ALMOST 200 years ago magistrates were clamping down on “party city” Newcastle, according to a historic document which is up for auction.

The 1827 bye laws notice to inn and ale house keepers in Newcastle will be offered for sale by Graham Budd Auctions in London on Monday.

Proprietors are warned that they cannot “permit drunkenness or tippling, suffer men or women of notoriously bad fame, or dissolute girls and boys.”

When it came to gaming, even draughts were on the banned list, together with cards, dice and bagatelle.

The JPs also gave notice that premises could not stage bull, bear or badger baiting or cock fighting.

Auctioneer Graham Budd said: “The JPs are stating clearly that they are against such blood sports and that this is totally unacceptable and in this they are ahead of the times.” On the 1827 crackdown on heavy drinking, Mr Budd said: “I think there has been a perception by outsiders that Newcastle has always enjoyed its drinking and nightlife.

“The prize money offered when cock fighting was staged was quite decent and one of the ways of funding that was to sell as much drink as possible.”

The document, issued by Town Marshall and High Constable Thomas Forsyth, is for sale at £100-£150. It also bans drinking during the hours of “divine services on Sundays.”

Cock fighting was widespread in the North East of the 18th and 19th Centuries.

A surviving 1809 handbill for cock fighting at the Turk’s Head in the Bigg Market, Newcastle, gives details of the contesting birds, their owners, trainers and weights.

What is thought to be a cock pit is located in Tynemouth Front Street, under what was until recently an off licence.

Other reminders are pub names like the Fighting Cocks, with one such example in Byker in Newcastle.

Earlier this year, a batch of cock fighting items were auctioned by Anderson and Garland in Newcastle and fetched more than £4,000.

Although cock fighting was banned generally in 1849 a pit in Gallowgate in Newcastle was closed as late as 1874 following police raids.

Also in the sale on Monday at £100-£150 is a silk square commemorating the rowing victory of the Tyne crew at the Thames Regatta in 1869.

Rowing was a major sport on the Tyne in the 19th Century and world champion rowers like James Renforth –- who was part of the winning team on the Thames - were public heroes.

The auction also includes a manuscript of 1652 concerning fishing rights on the River Tyne in Northumberland. It is priced at £200-£300.