Our Story
“A great little community shop and cafe. Well stocked and very friendly service. Well worth a visit.”
In December 2014 we were told that our village Co-op would close in April 2015. This came as a shock to the village – there has been a shop on these premises for over 140 years serving Hallbankgate and surrounding villages and we didn’t want to be seen as the generation who just let it go.
A public meeting was called and over 100 people came showing their interest and enthusiasm for the setting up of a community shop. A steering group was quickly formed and Hallbankgate Hub Ltd was launched as a Community Benefit Society.
The Hub opened in 2016 with a shop, cafe, library link, visiting Post Office and office space.
Read more about How we bought the shop.pdf
NAWORTH COLLIERIES CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY
In the late 1800s, Hallbankgate was a thriving village with Lord Carlisle’s Railway running through the village – behind the Hub building – carrying coal and other minerals mined from collieries and quarries between Lambley and Brampton Junctions.
The original company store, or Tommy shop, in the nearby village of Kirkhouse, was replaced in 1873 by Naworth Collieries Industrial Co-Operative Society Co-Op. In 1877, the Co-Op moved to the current three storey building with grocery, drapers, butcher, tailor and corn mill. There was even a hearse that could be hired out for funerals! Nowadays most of the building is residential and only the shop remains.
Click on this link to read more about the fascinating History of Naworth Collieries Co-Operative Societypdf
STEPHENSON’S ROCKET
The famous engine built by George Stephenson ended its working days on Lord Carlisle’s Railway. When it was decommissioned in 1840 it was housed in a nearby warehouse. There is some controversy as to where exactly it was housed with the villages of Hallbankgate and Halton Lea Gate contending its ‘ownership’. It languished there until 1851 when it underwent significant restorations at Stephenson’s works in Newcastle in preparation for its appearance at the Great exhibition of 1851. It is now on display in the National Rail Museum in York.
