A working counter on Rothbury Terrace, run today by Alan Scott Guthrie. The shop's lineage runs back through Bagnall and Kirkwood, who took it on in 1935, to William Rochester Pape, who held British Patent 1501 of 1866 for choke-boring shotgun barrels. One hundred and seventy-five years of the same Newcastle trade, kept by the same kind of hands.
The trade has always split four ways at the Rothbury Terrace counter. Each line is run by counter staff who fish, shoot or shoot optics themselves.
Fly rods, fly reels, freshwater spinning gear, sea rods and reels, plus the accessories that keep a Tyne or Coquet day on the water working. The fishing line carries the same lineage as the gun trade: W.R. Pape was as well-known for his English-made tackle as he was for his shotguns. Counter staff are anglers themselves and can talk through line weight, leader length and reel ratio against the water you are fishing.
A full Registered Firearms Dealer trade covering Section 1 rifles, Section 2 shotguns, .177 air pistols through to PCP air rifles, gun cabinets to Home Office specification, scope mounting, transfers and certificate-condition advice. Carried out in store on Rothbury Terrace under the regulatory framework Newcastle and Northumberland customers expect. We do not handle firearms transactions remotely. The full transaction completes in person, with proper identity and certificate checks at the counter.
A primary line in its own right, not an accessory rack at the back of the shop. Binoculars for the Northumberland coastal birders, spotting scopes for the rifle shooter sighting at distance, rangefinders, plus the current generation of digital night-vision and thermal optics. Pairing a scope to a rifle is one of the most common counter conversations we have. Bring the rifle in, and we will fit and zero on site.
The country-clothing and field-kit wrap-around that keeps a fishing or shooting customer kitted out from the boots up. Wellingtons, walking boots, country wear, Swiss Army and Leatherman multitools, bushcraft and field knives. Built for Northumberland weather and the rougher edges of the moor, not for a shop-window display.
In the 1850s William Rochester Pape opened a gun-and-tackle workshop on Westgate Road, Newcastle. In 1866 he was granted British Patent 1501 for the choke-boring of shotgun barrels, a mechanical refinement to the constriction at the muzzle that tightened a barrel's pattern at distance. The Field newspaper, settling a long-running technical dispute in 1875, awarded Pape a ten-guinea prize as the acknowledged originator of the method. He also organised the first dog show in Great Britain in 1859 and was as widely known for his English-made fishing tackle as for his guns.
When the Pape line ended, Bagnall and Kirkwood took the shop on in 1935, trading as "Bagnall and Kirkwood, late with W.R. Pape". Sidney Guthrie joined as a junior assistant in 1949 and took ownership in 1954. His son Alan Scott Guthrie joined in 1981 and runs the shop today. Richard Alan Guthrie, the third generation, joined the board in 2019. The Westgate Road and Grey Street addresses have given way to the current Rothbury Terrace premises in Heaton. The trade, the names on the door and the standards have not.
“Acknowledged originator of choke boring.” The Field, on William Rochester Pape, 1875.
Three pieces of working knowledge that travelled from the Westgate Road bench to the Rothbury Terrace counter.
A choke is a tapered constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel. Pape's 1866 patent set out a reliable method of cutting that taper so the shot pattern stayed tighter at distance. The same geometry sits inside every modern shotgun barrel. When a customer asks "what choke for the gun I am buying", we are answering a question the predecessor on this counter first answered in print.
Bagnall and Kirkwood is a Registered Firearms Dealer on the Northumbria Police register, handling Section 1 rifles, Section 2 shotguns and the full air rifle range up to PCP. Transactions complete in store with proper certificate checks and a written ledger entry. The trade has its own framework and we keep to it. None of this happens by email.
Pape was as widely known for his English-made fishing tackle as for his guns. The fly counter at Rothbury Terrace keeps that thread alive. Line weight, leader length and reel ratio matched to the water you are fishing, whether that is the lower Coquet, the Tyne above Hexham, or the loughs you take on holiday. Counter staff are anglers, and we will ask before we sell.
Stock checks, optics pairing, parts enquiries, general questions about what we carry. For firearms transactions, certificate-condition advice and anything that requires identity verification, the conversation completes in person on Rothbury Terrace. Easier all round. We will reply within one working day.
220 Rothbury Terrace
Heaton
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 5DE
Phone · 0191 232 5873
Email · alan@bagnallandkirkwood.com
Parking · Private off-street parking at the shop. We moved out of the city centre partly so that customers carrying a rifle case or a rod tube did not have to walk through the Bigg Market with it.
Trains · A short walk from Chillingham Road Metro (Yellow line, two stops from Monument).
Old-school shop hours. Six trading days, the same hours each day, closed on Sundays. We do not run a late counter for after-work shooters, but we will pick up the phone when we are open.
Most non-firearms orders ship within one working day from the Rothbury Terrace counter. Air rifles classed as Section 1 firearms require collection in store or transfer to a Registered Firearms Dealer near you, with full certificate checks. We will confirm shipping or transfer options at the point of order rather than guessing on the website.
Yes. Registered Firearms Dealer transfers are part of our regular trade. The transfer fee is set at the counter once the receiving dealer and certificate position are confirmed. Bring or post the certificate paperwork and we will walk you through what we need on our end. The trade has its own pace and rules, and we keep to them.
Yes. The spares department is a working part of the shop, not a clearance shelf. We carry parts for the common British and European air rifle marques going back decades. If we do not have it on the shelf we will tell you straight, and where appropriate we will source it.
Cabinets are sized to the certificate, the room and the household. We stock British Standard 7558 cabinets in the most-requested sizes and can advise on bolt-down requirements, internal partitions and ammunition storage. If your local Firearms Enquiry Officer has specified anything in particular, bring that note in with you.
Yes. The Rothbury Terrace premises have private off-street parking, which was part of the reason we left the city centre. Bring the rifle, bring the rod, bring the dog if it is well behaved.