Hebburn church auctioned off after plans for brewery fail

A NORTH East council is to auction off a historic church that was to become the new home of Jarrow Brewery.

South Shields couple Jess and Alison McConnell had hoped to take over St Andrew’s in Hebburn, spending £48,000 and 20 months on a project that would have created 14 jobs.

But the pair pulled the plug on their plans when it became clear last October that they would not be able to meet a deadline to receive £140,000 from the Regional Growth Fund and would miss out on a deal with Carlsberg to sell their beers nationwide.

Now the gothic style church, which was built in 1872 by Victorian shipbuilding magnate Andrew Leslie and more recently served as offices and a joinery workshop, will go under the hammer at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel, in Gosforth Park, on February 28.

A spokesman for estate agent Andrew Craig, which is marketing the building on behalf of South Tyneside Council, said: “Rarely does a property of this size and architectural design, which has a historical link to Andrew Leslie shipbuilders on the River Tyne, become available.”

The guide price for St Andrew’s Church, which retains some of its stained glass windows and includes a pitched Welsh slate roof, and the church hall next door is £299,950.