Wetherspoon confirms pub closure leaving customers gutted — there for more than 100 years

A Wetherspoon pub that has been the staple of a city for years is now just weeks away from shutting down, with its closure and final day of trading confirmed.

And there are plenty of people both shocked and gutted that The William Jameson is going. Dating back to the 19th century, the pub is named after William Jameson, the man responsible for laying out Sunderland’s famous Fawcett Street for the Fawcett family. Fawcett Street was originally one of Sunderland’s finest residential areas. Building work started in 1814, when the family instructed Jameson to lay out the estate. By 1844, Fawcett Street was virtually complete, with imposing three- and four-storey houses.

The pub is on one of Sunderland’s busiest streets, also once the home of legendary department store Binns but was put up for sale in July 2025.

There was a time when Sunderland city centre alone had three different Wetherspoon pubs, with The Lambton Worm not far from the Empire theatre and the massive Cooper Rose, which is still occupying the building that used to be Beach and was then Blu Bambu. But, after Sunday, April 19, there will be just the Cooper Rose left of the trio.

Signs on The William Jameson windows are now advertising its ‘Final Farewell’ a week on Sunday. Given it had been on the market for a while the closure of the William Jameson isn’t too much of a surprise for locals but there are many people who weren’t expecting it to be closing so quickly.

Reacting on Facebook, one customer declared it served “probably the best pints and grub south of the Tyne” as a second wrote: “From three down to one now, but new owners will be investing in the place, badly needs a renovation.”