The Flying Boat

This grade II listed building was Beadle's car showroom and offices for many years. John Clayton Beadle moved his horse-drawn-vehicle-making business to Spital Street in 1900. In 1910, he added the single-storey car showroom where you now stand. The workshops at the rear of the showroom included a roller-skating rink which doubled as a meeting venue, with Winston Churchill and AJ Balfour both addressing crowds here. The workshops were demolished in 1998, when the premises were converted into a public house. During the First and Second World War, production at Beadle's was geared to the war effort, including making floats for Sunderland flying boats - one of the most powerful and widely used flying boats in the Second World War.