Dinny O'Brien's pawnshop in Hunter Street, Newcastle.
Dinny O’Brien’s legendary Newcastle pawnshop
DINNY O'Brien was a Newcastle legend in his lifetime, and even today his name conjures memories for many who recall his landmark pawnshop on Hunter Street. He and his wife Margaret had five sons and a daughter. I interviewed Tom O'Brien some years ago, when he was aged 94 and the last survivor of Dinny's children. Tom was deeply proud of the business his father built, and which sustained generations of the extended family in good years and bad. One of very few photos of Dinny O'Brien. Dinny lived originally at Largs, and his first business…