Bridge Hotel (Castle Garth) – Floor Mosaic

Sir John Fitzgerald

John Fitzgerald was born in Tipperary, Ireland in 1857. After completing an apprenticeship in the wine and spirit trade, he moved to Newcastle in 1878 and started his own business. In 1896, he branched out and bought his first licensed premises, becoming a pioneer of the long bar system which would revolutionise social drinking in England.

By 1900 John Fitzgerald owned bars across the North East and also began manufacturing aerated water and bottling ales in a plant adjoining his headquarters in Pilgrim Street…..Sir John Fitzgerald’s descendants still run the company today..

More information Sir John Fitzgerald