A PIGEON LOFT WITH A VIEW – TOM YOUNG’S FLIGHT OF FANCY
Most North Shields locals will be familiar with The Salt Market Social, a fashionable haunt on the Fish Quay, known for its quirky décor and eclectic mix of music and entertainment events. What some people might not be aware of, however, is that its phenomenal roof space – arguably having the best views of the river – was once home to one of the costliest pigeon lofts in the North, and a story worthy of a place in Fish Quay history.
Local businessman Tom Young ran a maritime supplies business from a premises on the site which is now Dolphin Quays. It made him a millionaire, and in the 1980s, he proudly travelled to work in a stunning blue Rolls-Royce. Yet despite his wealth and success, Tom’s passion was firmly grounded in his working-class roots – he was an avid pigeon fancier, having joined Percy Main Homing Society back in 1957 at the age of twenty-two. He told The Journal in an interview in 2004, “It doesn’t matter how much you’ve got, I’m no different to the rest of the lads.” Despite this sentiment, it is part of local lore that Tom would ferry his pigeons to meets in the back of his Roller, something captured wonderfully in the 1986 Tyne Tees documentary World Wise ’86: The Fancy.
Business success meant Tom was increasingly busy at work and had less time for his pigeons, so he came up with a plan involving the construction of a top-notch pigeon loft on the flat roof of his workplace, situated a few doors up from the North Eastern Rubber Company and overlooking the river. This allowed him to pop up and see his beloved birds during quiet periods at work – mixing business and pleasure at its best!
In 1986, Tom sold the business to make way for the Dolphin Quays development and eventually moved to the newly constructed Cosalt Building – the stand-out blue building that we now know as The Salt Market. The sale of his business came with an important caveat, however – Tom insisted that he would only go ahead with the deal if the new owners would re-site his pigeon loft on the top floor of the new building and allow him to keep it there for life.
The developers agreed to this unusual request, and so it was that when Salt Market owner Barney Miller bought the building in 2017, he acquired Tom Young and his 150 pigeons as sitting tenants. Rather than a hindrance, Barney embraced the situation and accepted Tom and his feathered friends as part of the building’s story – so much so that he named his company Blue Pigeon and had local brewery Flash House create a pale ale, Tommy Y, in his honour. He recalls with a smile how, in the early stages of developing the building as an entertainment venue, he had to check with Tom to ensure that the music wasn’t going to be too loud and disturb the birds.
Though Tom sadly passed away a few years ago and the pigeons are long gone, traces of his legacy quietly endure. The shells of the lofts remain up on the roof, with the nameplate ‘Sea Pigeon’ still attached to one of the doors, and downstairs in his old office – now the Salt Market’s green room – Tom’s old cork desk still has pride of place, sitting comfortably alongside many retro pieces accumulated by collector Barney.
It is a welcome reminder that behind many of these repurposed buildings on the quayside lies a rich past, shaped by passion and larger-than-life characters like Tom. Whether sipping a pint of Tommy Y or glancing up at the old loft on the roof, visitors can still feel the presence of the man who once mixed business with birds and left his mark high above.
World Wise ’86: The Fancy – Tyne Tees documentary can be accessed free online via the North East Film Archive.
📰 Source (the original material reference)
Source name: North East Film Archive
Source URL: https://www.northeastfilmarchive.com/
All photographs courtesy of Mark Warner at Coastal Captures
