South Tyneside Online

22/09/2026

💙 A little update from South Tyneside Online…

You may have noticed a bit of a rebrand recently, particularly around the shopping side of South Tyneside Online, so we wanted to explain why.

When we originally built STO, it was designed specifically for South Tyneside — giving local independent businesses somewhere to be discovered, sell online and reach local customers.

But something happened that we hadn't expected…

Businesses from outside South Tyneside started contacting us.

Some were nearby, others much further afield, asking if they could join the platform, sell their products or advertise with us.

The problem was, we hadn't built it for that.

So we went away, rebuilt parts of the platform to work on a much bigger scale — and it's working.

🛍️ That's why our wider shopping marketplace is becoming ONLINE SHOPPING – Shop Independent. Shop Online.

There's another side to the story too.

We've had some fantastic support here in South Tyneside, and we're incredibly grateful to the businesses that believed in what we were trying to do.

But some local businesses and community organisations, local pages and groups etc have also made it very clear they don't want to engage with us, and some have been openly against what we've built.

Nobody has to join us, of course. But we genuinely believe communities work better when local businesses support, communicate and collaborate with each other rather than automatically seeing something new to help as a threat.

Hopefully, in time, some of those businesses will see what we're actually trying to achieve. Our door remains open. 💙

Ironically, while some doors locally were closing, businesses from elsewhere were knocking on ours — and that helped us realise we shouldn't restrict an idea simply because it started in South Tyneside.

So where does that leave South Tyneside Online?

Right here. And more local than ever.

We're developing south-tyneside. com into the local side of what we do — bringing together local news, Weather - South Tyneside, events, travel, sport, Ship Watch, businesses, shopping and useful local information.

🌍 We're also developing City Local, giving businesses across the UK somewhere to advertise and be discovered.

And if you already advertise with South Tyneside Online, don't worry — we'll be moving your advertising profile over to City Local completely FREE of charge. You supported us early on, and we want you to benefit from where we're going next.

So what started as one local idea is becoming three connected platforms:

💙 South Tyneside Online — everything local.
🛍️ Online Shopping — independent businesses selling online across the UK.
📍 City Local — helping businesses advertise and get discovered.

We never originally planned to build three platforms.

We've simply listened to businesses, learned as we've grown and followed where the demand has taken us.

South Tyneside is still our home and always will be.

South Tyneside Online isn't going anywhere — we're just growing beyond it too. 💙 fans

22/09/2026

🥪 PHAT MAMA’S — DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR! 🚗💨

Fancy something proper for lunch? Phat Mama’s is open and you can order for local delivery in under 60 minutes! 🙌

🥓 Freshly cooked breakfasts
🍔 Fresh beef quarter-pound smash burgers
🥪 Fresh deli sandwiches
🥔 Jacket potatoes
🍝 Pasta boxes
🥧 Home-cooked pies
🥙 Kebabs, toasties & more!

📍 Phat Mama’s, South Shields
🛍️ Order through South Tyneside Online
🚗 Local delivery — collection to your door in under 60 minutes

Skip the trip. Get Phat Mama’s brought to you. 😋

ORDER NOW 👇
south-tyneside.co.uk

18/09/2026

GOOD EVENING, SOUTH TYNESIDE 👋❤️

It’s Friday night, the weekend is here, and before everyone disappears off to enjoy it, we wanted to give South Shields Saturday Market a little shout-out ahead of tomorrow.

Now, we know what some of you are going to say… 😂

“Friday market is much busier.”
“Saturday market is crap.”
“There’s nothing there.”
“It’s not worth going.”

And do you know what?

In some ways, you’re right.

But roll the clock back just a few months and the Saturday market was in a very different position. It was incredibly quiet and there were genuine questions over what its future looked like.

Then We Are Local Heroes took it on from the council and basically had to start trying to build something from very little.

And slowly but surely, they’ve kept at it.

Traders have turned up. New ideas have been tried. Some things have worked, others haven’t. There’s been a bit of moaning along the way 😂 — but you’re never going to please everybody.

And here’s something worth remembering…

Some of those independent traders have stood there all day and haven’t even taken enough to cover their £26 stall fee.

Yet they’ve come back and tried again.

Markets don’t become busy because somebody puts a sign up saying MARKET.

They become busy because traders turn up.

And traders keep turning up because customers turn up. ❤️

So if you’re in South Shields tomorrow, why not have a wander through?

You don’t have to spend a fortune. Have a look around, have a chat with the traders and, if something catches your eye, support somebody local.

Because if we want a thriving Saturday market in South Shields, ultimately we all have a little part to play in making it one.

📍 South Shields Market Place
📅 Saturday 19th September
⏰ 9am–3pm

And then, of course, there’s the other person who’s had a hand in making life difficult for the traders over the last few months…

🌧️💨 Weather South Tyneside.

You’ve certainly not helped matters. 😂

So tomorrow we’re putting this one firmly in your hands…

A bit of sunshine and NO WIND please. ☀️🙏😂

Anyway, enough from us.

What’s everybody up to tonight and over the weekend?

Anything happening around South Tyneside that we should know about? Going somewhere? Running an event? Doing something with the kids? Or are you doing absolutely nothing and looking forward to it? 😂

Drop it in the comments and let everyone know. 👇

Whatever you’re doing, have a wonderful Friday evening — and unless you’re one of the unlucky ones working tomorrow, have a brilliant weekend. ❤️

And if you are working…

we’ll still wish you a good weekend. Just slightly less smugly. 😂

❤️ South Tyneside Online

18/09/2026

🎆 THE SOUTH SHIELDS SEAFRONT FIREWORKS ARE BACK! 🎆

One for the diary, South Tyneside! 👀

The brilliant FREE seafront firework displays return on Sunday 1st November, with not one but TWO displays lighting up the South Shields coastline. 🎇✨

❤️ South Tyneside Online

🎆 South Shields Seafront Firework Displays are back!
Get ready for a spectacular evening on the coast as the skies above South Shields light up with two FREE firework displays on Sunday 1 November.

Why not make a day of it? Our event sponsor, Ocean Beach Pleasure Park, South Shields, will be open from 12 noon, with rides and attractions for all the family before the fireworks begin.

🎆 FREE entry
🎆 Displays at 6pm and 8pm
🎢 Ocean Beach Pleasure Park open from 12 noon
📍 South Shields Seafront

Wrap up warm, bring your family and friends, and enjoy one of South Tyneside's most popular annual events. ✨

18/09/2026

🌅 GOOD MORNING SOUTH TYNESIDE — WE’VE GOT A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE WHO ORDERS FOOD ONLINE… 💙💛 fans

We were doing some late-night browsing last night and came across a really interesting post from ThelittleDeli about the reality of running a small independent business.

And we couldn’t agree more.

It got us thinking about something we’re incredibly passionate about — because it’s one of the main reasons South Tyneside Online exists.

Most of us order food online now.

And I’ll put my hands up — over the years I’ve personally spent thousands of pounds through the big national ordering and delivery platforms, particularly while travelling up and down the country and staying in hotels.

They’re convenient. They work. That’s why we use them. Some are good and some have been dangerous 😂

But have you actually looked at what your last order cost you?

Not just the food.

Look at the delivery fee.

Look at the service charge.

Look at any small-order or other fees.

Sometimes you can be around £5 into charges before you’ve even considered what the food itself costs.

But here’s the part customers don’t necessarily see.

One of the major platforms publicly lists a commission of 30% + VAT when it provides the delivery. We’ve all used it..

Let’s put that into actual money.

A £20 order at 30% is £6 commission.

VAT on that commission is another £1.20.

That’s £7.20 against a £20 order before considering the other costs involved in actually running that takeaway or delivery fees.

Now think about what The Little Deli highlighted.

The business still has to buy the ingredients.

Pay staff.

Pay electricity and gas.

Pay rent.

Pay insurance.

Pay for packaging.

Pay for equipment, cleaning, waste collections, accountants and everything else involved in keeping those doors open.

So where does the platform cost go?

The business can absorb it and make less money, increase its prices on that platform to compensate, or find a balance between the two.

And here’s something we’d encourage everyone to try:

Look at a local takeaway on one of the big platforms and then look at its own menu.

You might be surprised by the difference.

💙💛 AND THAT’S WHY WE BUILT SOUTH TYNESIDE ONLINE.

We asked ourselves a very simple question:

Could we provide the convenience people expect from the huge national platforms, but build it around our local economy instead?

And could we offer the same — or actually more?

So we’ve built a local online marketplace with ordering, card payments, collection and local delivery.

But we’ve gone much further than that.

South Tyneside Online is being built around local news, weather, travel, sport, events, Ship Watch, local information and hundreds of local search and business pages helping people discover businesses across South Tyneside, we’ve invited all the local pages, media and businesses to join in too..

We’ve also built our own local delivery operation through Home Delivery Group. As it expands we will use local drivers who are fully insured..

And importantly, we’re trying to keep the cost of selling through STO considerably lower.

Because here’s what happens when the business pays less:

The business has the opportunity to pass that saving back to YOU.

So rather than supporting local automatically meaning paying more, our goal is for you to potentially find that same local meal cheaper through South Tyneside Online.

Same takeaway. Same kitchen. Same meal. Same convenience.

But potentially a lower price for you and a much fairer amount going back to the business that actually made it.

👀 SO WE WANT TO TRY SOMETHING THIS MORNING…

If you’ve ordered a takeaway online recently, go and check your last order while you’re having your morning coffee.

Tell us in the comments:

💷 How much was the food?
🚗 How much was delivery?
🧾 How much were the service/other fees?
💰 What was your final total?
📱 Optional) Tag the business so we can share some love ❤️

Don’t post any personal information or your address — we’re interested in the numbers.

Let’s see what South Tyneside is actually paying.

And then answer us one question:

If you could order the exact same food from the exact same local business through South Tyneside Online — but PAY LESS — would you switch?

Because that’s what we’re trying to achieve.

Lower costs for local businesses.

The opportunity for those businesses to pass the saving back to their customers.

And more of every pound spent in South Tyneside staying in South Tyneside. 💙💛

This isn’t about telling people to stop ordering online.

It’s about asking whether we can build a better way to order local.

Have a great morning, South Tyneside. ☕🌅

Now… go check that last order. 👀👇

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/187MmJCRvF/?mibextid=wwXIfr

17/09/2026

GOOD EVENING AND GOOD NIGHT, SOUTH TYNESIDE 👋

We've been having a little nose around the South Tyneside Online analytics tonight, looking at when people are ordering and where that activity is coming from…

And there are a few surprises. 👀
Our busiest ordering period is currently 12pm–4pm, accounting for 29% of activity.

☀️ 8am–12pm — 21%
🍴 12pm–4pm — 29%
🍕 4pm–8pm — 25%
🌙 8pm–12am — 12%

And then there's the one that caught our attention…
🍻 MIDNIGHT–4AM — 8%

Now obviously, the analytics don't tell us why you're ordering at that time… But we're going to take a completely unscientific guess that at least a few questionable purchasing decisions may have been made after a night out. 🤣🤣

We've all been there. Wake up the next morning, check your phone and think… “Why on earth did I order THAT?” 😂

And to the 8% midnight crew — don't worry, your secrets are safe with us. 🤐🤣

The days surprised us as well:

🥇 Tuesday — 19%
Wednesday — 18%
Thursday — 16%
Monday — 15%
Friday — 14%
Sunday — 9%
Saturday — 8%

Tuesday is our busiest day and Saturday is our quietest!
We definitely wouldn't have predicted that.

Then there's the heatmap. ❤️

We're already seeing activity appearing across South Shields, Jarrow, Hebburn and now we are moving into Sunderland, Washington and surrounding areas, and that's probably the bit we're most pleased to see.

Because when we first started talking about building South Tyneside Online, there were people who told us it wouldn't work.

People wouldn't use another platform. Businesses wouldn't be interested, It was too ambitious.

But we're still here.

Businesses are joining, slowly but surley.
And people are discovering the platform.
Orders are coming through.
The map is lighting up.

And most importantly…

it's starting to pick up pace. 🚀

We're still only at the beginning. There's a huge amount we want to add and improve, and we're certainly not pretending we've built the finished article. But the proof is starting to appear in the numbers.

Every dot on that heatmap represents activity from a real person.

Every order put through the platform supports a business.

And every new business that joins gives people another reason to come back.

That's how we build this — bit by bit, business by business, customer by customer. ❤️

Now, we have two questions for you…

What on earth are you lot ordering between midnight and 4am?! 🤣

And more importantly:

👇 What local business, product or service would YOU like to be able to order through South Tyneside Online?

Name them below.

Because if enough of you want them…

we might just go knocking on their door. 👀

❤️ South Tyneside Online

fans

17/09/2026

GOOD AFTERNOON, SOUTH TYNESIDE 👋😂

🚨 We’ve become aware of some rather concerning anti-social behaviour taking place around South Shields over the last couple of days…

It appears we may have two repeat offenders on our hands.

Sheila Graber & Jen. 👀😂

Naturally, we thought it was only right that we brought this escalating situation to the attention of Mark Berriman - Community Advocate & ASB Support.

Mark… the evidence is in the video. We’ll leave this one with you. 🤣 All joking aside ❤️, we absolutely love what Sheila & Jen have been creating.

Sheila is an incredibly talented South Shields artist and animator with a fascinating career spanning decades, and she’s still creating, experimenting with new technology and apparently now using those skills to cause havoc around South Shields with Jen. 😂

Sheila is also currently using sales of her artwork to support local causes, which deserves a shout-out in itself. ❤️👏

And a genuine shout-out to Mark as well. We can have a laugh with him here, but the work he does supporting local people and dealing with real ASB issues in our communities deserves recognition.

Anyway, enough seriousness…

🎥 Watch the evidence below.

Sheila & Jen — we’ve got our eyes on you. 👀😂

And Mark… we fear this may only be the beginning. 🤣

❤️ South Tyneside Online

16/09/2026

🌙 Good night, South Tyneside! 💙💛

It’s been another very busy day behind the scenes at South Tyneside Online.

📧 A few local businesses got emails.
📞 A few got phone calls.
🤝 And a few new conversations have started.
Let's see who replies.. 😂😂

We’re working every day to make South Tyneside Online bigger, better and genuinely useful for our local community — and there’s plenty happening behind the scenes that you haven't seen yet. 👀

But before we disappear for the night, here's a bit of local news that caught our attention...

🌬️ Whitburn Windmill is about to look very different.

According to the Shields Gazette, the Grade II listed windmill, which dates back to 1790, is set to have its four damaged sails removed while the council considers the future of the landmark.

The immediate priority is making the structure safe, with hopes that replacement sails could eventually see this familiar piece of Whitburn's landscape restored.

Hopefully it's not goodbye to the windmill as we know it — just another chapter in more than 230 years of local history. ❤️

💬 Tonight's question: If you could protect or restore ONE South Tyneside landmark for future generations, which would you choose?

Right, that's us for today!

Good night South Tyneside. Sleep well. 🌙

Tomorrow we go again — more emails, more phone calls and plenty more building behind the scenes. 💙💛

News story credit: Shields Gazette / Gareth Crickmer

'Such a shame' - South Tyneside Council to remove Whitburn Windmill sails

15/09/2026

📣 ONE FOR THE WEEKEND, SOUTH TYNESIDE! 🎢🎡

Ocean Beach Pleasure Park, South Shields has just announced a special Unlimited Rides Fun Card for this weekend!

🎟️ £20 per person
🎢 2 HOURS of unlimited rides
📅 Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th September
⏰ Available to use between 12pm–4pm

The offer includes a big selection of rides including Jungle Madness, Zombie Ghost Train, Break Dance, Matterhorn, Waltzer, Wave Sw***er, Super Jumper, Miami Surf, Pirate Ship, Music Express, Spinning Coaster and more!

⚠️ A few important bits: the cards are for people 1.2m and above, normal ride height restrictions still apply, and your two hours start from your first ride.

Looks like it could be a busy weekend down on the seafront! 👀🎢

Who’s taking advantage of this one? Tag someone who needs to know! 👇

📍 Ocean Beach Pleasure Park, South Shields

Full terms and details are available from Ocean Beach Pleasure Park.

15/09/2026

📢 STANLEY’s Nurseries Update – What Do You Think?

There’s already plenty of discussion following today’s update from South Tyneside Council about the future of STANLEY’s Daycare Nurseries.

The council has confirmed that no decision has yet been made, with a report due to be considered by Cabinet on Wednesday 23 September.

But one question being raised by residents is an important one:

👉 Will the full report and supporting documents be published before the meeting, so families, staff and the wider community can see the findings and evidence for themselves?

One resident has already asked the council directly:

“Can you publish the documents please so everyone can see the findings before the meeting”

Another commented that the announcement “reads as [though the] decision has already been made”, prompting the council to respond and reiterate that no decision has been made.

STANLEY’s has received significant support from across South Tyneside, with thousands signing petitions and people taking part in demonstrations over the proposed changes. Understandably, many families and staff will want to know exactly what Cabinet is being asked to consider.

💬 What do you think?

Should the full report, consultation findings and supporting evidence be available for the public to read before councillors meet on 23 September?

And if you’re a parent, member of staff or someone directly affected by STANLEY’s, we’d particularly like to hear your views below. 👇

South Tyneside Online — Local News. Local People. Local Voices.

Update on STANLEYs Daycare Nurseries

Following a detailed review of the service, extensive consultation with staff, consideration of feedback and an assessment of childcare across the Borough South Tyneside Council’s Cabinet will consider a report on STANLEYs on 23 September.

All feedback from staff, families, the wider community as well as alternative suggestions put forward during the consultation have been carefully considered. These are reflected in the report that Cabinet will consider.

Cabinet will consider the evidence, feedback from staff, families and the wider community, and the impact of the proposals before a decision is made. No decision has been made yet.

If Cabinet agrees the proposals, the nurseries would remain open until July 2027. We would use that time to work closely with families, with extra support for children with additional needs, and to support our staff.

Anyone wishing to share their views ahead of the Cabinet meeting can do so through their local councillor or the Council's usual contact channels, https://ow.ly/Lsho50ZNP8l

You can read more on this here https://southtyneside.gov.uk/article/31663/Cabinet-to-Consider-Future-of-STANLEYs-Daycare-Nurseries