The building in the centre of the shot, still with its familiar pub frontage, was the Pack Horse Inn. It was presumably named after the well loaded horses being regular sights through here on the turnpike from Ryton into deeper Durham. It was still in use as a toll road in the mid 19th century, which is the first time period we can provide this building existed.

Plans of the land here in 1851 indicate this on land owned by Greenside Collery, therefore likely the manager of the pit located just down the road. It was likely previously a house built for the colliery manager. The property next door was the village Post Office, seen in the older shots below. It was previously called the Black Horse Inn, first recorded under this name in 1843 - owned by a Mr Wilkinson at that stage. He owned it for another 2 decades or so hosting auctions for local properties and death inquests. There was also a quoits ground adjoining. The license holder in the 1910s was Robert Roddam (potential Clinton relation given their ancestral home, Kyo, is nearby?), who was fined £5 in 1913 for allowing drunkenness at the premises. A fight took place on July 26th of that year with one man killed and another charged with manslaughter. They'd had 7 or 8 gills of beer before entering the Black Horse, then had another 7 or 8 there.

Local tales dictate the pub changed its name because of a murder here apart from the death mentioned earlier. I cannot find any references, but it appears the transition came in the 1930s. Mention of the Pack Horse name comes first in 1937, when a leek show was held here, however I don't doubt it came about earlier. It was clearly a decent haunt as they had their own pianist on Saturday nights.

The pub unfortunately closed some time in the last 10 years, and was converted to a daycare some 2 years ago. As mentioned prior, it's great to see the frontage still remains though.

I've added some fantastic early views of Greenside with the Pack Horse highlighted. Truly a gorgeous village today and in its pomp. As ever these are all photos floating around the internet with no definitive source, but appear to be dating from the 1900s to the 30s or 40s.