'Best pub in Teesside' prepares to reopen after lockdown

Peter Rafferty, live-in landlord of the Cleveland Bay pub, said: "Through the lockdown we've redecorated from one end to the other. One room is now themed on the railway because Friends of Stockton and Darlington reckon that we're the world's first railway pub so we made a bit of a feature of that.

"Then we're just getting ready to reopen."

Peter has run the pub with his partner Barbara Caygill for 27 years.

Peter Rafferty, Cleveland Bay pub landlord at the new railway wall inside of the pub

He said: "What happened was Historic England decided that it was a pub in Lancashire that they thought was the world's first railway pub and people from Friends of Stockton and Darlington Railway thought it must be a pub in the North East, so they started doing some research to find out if there was one before this one in Lancashire.

"They've decided that when we opened on the 17th October 1825 this was the world's first purpose-built railway pub built to serve the coal yard next door, which brought coal down by rail from the coal fields, so after all the research they'd done pubs in Stockton, pubs in Darlington, pubs around here, they've decided this was the earliest. There are others that opened a year after this or 18 months after this, and several pubs claim to be the first but they reckon on the date - we are the world's first purpose-built railway pub."

A new railway themed graphic has been decorated onto one of the pub's walls to showcase the significance of the pub being the first railway pub.

Peter said: "The pub is 195 years-old now."

Peter Rafferty Cleveland Bay pub landlord outside of the pub's front entrance

Before Peter was a landlord he worked in sales, this is the first and only pub he has ran.

"Twenty-seven years, it's a long time," he said, "we live above the pub."

Speaking about the changes due to the coronavirus, Peter said: "The only thing we've got to do differently is we'll have sanitiser stations at the front and back door as people come in. Because of the layout of the pub we can't offer waitress service, which is what the government was suggesting we do. There'll be a designated serving point, people will go to the hatch to get drinks served and there will be one position in the bar where they can get served."

The Northern Echo is looking for which pub will you visit first when lockdown eases on July 4? Tell us about your favourite watering hole and why it is first on your list.