From Stobert's Stores to The Pont Tap

No. 10 West Road now houses a micro-brewery, The Pont Tap, but for much of the 20th century, before the introduction of supermarkets, this was one of the village’s main grocery store, Stobert’s or the West End Supply Stores.

The business was founded around 1880 and used to be run from the front room of the house next door. Following the death of the founder J. Stobert, in 1905, under his son Henry Stobert, the business moved out of the old house into these shop premises which were built on the site of outbuildings to the main house.

Before supermarkets and refrigeration, grocery shopping was a daily occurrence. Goods were stacked up behind counters and you would queue up to be served by an assistant who would fetch the item and for produce such as butter, sugar or flour, weigh it out by hand and then wrap it up. There was no plastic packaging. Butter was cut to order from a big cube, sugar put in blue bags and bacon cut on a slicer to thickness requested

On Henry’s death in 1931, the business was taken over by his son Henry Berwick Stobert who continued to run it until around 1960. Since then the premises have had a number of different uses. The Pont Tap was opened in 2020 in what was previously an interior design shop. The Stoberts would have been horrified. They were very strong Methodists playing a leading role in the religious life in Ponteland and were ardent teetotalers. There is however a ghost of a memory of the old use of the building on its side. There you can still make out the word “Stores” in what remains of an old painted advertisement.