The Lookout Inn, Lawe Top

The Lookout Inn stands opposite the partially reconstructed Arbeia Roman Fort which dates from around 120AD and served as a maritime supply base for the garrisons on Hadrian’s Wall. We probably should not be surprised to hear of a Roman ghost haunting The Lookout Inn.

The following account of an experience in the pub appeared on the Jarrow Life forum. ‘I used to work in the Lookout Inn at the top of Fort Street, South Shields, way back in 1966. One Friday day shift I was serving one of the regulars and from where I was positioned I saw a movement from the right of me, turned for a second and saw someone walking down the living quarter’s stairs, then when I heard them opening the snug door I fully turned to look and saw my boss’s son dressed in Roman armour with a sword held to his chest. I laughed and said ‘where you going? but he just ignored me and I just went ‘Ooooo’. He stopped, opened the hatch and went down the stairs into the cellar. About ten minutes later I heard his mam shouting for him so I shouted up that he was in the cellar. ‘No, I’m not. I’m in the bathroom’ was his rely from upstairs. I kicked the cellar hatch shut! Some of the regulars said that they often saw one, two or three Roman soldiers around the pub at different times.’