The Albion Inn on Newgate Street is pictured in 1964, shortly before it was demolished. It was next to the Empire Theatre and used by many of its stars for aftershow drinks, one of which was an elephant.
A narrow lane separated the pub from the theatre; the stage door was on one side, facing the back entrance to the Albion. The bar was festooned with photos of its famous customers, who included Bruce Forsyth, Tony Hancock, Adam Faith and Ken Dodd. The clientele got a little more exotic when there was a circus at the theatre.
White ponies could be found drinking from pint pots while standing on the bar counter, and on one occasion a baby elephant put his trunk over the counter and started supping from the beer trough beneath the pumps. The manager was so impressed that he gave it a bucket of ale on the house.
The pub had a long history, but not nearly as long as a plaque on the front of the building claimed. It said ‘Established 1552’, but it had been taken from the Royal Scotch Arms, which had once stood next door and dated from that year. This had been the town house of Scottish nobility visiting Newcastle during rare lulls in hostilities with England.
There’s no sign of the Albion in local records before the 1840s. It was owned briefly by Joshua Bagnall in the late 1850s, who then leased the neighbouring Royal Scotch Arms. He had a portfolio of pubs and an interest in things theatrical, being at one time or another the owner of the Victoria Music Hall on Grey Street and the Oxford Music Hall in the Cloth Market, the latter having formerly been known as Balmbra’s.
The Albion was demolished in 1883 and replaced with offices called Albion Chambers, and a new Albion pub opened on the ground floor. A second plaque on the front of the building marked this event. The Royal Scotch Arms was demolished in 1890 and the Empire Theatre was built in its place, beginning a long association with the pub next door.
Most of the block of buildings between Grainger Street and Clayton Street was pulled down in the 1960s when the Newgate Street shopping centre and the Swallow Hotel were built on the site. The last pint in the Albion Inn was pulled on April 17th, 1965. An attempt was made to continue the area’s theatrical tradition with a pub called the Gay Trouper in the basement of the new development, which had a Victorian music hall theme.