OUR series on lost Darlington pubs stumbled across a picture of The Pheasant, which only Ian Gowling remembered was the 1970s name given to the Glittering Star on Stonebridge, outside St Cuthbert’s Church.
In fact, we were staggered when we called up the Glit’s Facebook page to see that although it now has a traditional pub front, the upstairs windows show it is definitely the same building.
It opened as the Glittering Star in 1891. It is believed to be the only pub with such a twinkly name in the country, which is because, on an evening, if you stand on the pub doorstep and look up at St Cuthbert’s church spire, you will see the North Star glittering in the night sky behind.
It was rebranded The Pheasant in 1972 which only lasted until 1981 when it became Casanova’s fun bar. That shut in 1988, and the building became the home of squatters.
They were shooed out for a major refit in 1993 when it was reborn as the Glittering Star. Good luck to the pub when it tries to recover from its enforced closure during the pandemic.
ANOTHER lost pub line: The Coachman, formerly the North-Eastern Hotel in Victoria Road: apparently there was a pet tarantula kept on the bar in the 1970s?
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