Pelaw

A company suburb

Pelaw barely existed before 1896, when the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) took a 999-year lease on farmland here, drawn by its closeness to Pelaw Junction on the North Eastern Railway. The first factory, a drug and drysaltery works bottling pickles and household goods, opened in 1902; over the following decades the site grew into a sprawling manufacturing complex making everything from boot polish and furniture to shirts and printed goods, with red-brick terraces built alongside to house workers brought in from as far as Lancashire. The cabinet works alone traded for 91 years before finally closing.