Ward's directory of 1899 - the Yellow Pages of its day - covered all the towns between the Tyne and the Wear. William Arthur Wilkinson must have had a thriving business to have felt justified in taking a full page advertisement.
He had come from Gateshead to North Shields in 1866 as a young hairdresser. It was not long before he moved into the manufacture of mineral waters. The business expanded, and in 1898 he was advertising his new premises at the corner of King Street and George Street.
At the time, he and his family lived at Phoenix House, opposite the factory. In 1900 an explosion at work shattered bottles, causing terrible facial wounds to Mr Wilkinson's son.
This tragedy was a pale shadow of that which was to force 'Wilkinson's Shelter' into the conciousness of all.
In 1940 the factory was designated an air raid shelter.
from: 'News Guardian, 11/10/1990': written by Eric Hollerton, Local Studies Librarian, North Shields Central Library