Pub’s heroic sports bar makeover
A ONCE thriving city centre pub is being brought back to life as a sports bar in time for tomorrow’s Derby Day clash.
New bosses at the former City Tavern in Bridge Street hope the thousands of Black Cats who will gather in town ahead of their team’s clash against NUFC will be attracted by the pub’s new look and ethos.
Tens of thousands of pounds have been ploughed into transforming the venue into Heroes Sports Bar.
Over the years, the pub has had many guises including The New Central, The Beer House and the City Tavern, but new owner Jay Mullen says he hopes Heroes will be more consistent than its predecessors.
“I own Infinity over the road and since we opened there two years ago I’ve seen this pub change hands so many times,” he said.
“It tends to open on the first day of the season and then close on the last. It’s a shame because there’s been a pub here for a long time. I was talking to a guy in his 70s the other day who says he remembers drinking here in his 20s. But there’s no consistency, so people never know what it is.
“We want to provide a proper pub for people, with reasonably- priced drinks, that they know won’t close in six months’ time.”
The pub’s first mention in the history books was in the 1800s when it was a beer house. In 1857 the pub was owned by William Waddle - who also owned the Londonderry.
It was owned by brewers Sir William Bruce Reid in 1910, and became part of Scottish and Newcastle Brewery in 1962. In 1985 it became part of Camerons. Jay has taken a long lease on the freehouse pub, which will no longer operate as a gay bar. LUCKY Jack Tynne will be leading out his heroes at tomorrow’s game after winning our competition with Premier League sponsor Barclays.
The youngster grabbed his chance to be SAFC mascot for the derby match, which kicks off at 1.30pm.
Seven- year- old Jack, of Ryhope, scooped the prize ahead of hundreds of other entries after he wrote a Thank You letter to his favourite Black Cats player, Jack Colback.
Barclays is running the Thank You campaign to recognise the support given by fans of all football clubs.
The initiative uses the hasthag # YouAreFootball on micro- blogging site Twitter to continue the debate.