Martin Pontin
Martin belongs to: Merchants and Traders
Martin grew up in Tynemouth. After the war his father established William Wight Ltd as a family business. The shop provided the fishing fleet with stores and provisions. Martin now manages the shop.
Martin was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 15 February 2006. The interview took place at North Shields Fishermen's Mission and lasted 22 minutes and 30 seconds.
The future for the Fish Quay
"I think there’s a good future for the Fish Quay now, mainly because North Tyneside Council have taken it on"
I think there’s a good future for the Fish Quay now, mainly because North Tyneside Council have taken it on. I was a bit dubious to start off with, because they come along and sometimes I think they can spoil things. I’m not saying they always do but unfortunately you do hear of places that have been taken over and redeveloped and they’re just like a cardboard city or a concrete city, and I would hate to see that with the Fish Quay.
We’ve got a woman who lives in Whitley Bay and she comes down three days a week, every week, just to come down to the Fish Quay because she loves it. She loves the character of the Fish Quay and I would hate to see that sort of thing get spoiled. The main thing is to retain the main feeling of the Fish Quay, the openness of the Fish Quay, redevelop some the old buildings, put in a history museum, just where people can go and see what used to go on. People coming down to the Fish Quay now, they’re going to get their fish and chips, they drive along the front, see the river and they go away, but they don’t know what used to go on down there- I’m talking about sailing ships and everything from the past, and it’s a very, very important thing. And the future, that people come down to the Fish Quay and they go somewhere where, or they can see something relating to the fishing industry and the river, the way it was so busy.
Martin has 12 memories in the memorynet:
Martin's memories with a Change theme:
Changes at Wight’s- Community on the Fish Quay
- The future for the Fish Quay
The Highlander Hotel- North Shields Fish Quay
Martin's other memories:
This memory has these themes:
Change | Community | The North East
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