The first record of a pub called the Oddfellows Arms in Shields was in the late 1800s on Grey Street, owned by the aptly named John Grey. According to Eileen Burnett, the author of ‘North Shields and Tynemouth Pubs’, John Grey was a member of the fraternal society, the ‘Independent Order of Oddfellows Kingston Unity, Blyth and Tyne district, Duke of Wellington Lodge’. After John died, the Oddfellows Arms continued for several years into the 20th century under the management of his wife and several others afterwards. It was only in the 1980s that the pub moved to its new premises on Albion Road, still keeping the name Oddfellows. It was next door to CW Peirs chemist, above which the unusual decision was made to open a nightclub. The Karlson was accessed by a very wide flight of stairs to the right of the Oddfellows, next to the chemist. The club was later extended to take up the full top floor of the pub as well, and the staircase was covered in. As Mark the barman, who worked in the Oddfellows at the time and still does to this day in its new incarnation, the Seven Stars, recalls: “The flight of stairs that were within the pub were sometimes used as an unofficial route to get up to the club. They were really wide as well – they are still there leading up to what is now a flat.”
Albert, an ex-doorman who worked at the club in the late 1980s when it had changed its name to Marlows, confirms this: “A large staircase at the back of the pub connected to the nightclub.” Mark says that Marlows started as a private members’ club: “You just had to flash your card and pay two pounds to get in.” There was a strict dress code – no jeans, no tattoos, no trainers: “I turned one lad away for wearing jeans,” Albert remembers. “He went in the lane, took them off and came back with them over with his arm. I still didn’t let him in!” There were four doormen, sometimes five – two on the front door, two upstairs and one for extra security. This may seem excessive for a small venue, but it was certainly needed in those days. Upon researching the club online I came across the following post: “I only went in once, my mate (who was a regular) got smacked over the side of his head with a tumbler-style half-pint glass that was all the rage in the mid eighties. It didn’t break but tore the top of his ear, which started bleeding. Whilst the offender was dealt with, he mopped the blood up with a bar towel and kept on drinking.”
This sort of occurrence seems to have been the norm, with further tales from Albert of pool cues, balls and bar stools being used as weapons as well as the occasional firearm being waved around: “There was bother nearly every weekend.” Despite this, Marlows was Albert’s favourite place to work: “My now wife and some friends worked there. Billy who owned it was a good lad to work for. There was always great music. It just had a good vibe.” He preferred it over other clubs where he worked in Shields such as Weavers and Savilles (the Garrick’s Head), which was a no-charge pub so there was even more trouble there. There had been a decline in pub culture at the time and landlords were trying to make ends meet by obtaining late licences. Unfortunately this meant that the people who did go out just drank a lot more for a lot longer. Then there were the drugs. Albert ended up in some serious gangland situations when he tried to curb the dealing in the clubs: “Gunmen turned up at my flat when my two young girls were asleep in bed. I knew then I had to get out.” After a brief name change to ‘Top Deck’, the nightclub eventually shut down.
Whilst all the excitement had been going on upstairs, the Oddfellows had been establishing itself as a proper traditional pub and under the management of Graeme Oswald it gradually developed a group of loyal customers. There was a darts team, poker team and even a cricket team! With a selection of real ales and an everlasting cauldron of free soup in the corner, it really was a valued venue in the community. Someone once said that it reminded them of a cosy living room, which is not a bad comparison. After all, it was originally built as a house in the 1800s. The pub’s name was reflected in its clientele, peppered with an interesting array of Shields characters. John the Hat, Shopping Bag John, BBC Steve, Pickled Onion Steve, the list goes on- and that’s just the Johns and Steves! Ernie Scott of the Master Musicians soon started bringing his pianists and other instrumentalists from all over the world to the pub after their formal recitals at Christ Church to play impromptu sets, stunning the locals with their professional musicianship. Even the Berlin Jazz Quartet made an appearance. One time a friend interrupted a world-class pianist in the middle of a classical piece to shout out a request: “Come On Eileen!” To everyone’s amazement, he changed tack and launched straight into the 80s party classic by Dexys Midnight Runners. When the old honky-tonk piano finally gave out, Ernie sourced a better one from Collingwood Primary School, which he pushed along the road with two mates like a scene from Last of the Summer Wine.
The Oddfellows gained rave reviews and awards from consumer organisation CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). It was referred to as the town’s best kept secret. It survived many of its fellow establishments, that area at the top of North Shields suffering the highest number of pub closures at one point in time: Ye Olde Hundred, the Queen’s Head, the Coburg, the Albert Inn, the Victoria, even the Spring Gardens. For a while the Oddfellows stood alone as the only place to go. When Graeme moved away, the pub was leased out. Although remaining open, it eventually became run down, needing extensive repairs. The decision was taken to sell the Oddfellows and it was put up for sale. It was obviously a great miss during this time, and there were even several meetings between the locals to discuss running it as a community pub. Then along came Rob and Ewan, determined to give the place a new lease of life. Full of optimism, they agreed the new lease with the new property owner and signed the papers to take over the pub. The very next day, the country was plunged into lockdown.
While some may have considered this a huge setback, Rob set about using the following year to breathe new life into the place: “It was a major investment. We gave the place a whole makeover by replacing the windows, carpets and toilets. All the woodwork was stripped back and redone and the seats recovered.” Along with the revamped interior came new signage on the front: ‘Seven Stars – Free House’. Rob explains: “We wanted to give the pub a new identity and a fresh start while maintaining a connection to the history of Shields.” There were two pubs in North Shields called the Seven Stars, both dating from 1822. One was at the bottom of Bedford Street and the other was on Bell Street next to the Seven Stars Quay, causing quite some confusion being so close together. My dad and his cronies, who had been Oddfellows regulars for years, were looking forward to returning after the lockdown, but they were anxious about recapturing the same familiar atmosphere at this new Seven Stars. There were all sorts of rumours flying round, for example that it was being turned into a fancy cocktail bar!
Finally the day came when pubs were allowed to reopen. However, Rob didn’t want to rush and decided to wait until two weeks later to open the Seven Stars: “We wanted to wait until the dust settled and people had got the craziness about being allowed out again out of their system.” When the wait was over, my dad and all the other regulars discovered that their worries had been unfounded. The refurbishments had been completed in such a way as to retain the character of the old pub. The seating and the bar, although spruced up, were laid out in much the same way as before. Social distancing had resulted in certain notable alterations, but this just made the place more spacious and comfortable. Gone were the dartboard, the poker tables, the piano, the one-armed bandit and of course the shared soup. The beer garden out the back with covered seating areas was also given a refurb and became a real bonus for outdoor drinking.
Nowadays, the highlight of the Seven Stars has to be the range of drinks on offer, introduced by Rob, the licensee. There is an ever-changing selection of cask and craft beers from local breweries including Three Kings, Darwin and Flash House. There are also cask and keg ales from around the country and speciality bottled beers from Europe: “It’s like a constant beer festival. I think we have more draught products than any other pub in North Tyneside,” Rob states proudly. He also stresses that they don’t sell cheap lager, which ensures a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere: “It’s a real community who come together. There’s the teatime crowd, the evening crowd and the late-night crowd.” As Mark observes from behind the bar: “You can practically time some of the customers coming in.”
It is true that you will find people of all ages and sections of society in the Seven Stars. “Many of the old regulars have returned, although the pandemic has caused some to change their lifestyle. More young people are starting to come out now. They have lost two years of a crucial time in their lives when they should have been socialising. Some mix with the older folk while others prefer to go out the back and play games amongst themselves.” Although many people know each other, they are always friendly to visitors too. Regulars positively delight in having the chance to chat to a new face. Once a friend and I arranged to meet there when she was visiting after having moved abroad. She burst in and flung her arms around a stranger thinking it was me. Despite having spilled her drink, the lady was most gracious and we all became acquainted, still greeting each other to this day. You will also be left alone if you prefer a quiet drink. I once met a lone woman by the bar reading one of their selection of books: “This is one of the only places I’d feel comfortable coming on my own. It’s so easygoing.” Even the odd local celebrity frequents the place from time to time, but, in true Seven Stars style, they are treated the same as everyone else.
There is no TV, loud music or karaoke, but live acoustic music can still be enjoyed around once a month on a Sunday. Displayed on the walls is the work of local artists for customers to buy or simply enjoy, along with fascinating old photos and maps of the local area. The pub is also dog-friendly, so it makes the perfect stop-off on a dog walk. When asked about the many new drinking establishments that have sprung up in the vicinity such as the Enigma Tap, the Two Pennies, Longsands Après, Chalet ‘86 and Baba Yaga’s Loft, Rob replies: “They are great new places, all catering for their own markets. At one time, people had no reason to come to this area, but now there are so many options within half a square mile!” Whereas once the pub was surrounded by empty warehouses and later a car park, now there is smart new housing and even more new venues set to open nearby: “People no longer need to travel to Newcastle or even Tynemouth for a night out. It’s all on their doorstep.”
Weekends are busiest at the Seven Stars, especially Friday and Saturday nights. Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 2pm and from 12pm on a Saturday and Sunday. Mark, who has now worked in the pub for over 30 years, proclaims: “I would go so far as to say The Seven Stars is the most traditional pub in Shields.” A bold claim indeed, considering some of the town’s pubs are hundreds of years old. However, it really does have all the ingredients that make a classic cosy pub. Rob knows which is the most important: “Without people, there’s no pub.”
It is perhaps best summed up by local poet Dean Jolly, who wrote a special composition dedicated to the North Shields establishment:
At the Seven Stars I buy my first pint
John’s on his third Thistly Cross of the night
The beer garden’s lovely this time of day
Last of the sun slowly moving away
Gajy appears with his signature hat
and smiles at us with his face full of tats
Out comes our Pat with a vape and a drink
She says her John’s let her out of the clink
Then out through the door comes Pickled Onion Steve
Who’s nickname I still cannot quite believe
Even Ernie who plays the church organ
Isn’t called organ Ernie but that’s not important
I pop back inside and Rob pours me another
And low and behold there stands Dylan my Brother
Drinking a porter with Matt, Joe and Keaton
A right regular old mother’s meeting!
Michael and Les stand there doing the crossword
Stuck on three across ‘An Exotic Bird’
Les thinks its a motmot but 3 down’s showing lupin
Which makes me suspect that it must be a toucan
If you fancy a good old-fashioned boozer
With interesting folk it ain’t no snoozer
This one of a kind isn’t like other bars
