred.. I’m the new licensee of the pub that has until now been known as The Schooner. I’m not one for social media and I intend for this to be my only post in the first person. Going forward anything you’ll see from me will be posted as ‘us’ or ‘we’; the team behind “The Fog On The Tyne”
"Just this once though, I feel it’s important to introduce myself. I’ve managed pubs for close to fifteen years and when I think of a pub it’s much more than the building, the name or the landlord. A pub is by definition a ‘public house’. After home and work, a pub is everyone’s ‘third space’. I’ve always thought of a pub as a communal living room. What really makes a pub is those who visit; the locals."
Teasing what he has planned for the pub, Fred added: "The Schooner is a well established name and held in high regard. To change a pubs name without due thought, can quite rightly be seen as an act of cultural vandalism. But it’s not my intention to try and improve upon the hard work Paul and the team have done in recent years or indeed Adrian, Gary, Suzy & Phil or Dave & Julie before.
"It would be wrong to think I could do what they’ve done better. Instead I’m taking a whole new approach to the pub, and so a new name seemed most appropriate to accompany a new outlook and reinvention."
