Two of the UK’s best known outdoor names are celebrating their 60th anniversaries in 2026, but many people won’t be aware of the connection between them and their shared origins.
The LD Mountain Centre and Berghaus were both started by North East climbers and entrepreneurs Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison, who began by opening the shop in 1966 on Dean Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was the first specialist outdoor shop in the area, in what was a fledgling and niche market in the UK. As well as running the shop, Lockey and Davison also distributed outdoor gear from Europe around the country, much of which came from Germany or Austria. Needing a name for that arm of the business, they decided that a bit of instant credibility could be gained by roughly translating the name of their shop into German, and Berghaus was born. It didn’t take long for Lockey and Davison to start developing their own kit to sell in the shop, and they put the Berghaus brand onto this new product.
Iconic Berghaus products from across the decades
Since it first opened, LD Mountain Centre has remained a cornerstone of the UK’s independent specialist outdoor sector, while Berghaus has grown into one of the world’s best known and most respected outdoor brands, with a long track record of bringing iconic products to the market. From the early 1970s, Berghaus quickly earned a reputation for creating some of the most innovative gear on the market, with developments such as the Cyclops rucksack, Europe’s first GORE-TEX jacket and the legendary Yeti Attak gaiter, all of which were designed upstairs in the LD Mountain Centre.
The brand was still based inside LD Mountain Centre when Lockey and Davison launched the first flagship Extrem range in 1986, designed for the most challenging activities in the harshest conditions. Along with other significant product developments, that kick started major business growth for Berghaus, and as its scale and international reach increased, the brand had to move its headquarters out of the shop. Forty years on, the latest Extrem collection is once again taking centre stage in the Dean Street store, as part of a major partnership between the two companies that is celebrating their shared heritage, and introducing consumers to a new generation of technical outdoor gear.
The latest Berghaus range on display at LD Mountain Centre
The new display inside LD Mountain Centre showcases other key moments in the history of Berghaus and demonstrates its role in mountain adventure and in wider popular culture. The walls are adorned with archive material featuring some of the high profile figures and events associated with the brand during the last six decades, from the likes of climbers Sir Chris Bonington, Mick Fowler and Leo Houlding, to Oasis front man Liam Gallagher and Jay Kay from Jamiroquai. Throughout the display, there is a thread of the brand’s groundbreaking product breakthroughs that continue to help more people access the outdoors. These include key Extrem kit through the years, to the recent Maternity and Beyond collection, and initiatives such as Repairhaus, the free repair service that Berghaus has offered throughout its history, initially from LD Mountain Centre.
Charlie Pym, Berghaus senior vice president, comments: “Berghaus is a richly storied brand, and that all began in LD Mountain Centre 60 years ago. So as we introduce our latest great kit, it’s right to celebrate that deep, shared heritage. Berghaus wouldn’t exist if Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison hadn’t opened their store on Dean Street, and it’s wonderful to see the brand showcased in this way in the place where it was born.”
Extrem products have remained a cornerstone of the Berghaus range
Roddy Mackay, LD Mountain Centre managing director, comments: “Over the past sixty years, LD Mountain Centre and Berghaus have shared an extraordinary heritage that began here on Dean Street in Newcastle. From the early days of developing innovative gear upstairs in the Dean Street shop, through to today, that spirit of innovation and passion for the outdoors has remained at the heart of everything we do.”
More info: www.berghaus.com and www.ldmountaincentre.com