found this from a short history of Gateshead:
Gas
Gas supplies to Gateshead began in 1821 from a gasworks in Pipewellgate, built in 1819. At first, the gas was used only for lighting streets and houses, gas fires, refrigerators and cookers were luxuries of the future. In 1838, Gateshead Gas Company was taken over by the Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead Union Gas Light Company, who paid £5,000 for the Pipewellgate gas works, and so began a series of disputes about the prices charged north and south of the river. Gateshead paid ten pence per lamp per week (there were 250 compared with 6,752 today), but Newcastle only paid eight pence. When the mains were extended, Gateshead Council had to pay for the new lampposts and fittings whereas these were supplied free of charge in Newcastle. This favourable treatment of Newcastle was probably due to the fact that Newcastle Corporation had the power to establish its own gasworks. Although this never came about, the threat was frequently used to keep the company in line.
In 1876 the gasworks at Redheugh were opened on a 25-acre site at a cost of £100,000 and with additions, are still partially in use. The street lamps were lit by gas until 1948 when the gradual changeover to electricity began. One usually thinks of natural gas as a modern development. However, as early as 1840 there was a plan to supply Gateshead and Newcastle with natural gas from Wallsend Colliery, using the gas burnt off at the pit-head. The 'Spontaneous Gas Company' was formed but was short-lived and conventional means of supply were followed. Gas supplies were nationalised in 1948.
Diddy
