YOLO: From Co‑op Store to Modern Bar

This building began life just over 100 years ago as the village's Co-operative Store.

If anyone has any photographs of it as a Co-op, it would be great to see them as I have not been able to locate any.

The store was opened in November 1924. The Newcastle Co-operative Society had originally tried to service Ponteland from their Gosforth branch as early as the 1890's and for a while they had rented shop premises in the village but these were not satisfactory. Using their own architect and builders (it took 30 of them), they decided to build their own premises on this plot of land on the Newcastle Road squeezed into the space between two of the original Bell Villas. It was a large warehouse of a building 40 feet wide and stretching back 73 feet constructed out of red brick with some sandstone facing adorning the front. It also had a large forecourt which has proved useful for its current purpose.

The main Co-op premises moved to Merton Way shopping centre in 1974 and this building re-opened that year as a Co-op Freezer Centre. The early 1970's saw the popularisation of deep chest freezers for home use which were often stored in garages. Savings could be made by bulk purchasing meat and other frozen items which could be stored until required. The demand was so high that many food retailers, such as the Co-op here opened up special stores to cater for this new trend.

After the Co-op moved out, the premises were taken over by Bottoms Up, the wine retailer. In 2015 it was converted to You Only Live Once, now abbreviated to YOLO run by the Danieli Group. Since 2017, the premises have had a mezzanine level reflecting the popularity of this modern type of hospitality venue.