The Extraordinary History of Marsden Grotto: Smugglers, Murders, Ghosts and Vaux

The Marsden grotto is a famous pub and restaurant in South Tyneside, which is famous for being a “cave pub” that is, partially dug out of the cliff side with a unique stone interior. The Marsden Grotto is one of the oldest establishments in the area, with a tradition dating back to 1782.

It was in that year that a man who would become known as “Jack the Blaster” moved into a small cave in Marsden rocks as he was unwilling to pay rent on his home. Jack used explosives from the nearby quarry to hollow out a much wider living space in the cave, giving him a home he could live in for free. He later built some stairs to it.

Jack’s new home attracted a lot of interest from locals, and soon he found himself providing refreshments and drinks to smugglers, which was what transformed it into the “tavern” and grotto it is now known as. Sometime after Jack died, it was taken over by a Scottish born man named Peter Allen, who formalised the residence and the caves into a 15 room building, creating a kitchen and a ballroom.

In clearing out the area, he discovered the bodies of 18 people, who were believed to be smugglers who had died, either attempting to reach it in perilous conditions, or for the “wild west” style violence which sometimes beset the place in its early days. Allen would die in 1849

Vaux Ownership

At the end of the 19th century, the Marsden Grotto was taken over by Sunderland’s Vaux breweries, who later built its famous lift spire. Vaux would oversee the establishment for over 100 years, until the business itself came to an end in 1999 and its main premises closed in Sunderland. This forced the Grotto to close for a number of years, until it was refurbished and reopened in 2008.

Haunted?

As a place with a long history, being associated with smuggling and death, it is no surprise that there are many rumours and stories of haunting in the Marsden Grotto. This includes the legend of a smuggler named “John the Jibber” who was killed by his fellow criminals after betraying them HM Customs. Stories of his death involve him being hung in a barrel in a cave close to what is now the lift shaft and left to starve. Another version of the story goes that he mistaken a soldier for a customs officer, attacking him, only to be shot on the beach.

On doing so, the landlord drained the tankard the smuggler drunk out of and said “This tankard is cursed . Let no man drink from it otherwise evil will befall them too!”, nailing it to a stone. This led to a legend that when the Grotto was owned by Vaux, every night the landlord would put out a tankard of ale on closing and that by the morning, it would be empty.

But one day Local DJ and TV presenter, Alan Robson decided to try his luck, and drank from the tankard during one of his live Metro Radio shows, allegedly sparking off a series of supernatural phenomena that was so bad it caused the landlord to quit his job. This apparently included flying ashtrays smashing against the wall and flooding in the cellar after all the beer taps were inexplicably turned on…

Haunted? Who knows? But one of the most fascinating places to visit in the North East, absolutely.