The Monkey Bar

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The Monkey Bar is the colloquial name for The Market Lane, a public house, in Pilgrim Street Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The bar is friendly, both in hospitality and ambiance, and has recently undergone interior refurbishment. It is noted as a major influence in the booming North East of England's musical and cultural reemergence coupled together with the redevelopment of the Newcastle/Gateshead Quayside.

The pub itself is circa 1830's when it was known by its original name of The Market Lane. There are several versions of how it came to be known as The Monkey Bar; these range from the plausible to the, lets say, not-so-plausible. The 2 most feasible explanations are :-

i. The construction of the Tyne Bridge in 1928.

Although not on the Quayside, The Monkey Bar is the nearest pub to the Newcastle side of the Tyne Bridge and as such was frequented by many of the bridge workers after a long days graft. One group of regular patrons were in fact the scaffolders, who were known in the trade as Monkeys.

ii. Building work in the Newcastle City Centre during the 19th Century.

The pub was a regular watering hole of the labourers to the bricklayers (brickies), who used to ferry the bricks to the brickies by means of a hod carried on the shoulder. As this hod was seen by the labourers to always be on their back it was known in the trade as a monkey. The labourers monkey's were left in the passageway as security until their bar bill was paid.