When a pub burns down I am always suspicious. Normally, they are in prime locations or situated in areas where gentrification is beginning to encroach.

The Golden Lion at South Hylton- more or less on the opposite side of the Wear to The Shipwrights – was gutted by fire on Saturday night, and the pictures of it the aftermath don’t look good.

The historic pub that once served the old Hylton ferry, has been there for well over a hundred years. In recent months it has been closed and was advertised as a going concern. Now it will be lucky to survive as a building let alone a public house.