It was once a staple of the Geordie diet, but the innards of a cow were no longer popular by the time this photo of the Grainger Market’s last tripe shop was taken in 1987.
The market was built for butchers, who occupied over 150 of the shops when it opened in 1835. But only a handful had the privilege of calling themselves “tripe dressers”, those with the skill to turn a cow or pig’s digestive system into a tasty treat. The lining of the beast’s stomach was trimmed of fat and then boiled and bleached for several hours until it became soft enough to chew. Served with onions, it was a cheap and nutritious meal.
There used to be a lot of money in tripe in the early days of the Grainger Market, and it wasn’t just locals buying it. The market was the first port of call for captains stocking their ships with provisions before setting sail. A business owned by Margaret McCree could provide them with gallon jars of pickled tripe and cows’ heels, to keep the crew’s morale up on long voyages. Her shop became so popular that she opened a restaurant in the Royal Arcade in 1862, where the signature dish was tripe.
The art of dressing tripe was passed down through families, some of whom were trading in the market for several generations. Mary Hedley was another well-known tripe dresser, and when she retired in 1943, she was the last in an unbroken line of Hedleys who had been practising their craft in the Grainger Market for a hundred years.
The shop in the photo was a newcomer to the Grainger Market, but it was owned by another family steeped in offal. The Southworths had businesses in North Shields and Whitley Bay, and a shop in Byker, which had sold tripe since the 19th century until it was demolished in 1971. But they were open for business again shortly after this setback, moving to the Grainger Market, where they remained until 1994.
Photo credit: Newcastle City Libraries