At some point between 1801 and 1812, he was again in the North-East, as landlord of The Blue Bell, an inn at the head of Side, in Newcastle.
That street is the main road down from the city centre to the quayside, and to the (at that time only) bridge across the Tyne to Gateshead.
The Blue Bell seems to have been a significant piping venue, and was near the workshop of Thomas Bewick, who became a friend of Cant's.
Died, Mr. William Cant, master of The Blue Bell, Head of the Side, aged 70, formerly piper to the Northumberland Militia.
He was an excellent performer on the violin and Northumberland pipes; and like his great predecessors upon the latter instrument, Turnbull, Gilley, old Lamshaw and John Peacock, he kept up the ancient tunes, with all their charming lilts and pauses, unspoiled by the modern improvers of the music with their 'idiot notes impertinently long'.