The fire that ripped through a Sunderland building and closed the town centre on a cold November night

Many Sunderland people will still have memories of the fire which brought the town to a standstill on a cold November night.

In 1969, Adrian Share (Interiors) Ltd, the furniture store in town, went up in flames and at one stage, it threatened all other properties on the block.

We told how it was so severe that fire engines from neighbouring areas had to speed into Sunderland to give help.

Traffic jams soon built up when the blaze at Shares on November 14, 1969 closed traffic routes. Cars and buses were backed up all the way to the edge of town.

Bridge Street was closed while firemen dealt with the fire which gutted the Shares store and severely damaged three other shops. Firefighters were still dealing with the aftermath when the people of Sunderland woke the next day, in November 1969.

One man - Peter Fenwick - told us last year how he had a closer view than most of the blaze because he was working next door.

“On arriving in Bridge Street that Friday morning I was greeted with a scene of devastation . Although the fire brigade had managed to keep the opticians relatively intact, the building was too badly water damaged to continue operating and my workshop on the second floor deemed to dangerous to enter,” Peter said last year.

“I remember going down into the basement with my manager to salvage what spectacle frame stock we could and the heat even fifteen hours later was terrific.”

By midnight, word got out of the drama and crowds had gathered outside St Mary’s RC Church to get a closer look.

Fire experts later believed that the cost of the blaze in total was closer to £250,000.

The business was initially established in Crowtree Road in 1902 by Israel Share who had moved with his parents to Sunderland from Russia. His shop was run by a staff of three until after the First World War when he transferred to larger premises in High Street West.

Izzy’s business went from strength to strength and, after a few years moved yet again, this time into larger premises in Fawcett Street.

Eventually Izzy’s son, Adrian, joined the business and the success of the shop continued. In the 1960s, however, disaster struck when a fire badly damaged Share’s Fawcett Street shop.

The business soon re-opened in Bridge Street. Although in another town centre street, the shop still retained the name ’Shares of Fawcett Street’ as it was so well established throughout the area.

In November 1969, however, the Bridge Street premises were very badly damaged in the latest blaze.

Get in touch if you have memories of a major incident that you remember from Sunderland’s past.

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