Popular Tynemouth pub Gibraltar Rock could reopen early in new year with new tenants

Hopes are high that a 19th century pub with one of the best coastal views in the North East will reopen in the New Year after an offer was made for the property.

The Gibraltar Rock in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, closed at the start of the year after former tenants announced the pub’s closure, having run the King Edward’s Bay venue for 34 years. Ahead of filing liquidation documents to Companies House, the former operators highlighted the rising costs the business was incurring as well as the impacts of Covid, Storm Arwen and the energy crisis, all of which combined to make its future unsustainable.

Documents later showed Dannick Ltd collapsed with debts of more than £380,000, with more than £332,000 owed to 19 companies. Three months after the business was liquidated the owner of the building, which was previously called The Priory Inn, enlisted property agents to find new tenants to move in.

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Now signage has been placed on the building, which dates to around 1822, showing that it is under offer. It is not yet known what sector the potential tenant operates within, but it is understood that the deal will hopefully complete early in the new year.

Joint agents Sanderson Weatherall and McGillivrays Chartered Surveyors have been marketing the building, which was put on the market with rent of £80,000 a year. When it was first made available the joint property agents highlighted how it could be turned into a different business from a pub, saying: “Alternative uses may be considered subject to obtaining the necessary planning consent from the local authority (North Tyneside Council).”

The property includes the pub within a two-storey building, which includes the bar and restaurant area with kitchen, with a secondary bar area on the first floor which can be used for private functions or additional seating. The first floor also has a two-bedroom residential flat.

The Gibraltar Rock is understood to have been named by the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who had fought in the early years of the Peninsula war, when they were stationed at Tynemouth Priory and Castle in 1837.