.
Quite often on this Forum, people have recorded their memories, often from their childhood, of many interesting SHOPS (or other retail activities such as pubs or cinemas, etc) that have been a major part of their young lives, or their parents or grandparents lives - BUT, they are no longer there.

It is interesting (for example) to sometimes look at the retail activity that is going on in 2010 in a building where you have memories of a VERY DIFFERENT shopping experience in times gone past - in that VERY place!

You look at busy people walking in and out of (say) 'Yates Wine Lodge' on Grainger Street, and you wonder how many of them know the long history of that beautiful old building?

Not many of them, I would imagine . . . and indeed, why should they, and why should they care!

There is no reason for most of them to care, most of us will usually just 'live for today', most of the time. That is what the world is like, and always has been.

But (occasionally) some of us DO care. So for us, this thread (rather than 'clog up' the MAIN Retail Thread) is the ideal place where we can share our memories with others of a like mind, on the subject of Retail Memories from Times Past . . .

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Anyone remember Mawson Swan and Morgan?


One of the most famous ("has always been there/always will be there") of Newcastle shops.

Part of that unique group of shops that (to me) 'defined' that you were IN NEWCASTLE . . . There aren't many with that feeling about them these days (most shops are just part of a 'could be anywhere' chain) in fact there never were many really . . . but at least there used to be some!

The ones that felt like that to me were . .

CALLERS
FENWICKS
MAWSON SWAN & MORGAN
WINDOWS
ISAAC WALTON

There may have been one or two more?

Sadly, the "has always been there/always will be there" feeling, has not been lived up to, by three out of those five!

They are only my personal selections, particularly strongly felt when I returned home from periods of living away from the Newcastle area.

Does anyone else have any places like the above, that mean 'Newcastle' to them, past or present?

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Ah yes, Isaac Walton's. I meant to ask about that place recently but forgot.

Google Street View (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.97124,-1.622683&spn=0.002556,0.00515&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=54.970239,-1.618457&panoid=cUpThpUD7AZhZ53ztg4xHw&cbp=12,172.12,,1,8.83)

I went in a couple of yours ago to buy a hat and the service was first class! I wondered if there was a long history of that place in Newcastle as it certainly felt like a proper little business that harked back to an age gone by.

Now, the small Isaac Waltons shop there on Westgate road, is not a place I am really familiar with, though it looks a nice little shop.

They haven't been there long though, the shop that I am referring to in my earlier post is the large premises they had for most of last century, along Grainger Street (on the 'Grainger market' side) near its junction with Market Street.

The only photos I can find at the moment, are of it quite a long time ago, but it was there right up to the early nineties (approx).

It was the place many of us used to get our school uniforms from, I seem to remember!

This is the place . . .


1911 (on the left, with the HUGE all-over-the-building writng of "ISAAC WALTON & CO") . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/IsaacWalton1911.jpg

1912 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/IsaacWaltonin1912.jpg

1928 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/IsaacWalton1928.jpg

1960s . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/IsaacWalton.jpg
ALL PHOTOS courtesy of Newcastle City / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM Website - http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/

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I remember Isaac Waltons though I don't recall ever being in the shop. My school uniform (St. Cuthbert's Grammar School) could only be bought from Raymond Barnes in Grey Street. This picture is courtesy of the Newcastle Library Flickr site:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/raymondbarnes.jpg

I remember Isaac Waltons though I don't recall ever being in the shop. My school uniform (St. Cuthbert's Grammar School) could only be bought from Raymond Barnes in Grey Street.



I can remember being in Raymond Barnes as a young-un, with my mother, getting my FIRST school uniform.

I remember being on a 'raised area' at the back of the fairly long/narrow shop.

I remember that raised bit at the back, purely because years later (in the mid-1980s) me and Mrs H used to sit in that area in the new 'Fitzgeralds Wine bar', which that shop had then become!!

Fitzy's, shortly after that, also took over the premises next door (down Grey St) to become the much larger 'Fitzgeralds Pub'.

Mind, I remember also getting school stuff (of some sort) from a shop called the North of England School Furnishing (which later became the 'North of England Book & Staionery Company') on Grainger Street, towards the station on the other side from Isaac Walton.

It was located in the premises that (in this recently taken Google Earth Photo) are up for sale/to let . . (think it became an 'Antique Centre' after the School Furnishings closed in the 1980s?)

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/GraingerSt.jpg

I remember the North of England School Furnishing Company where all my school requirements were purchased. When I left school I worked for Gateshead Council in the education department and discovered that the company had a contract to supply all Gateshead schools with everything from pencils to desks and cupboards. The company's head office was in Darlington. I also remember the building when it was an antique centre and I think it might have been called "The Peoples Museum & Antique Centre". The museum bit prompted me to take my grandchildren on a visit. The basement was split in to tiny little shops which looked like they belonged in a Dickens novel. It was a strange mixture of antiques and junk but it was claustrophobic and smelled of damp. I don't think we repeated the experience.

Beatties.

Modelzone who I think bought them out just don't even come close.

Beatties.

Modelzone who I think bought them out just don't even come close.


Yes, Beatties was FAR better. I have spent a fair bit of time in there.

Also, there used to be a shop on Blenheim Street called (simply) 'The Model Shop'. It was a small shop-front, but it was on three floors, I think.

You could get anything you wanted there, and I used to sell items in there, as well as buy them. Did anyone on here ever buy any (beautifully) hand-painted small metal 'Napoleonic Soldiers' (British and/or French troops) that I was selling there in the 1970s . . . ?

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Remember my dad (and grandad) always going on about the Model Shop. They used to take me there loads of times. The aircraft hanging from the ceiling were brilliant. It was demolished to make way fir St James Boulevard, moving down opposite the CFL. I used it a lot then when I was into AFV models. Unfortunately they closed down a couple of years ago. Shame,

GBDT

Boydells Model and Toy shop on the corner of Croft Street and New Bridge Street (next door to the much-missed Burton House pub) was another terrific shop to press your nose against the glass and wish for one of the aeroplanes with a ‘real’ i.e. glow plug engine in it.
We used to catch the ‘green bus’ back to Wallsend from the stop right outside of the pub, so there was always time to linger outside the shop until the bus came.
Strangely enough the green bus never had a service number as far as I can remember.

I remember the North of England School Furnishing Company where all my school requirements were purchased. When I left school I worked for Gateshead Council in the education department and discovered that the company had a contract to supply all Gateshead schools with everything from pencils to desks and cupboards. The company's head office was in Darlington. I also remember the building when it was an antique centre and I think it might have been called "The Peoples Museum & Antique Centre". The museum bit prompted me to take my grandchildren on a visit. The basement was split in to tiny little shops which looked like they belonged in a Dickens novel. It was a strange mixture of antiques and junk but it was claustrophobic and smelled of damp. I don't think we repeated the experience.


I was sure that I had a photo of the North of England School Furnishing Co, after it had changed its name (mid-60s?) to the North of England Book & Stationery Co.

I haven't been able to find it yet, but I did find the "modern new shop frontage" (that I was looking for the photo of) clearly featured in an advertisement for the shop, in an Evening Chronicle supplement from 1971 . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/NorthofEngBookStationery.jpg


As this is an advert, I will doubtless feature it soon on the 'Old Adverts' thread, but I thought it's first viewing should be on this thread, as part of our exchanges about this particular shop, that we have had in recent posts.

Who, apart from me remembers the fabulous Leathards shop, on St Georges Terrace at the top of Acorn Road?

There are still a number of independent shops there, but the pressure grows by the year.

Who, apart from me remembers the fabulous Leathards shop?(Hand rises). A full range of epicurist foods (since called deli), and with full counter service. Shopped there 2 or 3 times a week.

There are still a number of independent shops there, but the pressure grows by the year.Two less in Acorn Road this year so far, Fleurtations the florists in March, and Jill Watkin closing her Le Beado accessory shop last month. Also two non-independents closed in the spring, one of the bakers (Milligans, only Greggs left now) and Victoria Wine (Oddbins closed last year, so now no Off Licences left).
All the butchers, veg, dairy produce and newsagents have long gone, and even the thriving Jules B hardly counts as an independent, having has become a bit of a Northern chain store!

But the "growing pressure" is, of course, challenging increases in the rent levied by the few.

It will be clear from my posts on here that I have a strong bias in favour of independent retailling and local shops staffed by people committed to their produce; and am opposed to international retaillers selling imported branded goods by staff who are disconnected from their production. Thats simply my position, so clearly I regret the loss of all the locally-managed independents across all suburbs anywhere in the Economically developed world. But notwithstanding that strongly held belief, I am slightly cheered by the prospect of Waitrose in the heart of Jesmond offering an alternative to Tesco if its really impossible for independents to survive the rates charged by you-know-who.

(Hand rises). A full range of epicurist foods (since called deli), and with full counter service. Shopped there 2 or 3 times a week.



Excellent that you remember that beautiful shop, and I share some of your feelings about independent stores.

Do you also remember?

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/BarnettsStGeorgesTce1971.jpg

The above advert is from a 1971 Evening Chronicle, but I remember this shop (Barnetts, and its predecessors, Stevens Grocers) was here, where SAKS now is (see below photo from Google earth) and that 'Asprey House' next door, was a garage that you had to drive up a ramp to get to part of, on the 1st floor.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/89to91StGeorgesTceBarnetts.jpg

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Inside Woolworths of Northumberland Street.

This is an interesting 'interior photo' of what the big Woolworths on Northumberland Street (next to Fenwicks) looked like a long time ago, in the early 1950s . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/WoolworthsNorthumberlandStinsidea.jpg


This is the same building (which has just re-opened in 'yet another' guise as the new Peacocks) shown from the outside, as it was in the 1970s . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/4078157451_d54176b59b_o.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/4078883554_bfceaba8fb_o.jpg


Woolworths of Northumberland Street closed in the 1980s, leaving Clayton Street as the only remaining City Centre branch. The other long-standing Woolworth premises in Newcastle were at Gosforth Hight Street, which stayed open until Woolworths themselves ceased trading recently, and at Shields Road, which closed in the 1960s.

There were recently two new (and relatively short-lived) Woolworth stores, at the 'Newcastle Shopping Park' in Byker, and at the MetroCentre.

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A little piece of genuine 'retail nostalgia', along Sandyford Road, as I remember it from my childhood, before large parts of it were destroyed for the Central Motorway East and Newcastle Poly's 'Education Precinct' of the early 1970s.

The photo is from much earlier, but there were still a lot of little shops like this along Sandyford Road, right up until the 1970s . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/SandyfordRd.jpg

NH, what a wonderful picture of the old lending library. Growing up in the 40s and 50s they were a common sight and most neighbourhoods had one. Ours was a sweet shop with a few rows of books which customers could borrow for a small fee. I tried to find a photograph of the old shop but I searched in vain. It has now gone the way of most corner shops and has been converted in to a not very pretty flat.

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/ellams2.jpg

Courtesy of Google Street View.

Of course the most famous private lending library was Boots, I remember the Newcastle one well. I bought several volumes from them when they closed and sold off their stock which must have been about 1966.

^^

Alf, very glad you liked the E G Archer corner shop/lending library photo!

Then, seeing the photo you posted about how your old neighbourhood corner shop looks like today, really "triggered off" (and you'll see why!) some of my own, similar, memories.

You see, from the age of two months (and eight days) I lived until the age of four, in a VERY similar corner shop, owned by my parents in West Hartlepool.

Then, in 2007, I went back there for the first time in many years, and it had suffered an almost identical fate as the one you mention, Alf.

Being as my earliest lifetime memories are from our West Hartlepool shop, I was quite upset to find out what had happened to it.

1 - ME, in front of our shop, with my mother . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/MEatBroughamTerraceWestHartlepool.jpg


2 - The EXACT same spot (that bloke is about to "walk into" my pram!!) taken in 2007 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/SAMEviewin2007.jpg


As an aside - the first of the above two photos is now the THIRD photo of me, posted on this forum (if anyone wants to spot me in the street, I haven't changed much!)

I don't think I ever went into his shop, but I've got really fond memories of the Metro Radio adverts that Mr Rahman did for his own tailoring/alteration business on Westgate Road.

"We do eveything from leather goods.....to bikinis".

I remember Mr. Rahman's ads well, they were very entertaining though I often wonder if they attracted any business his way. I notice he is still listed in some of the internet directories at 190 Westgate Road but the last time I passed that way a couple of years ago the place looked empty.

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W E Harker Ltd, Furnishings, 38-40 Grainger Street . .


Harker's CLOSING DOWN sale, in 1967 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Harkersin1967.jpg


One of their advertisements, from 1929 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/HarkersadvertfromCannyNewcastle1929.jpg


The Harker building, just built in 1868. The rest of Grainger Street, South of Newgate Street, still to be built . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Harkersbuiltin1868.jpg


The building (next to the TSB HQ / MileCastle Pub to be) that replaced it just over 100 years later in the early 1970s, called 'Maybrook House' . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Harkersreplacement1970s.jpg


PHOTOS - Courtesy of . .

NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL & CITY LIBRARIES - PHOTOSTREAM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/


ADVERT - Courtesy of . .

The BOOK . . . "Canny Newcastle" (1929 edition)

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Beatties.



Was that where Internacionale is now and it used to have a working model railway up above?

There used to be a shop on Blenheim Street called (simply) 'The Model Shop'. It was a small shop-front, but it was on three floors, I think.

You could get anything you wanted there, and I used to sell items in there, as well as buy them. Did anyone on here ever buy any (beautifully) hand-painted small metal 'Napoleonic Soldiers' (British and/or French troops) that I was selling there in the 1970s . . . ?

NO, you can't have your money back!!
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Remember my dad (and grandad) always going on about the Model Shop. They used to take me there loads of times. The aircraft hanging from the ceiling were brilliant. It was demolished to make way fir St James Boulevard, moving down opposite the CFL. I used it a lot then when I was into AFV models. Unfortunately they closed down a couple of years ago. Shame,

GBDT


This is the only photo of "The Model Shop" on Blenheim Street, that I can find. You can't really see much of it either, but as you look East along Blenheim Street, on the SIDE of the three-storey building that housed the Model Shop you can just see the big letters - EL SHOP . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/ModelShopBlenheimst.jpg

Bleinhem Street and the Model Shop.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5028944909_4c18acf3ba_b.jpg

Was that where Internacionale is now and it used to have a working model railway up above?

Beatties used to be in Pilgrim Street next to the old NEEB building

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/NEEB-TheLogo.jpg.

You can just make Beatties out on the left of this photo.

GBDT

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/5029538562_f3cb9bf0b0_b.jpg

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Re. the Model Shop.

Well done you chaps for finding those pictures, I was beginning to think I would never see it again. I spent many a happy Saturday morning in there with my brother. We used to save our pocket money and then walk from Gateshead to save a few more pennies. It must have been about 4d. each way then. We bought mostly car kits and aeroplanes but we spent hours looking at the things we would never be able to afford.

The 1868 Harker Building photo is absolutely fabulous!! The shacks of Grainger Street is truly old Newcastle! Are there any more photos in this set?

The 1868 Harker Building photo is absolutely fabulous!! The shacks of Grainger Street is truly old Newcastle! Are there any more photos in this set?


I have never seen another photo of Grainger Street in its "spectacularly" half-built state of 1868, unfortunately!!

But, there are lots of early Newcastle (City Centre particularly) photos, from 'around that era' on the website that I quoted (see below) . .


NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL & CITY LIBRARIES - PHOTOSTREAM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/

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Who remembers FARNONS?


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2728/4115029555_fc827ce9a8_o.jpg


A VERY much busier scene in Nun Street, in 1957 . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/FarnonsNunStreet1957.jpg


The queues for Farnons Sale, in 1958 . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Farnons1958.jpg


The store front in 1950, showing the (then) permanent slogan "Try Farnons First" . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/FarnonsOctober19501.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/FarnonsOctober1950.jpg


I have one of their plastic bags from the 1980s . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/FarnonsCarrierBag005.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/FarnonsCarrierBag001.jpg


Farnons, in 'party mood' on their 111th Birthday in 1978 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Farnons1978.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Farnons1978a.jpg


A personal memory of Farnons, described in the 2009 book, "Its My Life, 1960s Newcastle" . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Farnonsinthe1960s1.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Farnonsinthe1960s.jpg


Despite what is written above, I don't remember Farnons ever changing their "Try Farnons First" slogan, to "Try Farnons Last!"


Here is another view of the very "disjointed" mix-and-match set of shop frontages (the exact opposite of Nun Street) that constituted FARNONS on Newgate Street. The tall concrete building on the left of this photo, contains the main (Newgate Street) entrance.
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/FarnonsNewgateStreet.jpg


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My memories of Farnons.

Higgledy piggledy rooms, up a couple of steps then down a few, it felt like a bunch of houses knocked together.

Didn't they use air tubes to send and recieve money?

I seem to remember i closing quickly, something to do with the building being unsafe, or am i imagining it?

My memories of Farnons.

Higgledy piggledy rooms, up a couple of steps then down a few, it felt like a bunch of houses knocked together.

Didn't they use air tubes to send and recieve money?

I seem to remember i closing quickly, something to do with the building being unsafe, or am i imagining it?

After it closed, the building was gutted and the Nun Street facade retained, or rather it would have been retained if it hadn't collapsed into the street one night. What is there now is a replica. You may be thinking of that.

Animals in Newcastle.

Two of my earliest memories of being in the city centre are animal-based. I could have dreamt or imagined them, too....

1, Was there a pet shop close to Greys Monument late 60's / very early 70's? It could have been in the area knocked down near to the YMCA. What I remember about it is a Mynah Bird in the shop that was really chatty - but I can't remember what it said.

2, Was there some kind of indoor 'zoo' in the Bigg Market? If there was, then I guess I was taken there. If not......??

Anyone??

Also.... I remember going to see a big dead Whale on the back of a lorry in Exhibition Park.... what the hell was THAT all about??

Animals in Newcastle.

Two of my earliest memories of being in the city centre are animal-based. I could have dreamt or imagined them, too....


2, Was there some kind of indoor 'zoo' in the Bigg Market? If there was, then I guess I was taken there. If not......??

Anyone??

Also.... I remember going to see a big dead Whale on the back of a lorry in Exhibition Park.... what the hell was THAT all about??


There was an indoor zoo held in the old town hall, between Cloth and Groat Markets. Not sure what year but I'm certain that I went there!

GBDT

There's a poor quality video of the zoo here:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/videos-pictures/videos/2008/09/27/newcastle-winter-zoo-72703-21913112/

I can't pinpoint the date other than it was late 60s.

There's a poor quality video of the zoo here:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/videos-pictures/videos/2008/09/27/newcastle-winter-zoo-72703-21913112/

I can't pinpoint the date other than it was late 60s.

Yes, that's the one. It felt like viewing animals in a school hall!!

Animals in Newcastle.
1, Was there a pet shop close to Greys Monument late 60's / very early 70's? It could have been in the area knocked down near to the YMCA. What I remember about it is a Mynah Bird in the shop that was really chatty - but I can't remember what it said.


I've just spoken to my Dad, and it was Robinsons, on Clayton St. He reckons the bird spoke better English than him :lol:. They are still in business in The Grainger Market - shame on me for not knowing that!

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/212212821.html

I've just spoken to my Dad, and it was Robinsons, on Clayton St. He reckons the bird spoke better English than him :lol:. They are still in business in The Grainger Market - shame on me for not knowing that!

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/212212821.html


Yes, the Robinsons Pet Shop in Clayton Street was for many many years Newcastle's PREMIERE pet shop.

As a child I spent a lot of time in there, the pets were kept upstairs on the first floor.

We actually got a kitten from there when we first got married, but mainly I had taken kittens INTO there, as my parents had a male and female cat, and allowed them to have three litters before 'getting them done'!

A great shop, a big miss when it closed down (early 80s?) but there is always a clear reminder of it in the nearby Grainger Market. The small narrow branch of Robinsons is still there, in one corner of the market, and the 'signage' above the shop still looks quite reminiscent of what it looked like back in the 60s and 70s!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3531/4081088747_62ffee8906_o.jpg

My memories of Farnons.

Higgledy piggledy rooms, up a couple of steps then down a few, it felt like a bunch of houses knocked together.



Yes, that describes my memories of it perfectly!!!

My other main memory is that it was 'the place to go' for Net Curtains, which me and Mrs H did a fair few times when we first got married!

I remember Farnons. I used to get my school uniform from there. I found it wierd that it was in two different shops on both sides of Nun Street.

I still go into the Grainger Market, but I remember as a kid, dreading going to the town with my dad, who always used to go in there. I used to hate the Pigs heads in the Butchers shops. My dad found this hilarious as I'd close my eyes. He used to threaten to buy one and I'd be crying, pleading with him not to (I'm not a veggie by the way). This was only in the 80s, but I like the way the Grainger Market hasn't changed too much (though thankfully, I've not seen a pigs head for a while.)

Fenwicks still feels like a Newcastle institution to me. Aye, there's a few of them around, but ours is the original, proper one. Incidently, has anyone been to another branch of Fenwicks? I've been in the one in London. Very weird, because as I say I identify Fenwicks with Newcastle.

John Lewis will always be Bainbridges.

Moving away from the City Centre. Shields Road even in the 80s used to be a real shopping hub, with two big department stores, Parrishes and Beavans. When they went, Shields Road nosedived and has never recovered. It's sad to see it, the state it's in at the minute.

Moving away from the City Centre. Shields Road even in the 80s used to be a real shopping hub, with two big department stores, Parrishes and Beavans. When they went, Shields Road nosedived and has never recovered. It's sad to see it, the state it's in at the minute.


Shields road is dying on its feet, pubs closing one by one and very few shops of interest.

Asda opening a proper supermarket at the top end will kill it off.

Compare this with the (relatively) thriving west road, but then tescos will kill that.

^^^^

On the subject of Shields Road, 'Parrishes' was the biggest store on that road and it was a great shame when it closed.

J T Parrish, Department Store.
Shields Road,
Byker,
Newcastle upon Tyne 6.

This store, known as 'Parrishes', is the only non-City Centre Department Store in Newcastle, that I had any experience of, or have any photos of while it was still trading. I mention this, because in the same road (Shields Road) I have read references to a 'Beavans Dept Store', and indeed I have photos of the building as it is now, but I was never aware of it when it was 'trading' nor do I have any photos of it then, so I do not know for sure that it actually was a fully-fledged 'Department Store'.

When seen from above, you can see what a BIG store Parrishes was, even though the rear extension was only 'half built' by this date in 1964 (it eventually ran the full length of the store). In this photo, Shields Road is running along the bottom, and the street that can be seen leading off Shields Road down towards the river is actually Brinkburn Street, not 'Raby Street' as it says at the bottom of the photo. This latter info was obtained from discussions with 'maxtoon' . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/ParrishDepartmentStore001.jpg


Parrishes, in 1969 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/ParrishesDepartmentStore1969.jpg


A Newspaper Advertisement for Parrishes, from the 1970s . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/ParrishDeptStore1980advert-1.jpg


Parrishes in the 1970s, showing part of the ground floor let to 'Presto Supermarkets' (who were eventually to become Safeway). This view looks like it is of the modernised 'rear' of the shop, fronting onto Corbridge Street . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/ParrishDepartmentStore.jpg


A Newspaper Article from 1984, sadly describing the closure of Parrishes . . AFTER NEARLY 100 YEARS . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/ParrishDeptStorecloses1984-1-1.jpg


All of the above has been included (in different posts) on the 'Department Stores' thread . . . but is very relevant to this thead also!

.

^^^^

.... because in the same road (Shields Road) I have read references to a 'Beavans Dept Store', and indeed I have photos of the building as it is now, but I was never aware of it when it was 'trading' nor do I have any photos of it then, so I do not know for sure that it actually was a fully-fledged 'Department Store'..

This is Beavans Store in Shields Road. No date with the file but as you can see from the traffic or lack of it, and the types of vehicles it was some time ago.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/5090916403_c43fe603a0_b.jpg


From Newcastle City Council, P&T Image Archive.

GBDT

JT Parrish used to have a fantastic record department. I spent a small fortune in there. I've still got most of them too.

.

2 - T & G Allan Ltd.

[I]This was a large stationers/bookshop, for many years, on Blackett Street, not far from Grey's Monument, roughly where Boots was for a while, in Monument Mall. It was a great shop, on three floors, where I used to spend a lot of time. It was very similar to a large 'John Menzies' or 'W H Smith', today. In fact, the premises were taken over in the late 1970s, when T & G Allan closed their Blackett Street shop to downsize their business, by John Menzies, before the entire building was knocked down and re-developed to become part of Monument Mall. IMG]

T&G Allan's in Blackett Street.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1353/5108481609_ca5f7570ae_b.jpg

Taken over by John Menzies
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1133/5108483613_4b08d15bec_b.jpg

All photos from P&T Image Archive, NCC.

GBDT

.
Woolworths in Newcastle.

At one point, up until the mid 1970s, there used to be FOUR branches of Woolworths in Newcastle :


1 - Northumberland Street.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Woolworths-4inNewcastle2.jpg


2 - High Street, Gosforth.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Woolworths-4inNewcastle4.jpg
An old, long-established, branch - but a fairly recent photo (with closure imminent)


3 - Clayton Street.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Woolworths-4inNewcastle1.jpg
Photo actually taken on its LAST day of trading - 27th December 2008.


. . . and finally, the branch that no-one seemed ever to be able to find a photo of . . . I 'stumbled across' this one, today . . .


4 - Shields Road, Byker.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Woolworths-4inNewcastle3.jpg


Long afterwards . . . after Shields Road and Northumberland Street had long gone (and Gosforth High Street and Clayton Street were not far off going) we did actually acquire a "new" branch of Woolworths in Newcastle, at 'Newcastle Shopping Park', also in the Byker area.

It didn't last very long though, and (of course) now ALL branches of Woollies are gone!

.

Following on from the above post about Woolworths stores in Newcastle, there was also one on Elswick Road, in Benwell.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a249/johnson293/woolworths_benwell_1969.jpg

Photograph from 'Along the Terrace'

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/05/28/finding-old-woolworths-stores-in-unlikely-places-courtesy-of-the-new-bond/

This isn't the best picture of the store (far left), but was taken in 1969. The building was previously the 'Adelaide Cinema' from 1910-1943, and still stands today, but is now a discount autoparts store.

MJ

Yes, Graham Soult has just been on to me to tell me that I had missed that one!

Good spot.

I didn't realise that photo was of Elswick Road, which I know 'changes to' Adelaide Terrace, as you travel Westwards along it. I used to live along Elswick Road in the 1960s as well, but I don't remember that branch at all, but I was only very young!

Graham tells me that there was also a branch in North Kenton!! (but he hasn't tracked its whereabouts down yet)

.

I wonder if anyone has noticed a (very) strange coincidence that has just happened over the previous few posts on this thread?

1 - In 'Post 46' I mention that I have finally found a photograph of the Shields Road Woolworth store. I am aware that (as well as myself) a number of other people have been looking for a photo of that store (including Graham Soult on his Retail Blog) for quite a long time.

2 - I just found it by accident, today, while reading through a book for a totally different reason, not connected with 'Woolworths' at all.

3 - Then (a few minutes ago) I happen to look back a further few posts on this thread, to 'Post 43', by GBDT, and there is another version of the same photo, that I had NOT noticed (until now) had the "long missing" Shields Road Woolworths on it. It was just sitting there, in a totally unconnected post, about Beavans

4 - To me, that is VERY WEIRD !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Newcastle Historian;

Graham tells me that there was also a branch in North Kenton!! (but he hasn't tracked its whereabouts down yet)


I'm sure that there was a Woolies in the Arndale Shopping Centre in North Kenton (Halewood Ace/Kirkwood Ave).

GBDT

.

There was also a Woolworths in Wallsend....

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en-GB&q=Wallsend&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Wallsend,+Tyne+And+Wear,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ei=65TGTIWKKtOA5AbfoN3dDw&ved=0CBkQ8gEwAA&ll=54.990246,-1.532099&spn=0,0.016544&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=54.991201,-1.533282&panoid=nEYQpueCGUkjGYFO4XtPSg&cbp=12,173.19,,0,-5.04

There was also a Woolworths in Wallsend...
I bought my first single in there - Too Much Too Young, by The Specials :colgate:

If we're spreading out a bit - don't forget North Shields & Whitley Bay

Hi I hope this is in the right thread,

Were there once 3 floors; that being Ground to 2, in Eldon Garden? This photo looks as if that was once so,


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/4087563810_960c448e9d_o.jpg

Hi I hope this is in the right thread,

Were there once 3 floors; that being Ground to 2, in Eldon Garden? This photo looks as if that was once so, http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4087563810/

Yes, the ground floor opening onto Percy Street was never popular with tenants. There was a health food shop, a small boutique and a cafe ('Le Chat Noir' iirc). The retail units were then removed and the area became a pub called the 'Filament and Firkin'. This closed and the entire floor was knocked into one to become an Irish themed pub, with all connections to the upper floors removed. It is now 'The Goose'.

.
Yes, and here are a few items from the year ELDON GARDEN opened, in 1989, with some good views of the 'three floors', plus the original floor-plan . . .


From the Evening Chronicle of Monday 20th March 1989, the night before Eldon Garden opened, showing the three floors . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/EldonGardens19891.jpg


Showing the great "Handyside Arcade" Roof Trusses, in all their glory (Handyside Arcade was on the same site where EG was built) . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/EldonGardens19892.jpg


A good shot of the three floors, from the 'Official Opening' on Friday 17th November 1989 . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/EldonGardenOfficialOpeningNov893.jpg


Another view of the three floors, from the original 'brochure' when Eldon Garden first opened . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/EldonGardens19893.jpg


Finally - the original three-floor 'floorplan' and list of stores . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/EldonGardens19894.jpg

.

.
If we're spreading out a bit - don't forget North Shields & Whitley Bay

Well, it did start out as 'my memories' about the four original Woolworths branches in Newcastle, as I thought! Then I remembered the new short-lived one at Newcastle Shopping Park.

Then Graham Soult told me about one in Kenton (though he didn't know where it had been) and GBDT reckons it was in the 'Arndale Shopping Centre' in Kenton, though we haven't seen a photo (yet!). Then, both Graham Soult and johnson293 told me about the one that used to be in Benwell.

So, that takes the Newcastle total, from my original FOUR up to SEVEN. Anyone know any more?

Then, we moved out of Newcastle with Wallsend, North Shields and Whitley Bay!

I wonder if we can come up with the 'complete list' of former Woollies in the area covered by our forum (Newcastle, Northumberland, Gateshead, South Tyneside and North Tyneside)?

Not to mention, a few more PHOTOS!!!

.

I wonder if we can come up with the 'complete list' of former Woollies in the area covered by our forum (Newcastle, Northumberland, Gateshead, South Tyneside and North Tyneside)?

Well, here's a list of all the ones I know about in the North East, to be going on with!

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/05/31/logging-the-north-easts-long-closed-former-woolies/

There were 33 at the time of Woolies' collapse, but another 19 historic ones that I know about to date. I've blogged about most of them individually, but haven't posted anything about the Felling one yet, which I visited back in June. Here's a photo:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/woolworths_felling_graham_soult1.jpg

There's a reference to the store in this Chronicle article (http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/evening-chronicle-news/2008/12/15/economic-gloom-bites-on-felling-high-street-72703-22479083/) about Felling High Street, but I'm not sure when it opened or closed.

Well, here's a list of all the ones I know about in the North East, to be going on with!

Here's a photo of the Gateshead Woolies. You can just make it out on the right hand side of the street. (P&T Image Archive, Newcastle CC)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/5121995214_1062604722_b.jpg

Cheers,
GBDT

I'm sure that there was a Woolies in the Arndale Shopping Centre in North Kenton (Halewood Ace/Kirkwood Ave).

GBDT

.

Yes that's right George, but it closed 30-40 yrs back

Yes that's right George, but it closed 30-40 yrs back

That'll be right then. My family moved from Westgate Road area to Montagu Estate in 1966. i remember it then.

GBDT

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/former_woolworths_byker_shields_road_graham_soult.jpg

I've just blogged about all I know of the Byker Woolies store that we've been talking about (recent photo above):

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/10/29/piecing-together-the-history-of-shields-roads-old-woolies/

Interestingly, we have a closing date (1 June 1985), as well as an opening date to within a month or two (August or September 1927)!

^^

Yes, 1984 / 1985 was a bad time for Shields Road, with Parrishes Department Store and then Woolworths, both closing down within about a twelve month period.

Still can't believe how two copies of that 'long lost' photo of Byker Woolies, turn up independently, within days of eachother!!

Graham Soult, (or anyone else who can help)

as you are our local Woolies expert could you please help me to identify where this photo is taken? Some people think it may be Morpeth's Woolies.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Pictures-Of-Newcastles-WEST-END-categorized/150729531607278?ref=nf#!/photo.php?fbid=173051756041722&set=a.173054609374770.45070.150729531607278

Cheers
GBDT

Graham Soult, (or anyone else who can help)

as you are our local Woolies expert could you please help me to identify where this photo is taken? Some people think it may be Morpeth's Woolies.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Pictures-Of-Newcastles-WEST-END-categorized/150729531607278?ref=nf#!/photo.php?fbid=173051756041722&set=a.173054609374770.45070.150729531607278

Cheers
GBDT

Hmmm! I'm, pretty sure it's not Morpeth, but nor does it look like any of the others in the North East either.

I shall dig around and see if I can find an answer :)

It doesn't look like Morpeth to me either.

S Gibson has either 'Scotsman' (as in the newspaper) or 'Seedsman' to the left of his name. If the former, that implies we're somewhere north of the border.

Dumfries, perhaps?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballysundriven/4675377397/

Dumfries, perhaps?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballysundriven/4675377397/

(Your image link is to Galashiels!)

Dumfries is on the right track, but still not quite right:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/woolworths_dumfries_graham_soult2.jpg

Source: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/01/04/woolies-winter-wonderland/

Hmmm! I'm, pretty sure it's not Morpeth, but nor does it look like any of the others in the North East either.

I reckon it's Richmond, Yorkshire:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/richmond_market_place_graham_soult.jpg

The evidence is set out in my response to the Facebook thread!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=173051756041722&set=a.173054609374770.45070.150729531607278

I reckon it's Richmond, Yorkshire:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/richmond_market_place_graham_soult.jpg

The evidence is set out in my response to the Facebook thread!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=173051756041722&set=a.173054609374770.45070.150729531607278


Excellent detective work Graham!

So, still in the North East then, at Richmond, North Yorkshire (just!)

Excellent detective work Graham!

So, still in the North East then, at Richmond, North Yorkshire (just!)

Funnily enough, Richmond is one of the Woolies stores I visited earlier in the year but haven't got round to blogging about yet - because it's not strictly in the North East. I think this has given me a prompt though!

Below is the more recent Richmond Woolworths that - we now know - replaced the mysterious one in the photo on Facebook:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/woolworths_richmond_graham_soult.jpg

This is the new 'Polish' food place called pierogis, where O'Brien's recently used to be on "Seymours Corner" (see the small metal plaque on the building, shown below) on the corner of Market Street and Pilgrim Street.

PHOTOS courtesy of - http://www.facebook.com/pierogiplace


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs923.snc4/73657_10150291228065058_698055057_15219213_1328263_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs469.ash2/74223_10150291227910058_698055057_15219206_3475403_n.jpg

.

Or Stan Seymour's as it was in my day:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/stanseymour.jpg

Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/

Or Stan Seymour's as it was in my day:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/stanseymour.jpg

Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/

And in my days!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/5150283804_cc6b68d820_z.jpg

Photo from P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers

GBDT

I'm sure that there was a Woolies in the Arndale Shopping Centre in North Kenton (Halewood Ace/Kirkwood Ave).

I'm trying to pinpoint the location of the old Woolies in North Kenton's Arndale Centre, so that I can pop over there and get a photo to add to the collection.

From what someone else told me, I believe it was where the Nisa store is today:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=newcastle+montagu+avenue&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Montagu+Ave,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE3,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ei=bAHYTMr3GZHQjAeKg7TlCQ&ved=0CBUQ8gEwAA&ll=55.006321,-1.652241&spn=0,0.038409&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=55.006133,-1.65221&panoid=PKseGVhMzqeV5K9bvibsng&cbp=12,297.65,,0,-1.23

This echoes my hunch, which is that Woolies would have occupied the section that is set forward from the main parade - looking at other 50s shopping parades, my impression is that Woolworths tended to occupy the most prominent spot in such developments.

See, for example, the former Woolies in New Washington (Concord) - also an Arndale Centre - which opened in 1959:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/woolworths_new_washington_concord_graham_soult2.jpg

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/06/22/the-ghosts-of-washingtons-former-woolworths/

Any more insights welcome! :)

This is the new 'Polish' food place called pierogis, where O'Brien's recently used to be on "Seymours Corner" (see the small metal plaque on the building, shown below) on the corner of Market Street and Pilgrim Street.

PHOTOS courtesy of - http://www.facebook.com/pierogiplace


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs923.snc4/73657_10150291228065058_698055057_15219213_1328263_n.jpg

[.

I can understand why it's called 'Seymour's Corner' - i.e. there used to be a shop called Seymour's there.

But why has the 'Seymour' name been retained? There are a lot of corners in Newcastle city centre, and they are not named after all of the shops that used to be there.

What is the significance of Seymour's?

Deebex, just Google Stan Seymour.

I have searched but can't find a picture of the Felling Woolworths on here or Graham Soult's site but I came across this:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/fellingwoolworths.jpg

It was on this site:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?o.109492039068917

My apologies if it has already been posted.

I have searched but can't find a picture of the Felling Woolworths on here or Graham Soult's site but I came across this:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/fellingwoolworths.jpg

It was on this site:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?o.109492039068917

My apologies if it has already been posted.

That's a great find - well done!

I did post a picture of the store as it is today a couple of pages ago, but this is the first time I've seen a photo of it as it was then.

For comparison, here's today's view again (from almost the same position):

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/woolworths_felling_graham_soult1.jpg

I hate to think what anyone was thinking by blocking up the upstairs windows - it looks truly dreadful.

Bainbridge's employees killed in Great War remembered in new book
November 13th 2010, by Ruth Lawson, The Journal

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/nejournal/nov2010/0/1/john-lewis-ian-johnson-bainbridge-our-fallen-heroes-946331285.jpg

FALLEN heroes from a historic Newcastle Department Store have been honoured in a new book.

John Lewis employee Ian Johnson traced the history of former workers of the store, formerly known as Bainbridge’s, who fought in World War One.

The 50-year-old, who has worked as a selling assistant at the store for 33 years, was intrigued by the Bainbridge & Co World War One memorial that stands in the management corridor at the store.

And two years ago he delved into the archives to try and discover more about the 27 men listed on the memorial.

Mr Johnson, from Crawcrook, Gateshead, said: “I started researching just after Armistice Day in 2008 because it got me thinking about the memorial and all the men, and I only finished about two or three months ago.” He added: “When you start researching these kind of things it just seems to unravel lots of things.

“There’s some heartbreaking stories that I’ve heard about men and their families.

“Some of the men were only married a few months then they went off to war.”

Mr Johnson, who is married to Pauline, discovered that the Bainbridge employees fought in most of the major battles of World War One including Ypres, Somme, Arras, Passchendaele and the ferocious German Spring Offensive of 1918. Only one lived long enough to see final victory.

The book, titled Bainbridge, Our Fallen Heroes 1914-1919, reveals moving stories and pictures of the 27 men, who all worked at Bainbridge’s before going to the battle fields serving in the first Pals Battalion raised on Tyneside.


Read More - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2010/11/13/bainbridge-s-employees-killed-in-great-war-remembered-in-new-book-61634-27650934/#ixzz159d8aGhs

.
How are the mighty fallen . . .

I have just come across this photo of how the famous Parrishes Department Store building, on Shields Road, is recently being used . . .


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7RHCfp3u8s/RmUf8CnGMlI/AAAAAAAAAa4/IVzk3QH0r2U/s1600/07-05-31%2BShields%2BRoad%2B(6)r.jpg
Photo courtesy of the PHOTOGRAPHS OF NEWCASTLE Website : http://newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/2007/06/shields-road.html

Sad, NH, but at least it's still there! (and the excellent Beavan's building over the road has been saved). And the way that the 60s building to the rear has been grafted on is surprisingly sympathetic IMO.

I've an idea - perhaps from old newspaper ads - that Parrishes and Beavans were one company at some point. Can you yea or nea that?

Sad, NH, but at least it's still there! (and the excellent Beavan's building over the road has been saved). And the way that the 60s building to the rear has been grafted on is surprisingly sympathetic IMO.

I've an idea - perhaps from old newspaper ads - that Parrishes and Beavans were one company at some point. Can you yea or nea that?


Yes, the Beavans building is still there, as you say . . .

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7RHCfp3u8s/SpgaReqCvSI/AAAAAAAAFl8/h_EtGAs01oU/s1600/09-08-08%2BShields%2BRoad%2B(8)r.jpg
Photo courtesy of the PHOTOGRAPHS OF NEWCASTLE Website : http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7RHCfp3u8s/SpgaReqCvSI/AAAAAAAAFl8/h_EtGAs01oU/s1600/09-08-08%2BShields%2BRoad%2B(8)r.jpg


Parrishes and Beavans as one company?

Well, I've not heard that before, but (as you say) if they ever were, there would be either 'joint adverts' or 'very similar/identical looking' adverts around, from the period in question.


Here are some from November 1952 . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/November1952AdvertsfromTheJournal5.jpghttp://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/November1952AdvertsfromTheJournal1.jpg


Those are similar, but no clues as to joint ownership, I don't think?

I will have a further look around though, you never know . . .

Hope you like the 'Beavans' photo!

.

It's a excellent photo! And shows very well the low level frontage of the building, which I read was because the Riverside Branch Tunnel ran directly below, so it couldn't take the weight of a full height building.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m7RHCfp3u8s/SpgaReqCvSI/AAAAAAAAFl8/h_EtGAs01oU/s1600/09-08-08%2BShields%2BRoad%2B(8)r.jpg

Not sure if that is fact or urban myth, though.

.

It's a excellent photo! And shows very well the low level frontage of the building, which I read was because the Riverside Branch ran in a tunnel below and couldn't take the weight of a full height building. Not sure if that is fact or urban myth, though.

You may be right WilfBurnsfan. As can be seen from the 1942 map extract there is/was a tunnel running from the main line to the riverside branch line. Beavans is just over the top of it.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1306/5187647718_8815ef3a0a_b.jpg

Cheers
GBDT

.
Two Newcastle shop interiors "as they used to be".

Although these are both from about 100 years ago, this "style" of shop interior lasted well through the first two thirds of the 20th Century (certainly in the case of the TOP photo) though they became increasingly rare (almost extinct) by the 1960s.


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/26thNov20104.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/26thNov20105.jpg


Both photos are from the book - 'Shops and Shopping' (Gone but not forgotten 7) - published in 1986 by Newcastle City Libraries

Deebex, just Google Stan Seymour.

Cheers Alf. Just done that, and I am now fully informed as to who Stan Seymour was.

He obviously deserves the steel plaque (and ideally it should be carved in the stonework).

But I am a bit ashamed that I've never previously been aware of a person who obviously deserves a tribute like that. I just hope the steel plate doesn't disappear when the shop front is refurbished.

COPIED OVER FROM THE GENERAL KNOWLEDGE THREAD . . .

.
Well, this is the 4th (and last) of my questions for today. The snow has let up (though its still there) and I'm thinking of going to the pub, if anyone else is gonna be there!

But, in the meantime . . . In the fist half of the last century, there were lots and lots of cinemas in Newcastle, in most of the suburbs as well as all over the City Centre.

Where exactly (on what street) was the cinema called The Newcastle Picture House?

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/Wherewasthiscinema.jpg



Top of Grey Street, where HSBC is now (and what a shame that banks and building societies have spread like a rash over the city centre).


Correct Wilf,

and here is the proof . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/4083341477_cbbaf7d42c_o.jpg


Mind you, what I remember this building as being (mostly) is the large furniture store (where we nearly bought loads of stuff when we first got married, but actually didn't buy anything!) called Broadloom Mills . . .


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BroadloomMills.jpg

.

.
In 1975, this was the newly built "box to sell things in" for C&A (major occupier) and BHS (British Home Stores / minor occupier).

The C&A area is now Primark.


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/CA-Jan19751.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/CA-Jan19752.jpg
This new building had opened the previous November - November 1974.

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We talked about Binns Department Store a fair bit on the 'Department Stores' thread, but if EVER there was a name that fulfills the "Retail Memories" title throughout North East England, then Binns is it!

You don't even have to look at photos of any of their stores, you just have to look at old photos of the backs of almost EVERY bus!


"Shop at Binns" . . .


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/BinnsonthebackofALLbuses.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/2421875040_257518f37a.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/4077606334_a2f5ecdfb1_o.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/3184154789_847887db6c.jpg


and even back in the days of the TRAMS, it was the same . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/3831169902_37274437ed.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/YesterdaysWorld3.jpg

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We talked about Binns Department Store a fair bit on the 'Department Stores' thread, but if EVER there was a name that fulfills the "Retail Memories" title throughout North East England, then Binns is it!

Very true, and great images!

The Binns in Hartlepool closed in the 1990s, and is now Wilkinson. Even now, however, you can still see the outline of the familiar Binns logo on the side of the building - the kind of retail detail that I always enjoy!

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/binns_logo_hartlepool_graham_soult.jpg

Source: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/12/06/why-does-stockton-have-so-many-empty-shops-bbc1-tonight-at-7-30-might-have-some-answers/

Courtesy of Maxtoon, on another thread - another GREAT "Shop at Binns" photo . . .


http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx74/toonlegend/normalStationNorthEnd1950.jpg

I also find it strange that they haven't updated this part of the centre. I think this is a sign that they may be planning to do something with it sooner rather than later. Also I don't know if people can remember but someone from CSC mentioned this part of the centre being developed next. They said that not long after St Andrews Way opened. I also read a news article not long ago stating CSC were looking to expand/redevelop even more throughout their centres.


I can remember the "excitement" of looking through a narrow gap in the builders hoardings, in front of the Grey's Monument entrance to ES, just before it opened in March 1976.

I couldn't believe we were getting anything so 'modern looking' and so beautiful and new, right here in our own City Centre!!

When looking through the gap, I caught my first amazing glimpse of the new water feature (long gone now) that stretched from the ground floor to the first floor, there, just in front of the brand new huge 'W H Smith' store.

This is what I saw, I'll never forget it!!!

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/SidgateentrancetoESatMonument-March1976.jpg

How times have changed!

I totally agree that the Sidgate/High Friars area of Eldon Square is very much in need of modernisation now though. In many ways, it lets the rest of Eldon Square down.

This is what I saw, I'll never forget it!!!

Wow! That's quite impressive. Do you know why it was removed?

I also remember the one where the stairs are now, just outside John Lewis.

Apparently there was a cafe up the statue thing, can anyone confirm that, or was it just tales?. I did see people go up there once or twice.

Yup the 'flying saucer' cafe only shut for the redevelopments, was one of the coffee shops on the 1st floor in John Lewis. At my ripe old age of 24 I remember it all vividly, so it can only be 4/5 years since it shut!

The spiral staircase in the middle was a fire escape down from the top, its access forming a break in the pools so it wasn't a fully 360 pool. They used to board over the water to put all the decorations and moving bears etc at Christmas.

Wow! That's quite impressive. Do you know why it was removed?


It was a quite spectacular feature, with the water travelling up and down in many transparant tubes, as shown in the photo.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/SidgateentrancetoESatMonument-March1976.jpg

Graham - It was removed so that the current staircase could be built. Prior to that (as far as I can remember) you used the stairs within W H Smith, or walked along to the escalator halfway along High Friars (the upstairs mall) at the end of Sidgate (the downstairs mall) where the exit to Clayton Street is and where Bimbi's Restaurant was latterly, downstairs, until recently.

I also remember the one where the stairs are now, just outside John Lewis. Apparently there was a cafe up the statue thing, can anyone confirm that, or was it just tales?. I did see people go up there once or twice.

Chris, do you mean the 'Mushroom Cafe', which was actually part of Bainbridges (now called John Lewis) Department Store?

It has only recently been removed to make way for the new St George's Way Mall that replaced the Eldon Square Bus Concourse, underneath it.

Shown here . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/SUNKENSittingAreas.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BainbridgeJohnLewiscafe1.jpg

The top photo (above) of Bainbridges 'mushroom' Restaurant was taken in the late 1970s, with the lower of the two being actually taken in 1980 ('Newcastle 900' year) while the photo BELOW is much more recent as you can see the roof above it has been completely opened out to allow natural light to come in . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BainbridgeJohnLewiscafe2.jpg

As I say Chris, I'm not certain if this is where you mean or not?

The mushroom cafe is (was!!) the very symbol of Eldon Square. Even now, I cannot believe it is not still there, it is almost akin to losing the Tyne Bridge or Grey's Monument, it was such a permanent symbol of the place!!

Chris, I apologise if I got the wrong place, but I have enjoyed finding the photos of the Bainbridges/John Lewis Restaurant, anyway!!

Yes thats what I was on about, and I do remember the decorations at Xmas being there.

It's a shame nothing iconic was put in ESS.

Thanks for the information guys.

The Mushroom was still here until relatively recently wasn't it? I'm pretty sure it was here when I got to Newcastle...

The Mushroom was still here until relatively recently wasn't it? I'm pretty sure it was here when I got to Newcastle...I think it was gone for about a year or so before the new ES bus station opened, which was 2007. So that means it would have went in 2006 or around that time.

The Mushroom was still here until relatively recently wasn't it? I'm pretty sure it was here when I got to Newcastle...


Yes, it was very recently removed, to build the St Georges Way Mall underneath, which replaced the Eldon Square Bus Concourse.

There's some good quality Eldon Square photos in the Newcastle Libraries photostream on Flickr, including this one of the brilliant water feature at the base of the 'Mushroom'.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2664/4084131974_07f485706a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4084131974/)
052056:Eldon Square Shopping Centre Newcastle upon Tyne City Engineers 1976 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4084131974/) by Newcastle Libraries (http://www.flickr.com/people/newcastlelibraries/), on Flickr

My God NH, those pics of Chevy Chase look like some B-movie set of what the future looked like in 1950! I can honestly say I dont remember the bog-roll tube lighting effect, but those wire swans were quite elegant the way they arced up to the ceiling. Also a very nice 3D frieze of the city skyline in shot above Bainbridges.

With the removal of all the above, along with the much missed 'Pencils' sculpture (now EG main entrance) and the aforementioned water-feature, it seems a shame the current ES has no public art feature. Be nice to see something to break up the monotony, aside from the animatronic christmas bear of course...

^^ I often talk about this to people, about how shopping centres (both ES and MC) seemed to be built with real vision and creativity, but over time they have lost all of their flair.

When I think back to the early MC, it has the Roman Forum, Antique Village and Mediterranean Village, with Metroland, fountains in all the big squares and some other great features. Over time its all been disappearing which is a shame.

When the Metrocentre first opened the only special area it had was the Antique Village I believe. The Roman Forum and the Mediterranean Village came later, about 88/89 iirc.

I remember the area where the MV was going to be having boards up with murals of people on them before it was made and I'm not sure whether it was further along there (where Cafe Rouge etc are now) or where the Roman Forum is now that there was a big Curries. Maybe someone can put me straight on that. Even the Roman Forum has changed as originally it had a section in the middle and you could walk all around it in a circle (like a Forum durrr, it's going against the sodding Trades Description act now as it is!) but it seems one half of that was used up with the cafe and probably stock rooms sigh.

I think there's been some sad losses in the MC too like you said it seems to be falling into blandness, remember the old Town Square right in the middle with the different layers of greenery and the water features, the clock and the hot air balloons? If you can't remember have a look at Stormy Monday, Melanie Griffiths is shopping around there and goes into House Of Fraser where the guy is playing the piano (another nice little extra touch now gone).

Also on the subject of the MC can anyone remember the Sears store that was a bit further up from WHSmiths? It had a weird little raised floor bit in the middle like a mezzanine. Plus can anyone remember the Star of Siam Thai restaurant that was not far from Burger King on the top floor in the direction of the old cinema? (opposite Poundland but a little further down, exactly where is open to debate) Also the gym that was where Wetherspoons is now and then it moved to where the big sports shop is now next to Burger King, upstairs from the pet store that actually had puppies and kittens in the windows :ohno:

Can you remember the bar/restaurant that was where Wetherspoons is now? I think it was called Shanghai something, I might be wrong. And of course Harveys the two floor bar and club that was where KFC and Nandos are now (the ground floor became an Irish themed bar for a while). And going right back to when the AMC multiplex opened I can remember a little shop on the right hand side when facing the cinema that sold postcards and badges etc of films and popstars, oh and a place you could get drinks and hotdogs from opposite that before Pizza Hut extended back.

Ahhh memories.....

And don't get me started on Metroland.. still pissed at that :bash:

New cinema is nice though but TK Maxx in the old one???? :ohno:

F

When I think back to the early MC, it has the Roman Forum, Antique Village and Mediterranean Village, with Metroland, fountains in all the big squares and some other great features. Over time its all been disappearing which is a shame.

Have they all gone? I knew about Metroland but not the others. They provided enjoyably kitsch moments in the otherwise suffocating ghastliness of the MetroCentre (you can probably guess I don't go there much)

I think there's been some sad losses in the MC too like you said it seems to be falling into blandness, remember the old Town Square right in the middle with the different layers of greenery and the water features, the clock and the hot air balloons? If you can't remember have a look at Stormy Monday, Melanie Griffiths is shopping around there and goes into House Of Fraser where the guy is playing the piano (another nice little extra touch now gone).

Funnily enough, I've recently been thinking very similar thoughts about MetroCentre, prompted by these old postcards that I recently dug out:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/metrocentre_1980s_postcard1.jpg

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/metrocentre_1980s_postcard2.jpg

I bought these when I visited with my parents in 1989 (aged 15) - long before I moved to the North East or became a retail enthusiast!

However, I remember then how MetroCentre felt like nowhere else I'd ever been, with all the themed areas, greenery and street entertainment - I remember some kind of flamenco dancing going on, probably in the Mediterranean Village.

I know the themed parts that are left look rather dated these days, but overall I rather miss the whole sense of theatre. MetroCentre today is functional but ultimately rather dull and soulless, which is a shame.

And by way of comparison, this is how it looks these days!

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/woolworths_metrocentre_graham_soult.jpg

Pic from October 2009. Source: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2009/10/05/some-observations-from-visiting-metrocentre-today/

Funnily enough, I've recently been thinking very similar thoughts about MetroCentre, prompted by these old postcards that I recently dug out:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/metrocentre_1980s_postcard1.jpg

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/metrocentre_1980s_postcard2.jpg

I bought these when I visited with my parents in 1989 (aged 15) - long before I moved to the North East or became a retail enthusiast!

However, I remember then how MetroCentre felt like nowhere else I'd ever been, with all the themed areas, greenery and street entertainment - I remember some kind of flamenco dancing going on, probably in the Mediterranean Village.

I know the themed parts that are left look rather dated these days, but overall I rather miss the whole sense of theatre. MetroCentre today is functional but ultimately rather dull and soulless, which is a shame.



Brilliant pics, good you had those postcards because it is infuriatingly hard to find pics like that online.

And I gotta ask - what the hell was Sherrat and Hughes????

Funny also to think back then the Metrocentre was owned by the church!

F

Have they all gone? I knew about Metroland but not the others. They provided enjoyably kitsch moments in the otherwise suffocating ghastliness of the MetroCentre (you can probably guess I don't go there much)


Antique Village is still there but the Roman Forum and the Med Village are now half of what they used to be (see my previous post about the Roman Forum). The Med Village is now just the first bit with the restaurants, although they have given it a cinema/movies theme now which doesn't work to be honest although I like the Harold Lloyd Human Fly reference, the bit that had the water feature with the map in the water is now gone, the water feature with it, shame.

I noticed recently that they've even taken the little bridge and stream from just outside Argos and now it's just like the main Town Square, flat and featureless.

They really don't have a clue do they? :ohno:

F

p.s. I wonder if the level of the Town Square being raised has given more credence to the persistent urban myth that they have to constantly pump concrete under the Town Square to stop subsidence?

Funnily enough, I've recently been thinking very similar thoughts about MetroCentre, prompted by these old postcards that I recently dug out:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/metrocentre_1980s_postcard1.jpg

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/metrocentre_1980s_postcard2.jpg

I bought these when I visited with my parents in 1989 (aged 15) - long before I moved to the North East or became a retail enthusiast!

However, I remember then how MetroCentre felt like nowhere else I'd ever been, with all the themed areas, greenery and street entertainment - I remember some kind of flamenco dancing going on, probably in the Mediterranean Village.

I know the themed parts that are left look rather dated these days, but overall I rather miss the whole sense of theatre. MetroCentre today is functional but ultimately rather dull and soulless, which is a shame.



Interesting fact: If I've got the location of the Town Square pic right you should have the location of the other pic (yellow mall) to your left. If you walk that way keeping left on the top floor you'll very soon come to a long stretch of those mirrored doors (when it first opened I thought they were bits that hadn't had shops opened in them yet, I didn't realise they were for staff :nuts:). If you go through those doors, if you're allowed! and you walked and walked and walked you'd come out near the Gala bingo building near Asda, or thereabouts. It's a safety corridor in case of fire/bomb whatever. Never been down it myself, even when I worked there, shame.

F

And I gotta ask - what the hell was Sherrat and Hughes????

Apparently it was a bookshop owned by WHSmith:
http://www.whsmithplc.co.uk/about_whsmith/history_of_whsmith/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowes_%26_Bowes

I have no recollection of it though!

'The Church' still do own (a chunk of) it!

Apparently it was a bookshop owned by WHSmith:
http://www.whsmithplc.co.uk/about_whsmith/history_of_whsmith/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowes_%26_Bowes

I have no recollection of it though!

Funnily enough when I thought about it a bit more I think I may have remembered it but hardly went in it. I think it was in the exact same place as Waterstones is now but only on one floor.

Can you remember the Athena that was next to Gap? I used to love that place - books, posters, records and videos if I recall. I think it went far before the Athena in ES, changed into a suit shop which then expanded.

F

It was a quite spectacular feature, with the water travelling up and down in many transparant tubes, as shown in the photo.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/SidgateentrancetoESatMonument-March1976.jpg

Graham - It was removed so that the current staircase could be built. Prior to that (as far as I can remember) you used the stairs within W H Smith, or walked along to the escalator halfway along High Friars (the upstairs mall) at the end of Sidgate (the downstairs mall) where the exit to Clayton Street is and where Bimbi's Restaurant was latterly, downstairs, until recently.



Chris, do you mean the 'Mushroom Cafe', which was actually part of Bainbridges (now called John Lewis) Department Store?

It has only recently been removed to make way for the new St George's Way Mall that replaced the Eldon Square Bus Concourse, underneath it.

Shown here . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/SUNKENSittingAreas.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BainbridgeJohnLewiscafe1.jpg

The top photo (above) of Bainbridges 'mushroom' Restaurant was taken in the late 1970s, with the lower of the two being actually taken in 1980 ('Newcastle 900' year) while the photo BELOW is much more recent as you can see the roof above it has been completely opened out to allow natural light to come in . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BainbridgeJohnLewiscafe2.jpg

As I say Chris, I'm not certain if this is where you mean or not?

The mushroom cafe is (was!!) the very symbol of Eldon Square. Even now, I cannot believe it is not still there, it is almost akin to losing the Tyne Bridge or Grey's Monument, it was such a permanent symbol of the place!!

Chris, I apologise if I got the wrong place, but I have enjoyed finding the photos of the Bainbridges/John Lewis Restaurant, anyway!!


What goes on inside the brains of these people on boards that make decisions like this? Couldn't they have done something else with it, surely they realised what an iconic part of ES it was? :ohno:

They could've at least offered it to someone like the Discovery museum, imagine that standing in there in the 70s shopping part of the museum it would have been amazing :banana:

Maybe if we had have saved iconic parts of ES and the like at the time we could've had a 70s shopping style Beamish! Imagine that :nuts:

Seriously though do they ever think of donating, selling or relocating things like that? How about those Pencils in ES? Where did they go? Don't tell me they just go "hoyed"?

I actually have a hard time remembering them, were they removed before 1988? That's when I started spending A LOT of time in places like ES and the MC, coming down with unusual 24 hour bugs every wednesday when my YTS money came in lol. Going back further than that I'm sure I can remember something kinda similar to the pencils down at the junction where you go up to the management offices and that Barclays ATM but that could be a false memory. Speaking of ES what did the end of ESS look like before the old ESS was built (the food court bit that became Argos)? It stopped it the stairs down to the crossing over Newgate Street beside Bourgognes/White Cross didn't it?

F

Most of the students I teach were under the impression that US comedy star Chevy Chase opened Eldon Square....dear

Why do you need a balloon cafe when you've got a bronze man with pigeons I say!

Most of the students I teach were under the impression that US comedy star Chevy Chase opened Eldon Square....dear

Why do you need a balloon cafe when you've got a bronze man with pigeons I say!

You say balloon, NH says Mushroom, I say flying saucer lol let's call the whole thing off :cheers:

Most of the students I teach were under the impression that US comedy star Chevy Chase opened Eldon Square....dear

Why do you need a balloon cafe when you've got a bronze man with pigeons I say!

And speaking of that guy with the pigeons wtf were they thinking of there? That was obviously meant to be outside, he's feeding pigeons (Pig-E-On as Manuel would say) for Christ's sake he's not going to be doing that indoors! :nuts:

And speaking of that guy with the pigeons wtf were they thinking of there? That was obviously meant to be outside, he's feeding pigeons (Pig-E-On as Manuel would say) for Christ's sake he's not going to be doing that indoors! :nuts:

It's modern art dontcha know :lol:

That area seems such a waste of space, I know thats where the Carol singers were over Christmas (pigeon man become a coat rack) but you'd think they'd do something with it like seating or more touchscreen shop finders that are switched off

And speaking of that guy with the pigeons wtf were they thinking of there? That was obviously meant to be outside, he's feeding pigeons (Pig-E-On as Manuel would say) for Christ's sake he's not going to be doing that indoors! :nuts:

He started off outside, on the walkway outside Habitat, along the western side of old Eldon square.

He was then moved to outside the management office entrance, then to the top of the escalator from St Georges Way, where he is now.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5045/5370105443_8ff6ea3043_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/5370712464_fe212c5688_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers
GBDT

And speaking of that guy with the pigeons wtf were they thinking of there? That was obviously meant to be outside, he's feeding pigeons (Pig-E-On as Manuel would say) for Christ's sake he's not going to be doing that indoors! :nuts:


It was meant for outdoors.

Of course it originally was outdoors when Eldon Square opened in March 1976 and for a long time after that, before it was brought in initially into the Capital & Counties Management Suite (I think) before being placed where it is now when the Mushroom Cafe was removed.

It's original place was immediately outside Habitat, on the veranda overlooking Old Eldon Square . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/HabitatinNewcastle002.jpg

I persuaded this young lady, in March 1976, to strike this pose with her "new metal boyfriend"!! Amazingly (after that) she is still my young lady today!

It was meant for outdoors.

Of course it originally was outdoors when Eldon Square opened in March 1976 and for a long time after that, before it was brought in initially into the Capital & Counties Management Suite (I think) before being placed where it is now when the Mushroom Cafe was removed.

It's original place was immediately outside Habitat, on the veranda overlooking Old Eldon Square . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/HabitatinNewcastle002.jpg

I persuaded this young lady, in March 1976, to strike this pose with her "new metal boyfriend"!! Amazingly (after that) she is still my young lady today!


Good job NH!

I know it's an old photo but how come he seems to have more hair? :nuts:

Did the bird man not have a flat cap? I remember someone sticking a cigarette in his mouth. Again like others only a very dim childhood memory.

Are there any pictures of the inside of Callers? I thought that place was amazing. It had some sort of really cool fountain in it I recall.

Dan.

Did the bird man not have a flat cap? I remember someone sticking a cigarette in his mouth. Again like others only a very dim childhood memory.

Are there any pictures of the inside of Callers? I thought that place was amazing. It had some sort of really cool fountain in it I recall.

Dan.


If you have a look at Posts 115 and 116 (immediately above) you will see photos of the 'Man With Birds', from 1976 through to more recent times, and he doesn't have a cap!! I don't think he ever did, unless someone put one (or a traffic cone!) on him!

Look up 'Callers' in the 'Index Thread', there may well be internal photos linked from there, and certainly there are a lot of photos of Callers (which are among those linked from the Index Thread) on the VERY FIRST post on the Historic Newcastle thread, here . . . http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=982536

.

Could it have been Blundells on Clayton Street West, opposite the Cathedral? I know it has been close for years but I'm sure it would have been open in the early 70's.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5282/5372108805_925f8d593b_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers
GBDT

^^

I have OFTEN heard this building referred to as "Blundells" previously, but I always knew it as Howards Department Store.

I have never seen a photo of it as Blundells, but (if it ever was that) I would love to see one.

Here it is as I remember it . . .

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1005737


HOWARDS, Department Store.
Clayton Street West


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/HowardsDepartmentStore.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/16May201015.jpg
The ABOVE advert for Howards Department Store, is from the 1959 Official Newcastle City Guide.

.

^^

I have OFTEN heard this building referred to as "Blundells" previously, but I always knew it as Howards Department Store.

I have never seen a photo of it as Blundells, but (if it ever was that) I would love to see one.

Here it is as I remember it . . .

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1005737


HOWARDS, Department Store.
Clayton Street West


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/HowardsDepartmentStore.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/16May201015.jpg
The ABOVE advert for Howards Department Store, is from the 1959 Official Newcastle City Guide.

.



Btw when are they ever going to do something with that place?

F

I was thinking (it does happen) that, seeing that there are clips from local newspapers with articles and photographs when places like Binns and ES were opened on here, there must be local tv news features of those same events. How can we get access to these, anyone know?

I remember back in the 90s I was looking into getting a copy of something from the BBC and looked at their producers guidelines and back then you could just write in and they'd send you a videotape. Don't know how it works now and whether it is different for ITV/Tyne Tees.

But colour footage of brand spanking new ES and MC would be great if we could get our hands on it :banana:

F

I like how they've "aged" the statue by giving him less hair hehe.

I was thinking (it does happen) that, seeing that there are clips from local newspapers with articles and photographs when places like Binns and ES were opened on here, there must be local tv news features of those same events. How can we get access to these, anyone know?

I remember back in the 90s I was looking into getting a copy of something from the BBC and looked at their producers guidelines and back then you could just write in and they'd send you a videotape. Don't know how it works now and whether it is different for ITV/Tyne Tees.

But colour footage of brand spanking new ES and MC would be great if we could get our hands on it :banana:

F


I haven't looked myself, but I often find it is amazing what people have uploaded onto YouTube . . .

^^

I have heard this building referred to as "Blundells" previously, but I always knew it as Howards Department Store.

I have never seen a photo of it as Blundells, but (if it ever was that) I would love to see one.

Knew it as both Howards then later as Blundells. One of those mystery buildings - a large, prime(ish) site but stands empty for years!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5248/5373340536_4ca7c13995_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers
GBDT

Hi. A complain and then a request for help. I'd like firstly to complain that this site has sucked several hours out of my life since I stumbled upon it yesterday!

Metrocentre - anyone have any old (relatively speaking!) pics, plans or store plans for the shopping mall since its opening?

Regards :cheers:
F


MetroCentre Opens - Monday October 13th 1986.


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpening_0001.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpening_0003.jpghttp://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpening_0002.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpening_0003a.jpghttp://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpening_0003b.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpensMonOct131986012.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpensMonOct131986008.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/MetroCentreOpensMonOct131986011.jpg


Then, one year later on October 16th 1987, the AMC Cinema at the MetroCentre opened.

The AMC was eventually to become a UCI Cinema, then an ODEON, before recently moving (as an Odeon still) to its current new location . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/October1987AMCMetroCentreopens-1.jpg

.

^^ Brilliant post NH.

I wanted to ask whether anyone has any information on a store, possibly a department store, called Wulfs (sic)?

I was speaking to my mother and she was telling me that it used to be around the pink lane / westgate hill area. Her directions got a bit confused but at one point I thought she was describing the area where Baron Court is now but can't be sure of this.

She was adamant that it wasn't Howards/Blundells and she knows Wengers.

I'm mystified as nothing like this was listed in the department store thread.

F

^^ Brilliant post NH.

I wanted to ask whether anyone has any information on a store, possibly a department store, called Wulfs (sic)?

I was speaking to my mother and she was telling me that it used to be around the pink lane / westgate hill area. Her directions got a bit confused but at one point I thought she was describing the area where Baron Court is now but can't be sure of this.

She was adamant that it wasn't Howards/Blundells and she knows Wengers.

I'm mystified as nothing like this was listed in the department store thread.

F


Now, that brings back a 'long forgotten' retail memory!

It definitely wasn't a Department Store, but I do remember a store (of some sort) around the area you describe.

It was called "Woolfs", I think, and I don't think I ever went into it.

I can half-remember it might have had something to do with Artists Materials and/or Picture Framing, or something like that.

I will look into this a bit more, but does that help?

Now, that brings back a 'long forgotten' retail memory!

It definitely wasn't a Department Store, but I do remember a store (of some sort) around the area you describe.

It was called "Woolfs", I think, and I don't think I ever went into it.

I can half-remember it might have had something to do with Artists Materials and/or picture framing, or something like that.

I will look into this a bit more, but does that help?

It certainly does. Although I can't remember exactly what my mother said she used to go there for - definitely not artists materials!

Although I suppose it could've been something for school?

Definitely worth looking into. Where do you remember it being?

F

Now, that brings back a 'long forgotten' retail memory!

It definitely wasn't a Department Store, but I do remember a store (of some sort) around the area you describe.

It was called "Woolfs", I think, and I don't think I ever went into it.

I can half-remember it might have had something to do with Artists Materials and/or Picture Framing, or something like that.

I will look into this a bit more, but does that help?

It certainly does. Although I can't remember exactly what my mother said she used to go there for - definitely not artists materials!

Although I suppose it could've been something for school?

Definitely worth looking into. Where do you remember it being?

F


It was at 57 Westgate Road, as confirmed here in the 1959 Kelly's . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/Woolfs.jpg


A bit more clue as to 'location' on this site, here . . .

http://www.newcastle-arts-centre.co.uk/history.htm

.

^^G. Woolf & Son Ltd, departmental store, 67 Westgate Rd- that's the corner of Forth lane- and also at 25 Pink Lane- that's the other end Forth Lane opposite the Forth boozer. So did the shop run the full length of Forth Lane between Westgate Rd & Pink Lane?

^^G. Woolf & Son Ltd, departmental store, 67 Westgate Rd- that's the corner of Forth lane- and also at 25 Pink Lane- that's the other end Forth Lane opposite the Forth boozer. So did the shop run the full lenght of Forth Lane between Westgate Rd & Pink Lane?


I remember the shop had one or two frontages, I seem to think that they were not quite fully 'connected' to eachother, though that could be a trick of the memory!

One by one they disappeared in the 1960s/1970s.

The Newcastle Arts Centre area (as it now is) is indeed an interesting area, with a complex history.

I am still looking for a photo of (at least one of) the Woolfs shop frontages.

I went to the Metrocentre the week it opened, I was only 2, so I can't remember any of it hehe.

I am still looking for a photo of (at least one of) the Woolfs shop frontages.

From P&T Image Archive, NCC, late 1970's
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5405356496_5bb5f404e1_b.jpg

Cheers
GBDT

And this is the Google Street View (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.969575,-1.614304&spn=0.002313,0.009012&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=54.970026,-1.617104&panoid=SHSz3FCvKBjQYTL_2CIX7Q&cbp=12,161.75,,0,-2.54) of that building more recently.

^^G. Woolf & Son Ltd, departmental store, 67 Westgate Rd- that's the corner of Forth lane- and also at 25 Pink Lane- that's the other end Forth Lane opposite the Forth boozer. So did the shop run the full length of Forth Lane between Westgate Rd & Pink Lane?

67 Westgate Rd
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear,+United+Kingdom&t=h&layer=c&cbll=54.970145,-1.617874&panoid=XFN4O5ScoSJlpjJkJcTKEw&cbp=12,215.26,,0,-10.74&ll=54.970145,-1.617874&spn=0,0.00041&z=21

Pink Lane
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear,+United+Kingdom&t=h&layer=c&cbll=54.969288,-1.61879&panoid=DWnIAvPjQ2KBnt6JrdV7Rg&cbp=12,12.57,,2,-2.61&ll=54.969288,-1.61879&spn=0,0.000821&z=20

67 Westgate Rd


Are we talking about 57 or 67 Westgate Road?
There used to be a store at 67 called Bewicks.

GBDT

Are we talking about 57 or 67 Westgate Road?
There used to be a store at 67 called Bewicks.

GBDT

Hi George,
according to Kellys Directory 1962, G,Woolf & Son Ltd, department store was at 67 Westgate Rd & 25 Pink Lane either end of Forth Lane.

There was also Woolfs,picture frame makers at 57 Westgate Rd. Same family, i wonder?

There is an interesting history of the Arts Centre here:

http://www.newcastle-arts-centre.co.uk/history.htm

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/Woolfs.jpg

It's the 'pig breeders' on Pottery Bank that interest me. Would that be Pottery Bank in Walker?

^^ N/cle 6, i would think so

From P&T Image Archive, NCC, late 1970's
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5405356496_5bb5f404e1_b.jpg

Cheers
GBDT

The lane to the left of Wengers was a short cut through to Neville Street but it seems to be permanently locked these days.

There is an interesting history of the Arts Centre here:

http://www.newcastle-arts-centre.co.uk/history.htm

A great find Alf. Sorts out a bit of confusion in my mind! :nuts:

Cheers
GBDT

The lane to the left of Wengers was a short cut through to Neville Street but it seems to be permanently locked these days.

Graham

Is there/was there a lane there? I thought that it just another entrance to the Hotel on Neville Street. Learn something new evryday!

Cheers
GBDT

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Neville+Street,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne&aq=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.948388,28.081055&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Neville+St,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE1,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.969147,-1.617372&spn=0,0.003428&z=18&layer=c&cbll=54.969171,-1.61723&panoid=4a-dQv2w62RXRIlLwfb9wQ&cbp=12,332.31,,0,-2.46
This is the other end George,used it all the time, especially on a Sat. after the match.We would cut through Black Friars, Fenkle St and here to the Lite-Bite at the bottom of Pink Lane (now Greggs), have a bit scran then @ 5:30 into the V&C for a drink.

This is the other end George,used it all the time, especially on a Sat. after the match.We would cut through Black Friars, Fenkle St and here to the Lite-Bite at the bottom of Pink Lane (now Greggs), have a bit scran then @ 5:30 into the V&C for a drink.

Didn't know that that was open. As I said you learn something new everyday.

Cheers
GBDT

From P&T Image Archive, NCC, late 1970's
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5405356496_5bb5f404e1_b.jpg

Cheers
GBDT

This photograph caught my imagination so I went along there this morning to get an up to date snap:

http://www.fototime.com/E7C545B905F3E4C/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/31962505AA2B12C/orig.jpg

So it is quite an important building - the first ASSEMBLY ROOMS in Newcastle between 1716 and 1736. By WILLIAM NEWTON and built in what was the St Nicholas Church Vicarage garden. The doorway is a later modification by Austin, Johnson and Hicks in 1882.

Listed II - Listing NGR: NZ2461063986

One house. Now shops and offices. Circa 1750. Sandstone ashlar; slate roof, graduated over 4 left bays. Ashlar and brick chimneys. 3 storeys and attics; 2:3:2 bays. Central door in Jacobean style doorcase with keyed arch under segmental pediment. Rusticated pilasters to 3 ground-floor bays at left; alterations at right.

Inserted shops. Giant pilasters above define groups. Architraves and aprons to sashes with glazing bars; floor bands between pilasters. Pilaster capitals at window head level; top entablature with coved frieze. Roof has 2 small segmental-headed dormers, with sashes at centre and left; renewed dormer with barge-boarded gable at right.

Interior shows rococo plaster to front ground-floor room, now shop at No. 57, with phoenix motif on wall. Staircase with strap-work and plain panels, and portrait profiles in oval medallions. Venetian window on half-landing with Doric entablature. Putti and garlands above. Italian signature and date scratched on 1 pane,preserved under glass, 1796. Shallow, panelled dome above. Eagle in medallion under balcony, garlands over doors. 3 connecting rooms, 2-, 5-and 2-bay on 1st floor. All with plaster panels and decorative cornices. Centre room elaborate ceiling with centre- piece of putti with cornucopia on clouds and portrait medallions around. Corner fireplace with decorative panel above. Alcove with bucranium motif and garlands.
Doorway with flat pediment and carved, pulvinated frieze. 1 side room has flower and leaf pattern on ceiling. Wrought iron staircase and balcony railings probably contemporary with plaster work.

The lane to the left of Wengers was a short cut through to Neville Street but it seems to be permanently locked these days.

Yes the barred gate looks well and truly locked and perhaps rusted up - I suppose the County Hotel may have had security concerns with the lane running through their property and car park.

This snap taken this morning:
http://www.fototime.com/7C045D0CFBF3A39/orig.jpg

A few days ago I published this ad in the adverts thread:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/skyscraper/sky0020-1.jpg

Then I got thinking about Harmony Hall. I can vaguely remember the shop with black and silver frontage and pianos in the window as well as the usual household furniture. I don't remember ever being in the store as there was a branch in Gateshead and I bought all my furniture from the Gateshead branch when I got married in the mid-60s. Melamine was all the rage at the time so my wife told me. It was indeed opposite the Empire Theatre but does the building still exist and if so what it is now? I have walked past it many times but always my eyes are on the other side looking at the old Empire where I spent many happy nights in my youth.

A few days ago I published this ad in the adverts thread:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/skyscraper/sky0020-1.jpg

Then I got thinking about Harmony Hall. I can vaguely remember the shop with black and silver frontage and pianos in the window as well as the usual household furniture. I don't remember ever being in the store as there was a branch in Gateshead and I bought all my furniture from the Gateshead branch when I got married in the mid-60s. Melamine was all the rage at the time so my wife told me. It was indeed opposite the Empire Theatre but does the building still exist and if so what it is now? I have walked past it many times but always my eyes are on the other side looking at the old Empire where I spent many happy nights in my youth.


It's been a while since I walked along Shields Road, but the above address shows 81-97 Shields Road.

Currently, number 81 Shields Road is occupied by the below . . .

Colonnade Insurance
81 Shields Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 1DL

The latest "Google Earth" photo (2009) shows the building, below . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/ColonnadeIns81ShieldsRoad.jpg

The numbers run Easterly along Shields Road, so it looks like (from the photo) numbers 83-97 have recently been re-developed.

It's been a while since I walked along Shields Road, but the above address shows 81-97 Shields Road.

Currently, number 81 Shields Road is occupied by the below . . .

Colonnade Insurance
81 Shields Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 1DL

The numbers run Easterly along Shields Road, so it looks like (from the photo) numbers 83-97 have recently been re-developed.

NH,
think you have mis read the street numbers. It is 91-97 Shields Road. That would put the Wilkes shop in the red brick building to the right. To prove it have a look at the photo below :):):)


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5179/5417364514_b8e351980d_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers,
GBDT

^^

Ha ha, YES, I certainly did read it as 81-97 Shields Road, in the old advert!!!

GREAT photo, as usual, GBDT!

So, that (excellent) building, is now, on the Ground Floor, Ethel Austin . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/EthelAustin.jpg

NH,
think you have mis read the street numbers. It is 91-97 Shields Road. That would put the Wilkes shop in the red brick building to the right. To prove it have a look at the photo below :):):)


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5179/5417364514_b8e351980d_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers,
GBDT

That's a brilliant example of that kind of building and shop, totally of its time. Shop frontages are so high art and expensive nowadays but there's something very modern and pleasing about that type, I'd like to think it was very clean, black and shiny like glass or even black marble. At least for the first few years anyway!

F

T&G Allan's in Blackett Street.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1353/5108481609_ca5f7570ae_b.jpg

Taken over by John Menzies
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1133/5108483613_4b08d15bec_b.jpg

All photos from P&T Image Archive, NCC.

GBDT

How long was John Menzies there for was it right up until the building of the Monument Mall?

I can't remember it at all, although I only really know Newcastle in any great depth from the late 80s.

I can remember that there was a TG Allan inside the Monument Mall, in the basement when it was proper floor and not just a massive jumble sale - I mean TK Maxx. It didn't seem to last long.

We had a TG Allan in Hexham for many many years it was a brilliant shop, I always remember there was a raised section at the back where children's books and a small selection of toys were. It is now one of our many charity shops.

F

That's a brilliant example of that kind of building and shop, totally of its time. Shop frontages are so high art and expensive nowadays but there's something very modern and pleasing about that type, I'd like to think it was very clean, black and shiny like glass or even black marble. At least for the first few years anyway!

F

I'm afraid I'm firmly in the Prince Charles architectural school when it comes to modern advertising plastic covering perfectly well designed traditional buildings.
I agree with your comment about that building though, it is designed to have that type of shop front, and it shows.

I do wonder about that window unit above Smith's though!

I'm afraid I'm firmly in the Prince Charles architectural school when it comes to modern advertising plastic covering perfectly well designed traditional buildings.
I agree with your comment about that building though, it is designed to have that type of shop front, and it shows.

I do wonder about that window unit above Smith's though!


If you look in the 2009 photo in Post 805 you will see that window has been replaced.

If you look in the 2009 photo in Post 805 you will see that window has been replaced.

And a big improvement too! In fact the chemist has quite a tasteful shop front overall.

I used to love going into TG Allan when there was one here in Ashington.

I'm trying to pinpoint the location of the old Woolies in North Kenton's Arndale Centre, so that I can pop over there and get a photo to add to the collection.

From what someone else told me, I believe it was where the Nisa store is today:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=newcastle+montagu+avenue&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Montagu+Ave,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE3,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ei=bAHYTMr3GZHQjAeKg7TlCQ&ved=0CBUQ8gEwAA&ll=55.006321,-1.652241&spn=0,0.038409&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=55.006133,-1.65221&panoid=PKseGVhMzqeV5K9bvibsng&cbp=12,297.65,,0,-1.23

This echoes my hunch, which is that Woolies would have occupied the section that is set forward from the main parade - looking at other 50s shopping parades, my impression is that Woolworths tended to occupy the most prominent spot in such developments.

See, for example, the former Woolies in New Washington (Concord) - also an Arndale Centre - which opened in 1959:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/woolworths_new_washington_concord_graham_soult2.jpg

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/06/22/the-ghosts-of-washingtons-former-woolworths/

Any more insights welcome! :)


Yes, the Woolies was where NISA is when you follow Google street view. The other anchor store was the Co-Op at the far end round the corner. I was there a couple of months back and was reflecting on it myself.

We moved to Kenton Bar Estate in 1968 and I can remember going to the Woolies for Pick & Mix. It was very old fashioned and still had large domed gas fittings for secondary lighting.

I remember going to Aitken Brothers in High Bridge to buy components for electronics projects during the early 1970s. It is still there on streetview (as Aitken Electronics (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=newcastle+high+bridge&aq=&sll=55.006133,-1.65221&sspn=0.014472,0.038753&gl=uk&g=Montagu+Ave,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE3,+United+Kingdom&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=High+Bridge,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE1,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.971853,-1.612598&spn=0.001798,0.004844&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=54.971781,-1.612695&panoid=M9NOOx-hhiL-n3IJRnh9WQ&cbp=12,353.27,,0,9.68), a disco equipment supplier, but someone tells me they have recently closed.

Another quirky memory- a hardware store on the corner of the Handiside arcade with a big sign in the window saying "Watsons please call".

That is fascinating stuff about the Shields Road branch of Wilkes but my question was about Harmony Hall which was the city centre branch on Newgate Street opposite the old Empire Theatre. Does anyone have a photograph or know what is there now?

Incidentally the Gateshead branch looked like this:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/georgewilkes.jpg

Courtesy of Gateshead Libraries (http://isee.gateshead.gov.uk/).

This is how it looks now:

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq226/anthonywd/Other/SAM_0253.jpg

That is fascinating stuff about the Shields Road branch of Wilkes but my question was about Harmony Hall which was the city centre branch on Newgate Street opposite the old Empire Theatre. Does anyone have a photograph or know what is there now?



The Newgate Street branch as it was . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/BinnsonthebackofALLbuses.jpg

I remember going to Aitken Brothers in High Bridge to buy components for electronics projects during the early 1970s. It is still there on streetview (as Aitken Electronics (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=newcastle+high+bridge&aq=&sll=55.006133,-1.65221&sspn=0.014472,0.038753&gl=uk&g=Montagu+Ave,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE3,+United+Kingdom&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=High+Bridge,+Newcastle+Upon+Tyne,+Tyne+And+Wear+NE1,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.971853,-1.612598&spn=0.001798,0.004844&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=54.971781,-1.612695&panoid=M9NOOx-hhiL-n3IJRnh9WQ&cbp=12,353.27,,0,9.68), a disco equipment supplier, but someone tells me they have recently closed.

Another quirky memory- a hardware store on the corner of the Handyside arcade with a big sign in the window saying "Watsons please call".

Henry Osborns?

Thank you, NH, I knew someone would come up with the goods. I remember reading a brief memoir from a man who used to work there and part of his job was to pop across to the Empire on a Monday morning to see what furniture they might require as props for that weeks show.

Henry Osborns?

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5257/5420138472_f399d272b1_z.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers

GBDT

Yes, it was that shop, although Henry Osborn doesn't ring a bell with the passing of the years.

A friend of mine worked there as a Teenager and was greatly amused when the Watsons Rep turned up.

I used to love going into TG Allan when there was one here in Ashington.

I used to enjoy going into the T&G Allan in Whitley Bay. However, since that shut at the beginning of 2009, Morpeth (below) is now the only one left.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tg_allan_morpeth_graham_soult.jpg

Out of interest, ferret, whereabouts was the one in Hexham? I knew there had been one there at some point in the past, but not its location.

I used to enjoy going into the T&G Allan in Whitley Bay. However, since that shut at the beginning of 2009, Morpeth (below) is now the only one left.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tg_allan_morpeth_graham_soult.jpg

Out of interest, ferret, whereabouts was the one in Hexham? I knew there had been one there at some point in the past, but not its location.

It was on Battle Hill, on the left side going up the hill between Oxfam and Thomas Cook in Exelsior Buildings. It is Age Concern now :ohno:

F

It was on Battle Hill, on the left side going up the hill between Oxfam and Thomas Cook in Exelsior Buildings. It is Age Concern now :ohno:

F

Slightly off-centre then! I never tend to wander that far up Battle Hill when I'm shopping in Hexham.

At least the Morpeth one seems to do OK - it's quite well connected with the new Sanderson Arcade and bus station, and having the town's post office inside has to be a good way of bringing people through the doors.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/burton_jarrow_graham_soult2.jpg

Something I recently blogged about (http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2011/01/15/jarrows-burton-building-a-retail-history-treasure-with-a-woolies-twist/), and that I thought may be of interest here, is the remarkable old Burton building in Jarrow.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/burton_woolworths_original_jarrow_graham_soult11.jpg

It's in Ormonde Street, where Jarrow's town centre (and Woolworths!) used to be until it all moved to the Arndale Centre (now Viking Centre) in the early 1960s.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/burton_jarrow_graham_soult1.jpg

Given that the building hasn't been used as a Burton store for half a century, it's amazing how many features survive, including the original entrance mosaic and Burton logos - features that have often been removed from those stores that Burton still occupies.

I wondered whether anyone had any memories of shopping in the old Burton store - or Jarrow's old town centre more generally - that they might like to share?

Image source: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2011/01/15/jarrows-burton-building-a-retail-history-treasure-with-a-woolies-twist/

Ashington has got a good one as well (though not as swish as Jarrow), with signage for the old billiard hall upstairs as well. I read somewhere that old Montague encouraged billiard halls to take upstairs space in his buildings as (a) no danger of mice and rats to chew his stock and (b) far from seeing billiards as a sign of a mis-spent youth, he felt it kept young men out of the pubs!

Northumberland Street Retail - 1978.

This is an interesting historical document, a plan of Northumberland Street showing exactly what shops were in place at 'a frozen moment in time' in 1978.

This plan is in the book "The Ins & Outs of Newcastle upon Tyne", which was produced as a specific guide for disabled access to (mainly) City Centre commercial premises, including Pubs, Restaurants and Shops.

It was very good for what it was produced for at the time, but now (33 years later) it has become a useful historical record of what was around in the City Centre, at that point in time.

This plan shows Northumberland street as it was during those long years (both before and after this particular year) when it was the richest shopping street in the UK (in 'revenue per square foot') after London's Oxford Street.


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/NorthumberlandStreetShopsPlans-1978.jpg

.

BINNS Ltd, Department Store
Part Four - Store Plan (1978) and List of Departments (1977).


Though 'Part Three' of the Binns series took us up to their eventual closure in 1996, I have recently discovered these documents from 1978 and 1977 and thought that they were definitely worth including in this thread.

The 'store plans' particularly, take you back to those days, and looking at them you can almost be "walking through" there again!!


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BINNSStorePlanfrom1978.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/BinnsNewStore1977.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/BinnsNewStore1977001.jpg

.

That's fascinating, NH. Not many left in situ! I presume the Wyoming Cattle Company sold jeans and boots and things, rather than live beasts or sides of beef (though social historians 200 years from now may be a little confused)

BINNS Ltd, Department Store
Part Four - Store Plan (1978) and List of Departments (1977).


Though 'Part Three' of the Binns series took us up to their eventual closure in 1996, I have recently discovered these documents from 1978 and 1977 and thought that they were definitely worth including in this thread.

The 'store plans' particularly, take you back to those days, and looking at them you can almost be "walking through" there again!!



It was the 'walking through' that did for them. Too much of that and not enough 'stopping and buying'. I know I hardly ever did.

That's fascinating, NH. Not many left in situ! I presume the Wyoming Cattle Company sold jeans and boots and things, rather than live beasts or sides of beef (though social historians 200 years from now may be a little confused)

Yes fascinating to take a look back in time and try to picture some of those long gone shops. HMV took my eye, can recall their small record store at the bottom of Northumberland Street, pales when you consider their footprint there now ;-)

Yes fascinating to take a look back in time and try to picture some of those long gone shops. HMV took my eye, can recall their small record store at the bottom of Northumberland Street, pales when you consider their footprint there now ;-)


During my time living in London, one of my favourite regular shops was on Tottenham Court Road (a road leading off Oxford Street at the 'Centre Point' end) called "EMI Records and Tapes".

I think it was one of only a few of that brand.

Just a few years before the 1978 date of the above Northumberland Street shop plan, I was (by then back at home) quite excited to see in 1975, a small 'EMI Records and Tapes' suddenly open up at the bottom of Northumberland Street!

It was only called that for a few months, before changing its name, still as the same shop, to "HMV", as shown on the plan.

As far as I can make out, the only businesses still in situ (and under the same name) are most of the banks and some building societies, the Post Office, SPK and BSM on Ridley Place, and Cyril Rowe on Princess Square, and of course M&S. Not even BHS now! I'd guess a few of the shoe shops might also have survived, but I'm hardwired not to notice them.

Ones I can remember (I moved to Newcastle in 1990) are Penny Plain on St M Place, and the forces recruitment places on the north side of Ridley Place. Also C&A, BHS, Littlewoods. I used Littlewoods mainly to get a box of salad from its salad bar for lunch which (if it was nice) I'd eat on the pedestrian deck.

As far as I can make out, the only businesses still in situ (and under the same name) are most of the banks and some building societies, the Post Office, SPK and BSM on Ridley Place, and Cyril Rowe on Princess Square, and of course M&S. Not even BHS now! I'd guess a few of the shoe shops might also have survived, but I'm hardwired not to notice them.

Ones I can remember (I moved to Newcastle in 1990) are Penny Plain on St M Place, and the forces recruitment places on the north side of Ridley Place. Also C&A, BHS, Littlewoods. I used Littlewoods mainly to get a box of salad from its salad bar for lunch which (if it was nice) I'd eat on the pedestrian deck.

FENWICKS :)

<blushes>

oops...

During my time living in London, one of my favourite regular shops was on Tottenham Court Road (a road leading off Oxford Street at the 'Centre Point' end) called "EMI Records and Tapes".

I think it was one of only a few of that brand.

Just a few years before the 1978 date of the above Northumberland Street shop plan, I was (by then back at home) quite excited to see in 1975, a small 'EMI Records and Tapes' suddenly open up at the bottom of Northumberland Street!

It was only called that for a few months, before changing its name, still as the same shop, to "HMV", as shown on the plan.

I live right next to Tottenham Court Road now (parallel to it, actually), and it's not there now (not that I went looking). It's just phone shops and computer shops really. It's a shame. I really like music shops.

I live right next to Tottenham Court Road now (parallel to it, actually), and it's not there now (not that I went looking). It's just phone shops and computer shops really. It's a shame. I really like music shops.


Yes, it bacame an HMV briefly, and then closed a long time back.

I lived in Bolsover Street, which is north of Oxford Street but about half way back along Oxford Street from the Tottenham Court Road junction, not far from Oxford Circus in fact.

I was very near to Great Portland Street tube station, if that gives you your bearings!

I used to go to T C Road a fair bit though, we had a lecture theatre along that way and I went to some restaurants around there.

You had to be on the look out for Scientologists a lot mind, when I was there, around the bottom end of T C Road!

Northumberland Street Retail - 1978.

This is an interesting historical document, a plan of Northumberland Street showing exactly what shops were in place at 'a frozen moment in time' in 1978.


I used to get my hair cut at Salon Italia in St. Mary's Place. Two brothers ran it - the guy I went to always had a nice line in dirty jokes......

That's fascinating, NH. Not many left in situ! I presume the Wyoming Cattle Company sold jeans and boots and things, rather than live beasts or sides of beef (though social historians 200 years from now may be a little confused)

A photo of the Wyoming Cattle Company Ridley Place elevation. Taken in 1977.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5180/5439780561_c5951ec95a_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers
GBDT

I'm surprised it doesn't list The Jubilee as formerly The Man *ON* the Moon...

(ISTR it changed its name after the historic '69 moon landing)

I'm surprised it doesn't list The Jubilee as formerly The Man *ON* the Moon...

(ISTR it changed its name after the historic '69 moon landing)


HERE . . . but which?

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/ManOnTheMoon.jpg


It is "ON", I think, in this photo!

The library plaza looks even more horrible than I remember it. I went in the Pub once during the tail end of a raid, fortunately I was over Eighteen (just).

HERE . . . but which?
It is "ON", I think, in this photo!

Hadn't been around in that area for years until a couple of weeks ago, so a good reminder to me as to what it used to look like.

Also noted that ERICK HOUSE is now NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE - bit of a shame the historical link with the ERICK BURN that runs close by has been lost. :ohno:

ELDON SQUARE OPENS IN 1976

In March 1976, 'Phase One' of Eldon Square opened, then on 16th September 1976, 'Phase Two' opened . . .

A few items and photos from those days.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/17thOctober2009-1976EldonSqDirector.jpg
The first list of shops and original layout plan.
.
I left Newcastle in September 1976 to go and work for the GEC in Coventry.

I can vividly remember standing outside Dixons looking at the hoardings to Phase II that was going to open in a week or two, wondering what I was going to miss. Needless to say, I found out when I came home for Christmas. Way too many boutiques going down towards Northumberland Street!

I left Newcastle in September 1976 to go and work for the GEC in Coventry.

I can vividly remember standing outside Dixons looking at the hoardings to Phase II that was going to open in a week or two, wondering what I was going to miss. Needless to say, I found out when I came home for Christmas. Way too many boutiques going down towards Northumberland Street!


Looking through a narrow gap in those hoardings next to Dixons (which I did a fair few times too!!) you could just make out the 'Mushroom Cafe', but the main shop you could see opposite (in BIG letters) was K Shoes . . .

Hadn't been around in that area for years until a couple of weeks ago, so a good reminder to me as to what it used to look like.

Also noted that ERICK HOUSE is now NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE - bit of a shame the historical link with the ERICK BURN that runs close by has been lost. :ohno:


Mind, it didn't look exactly like that for very long, as the new Pearl Assurance House was soon to be built alongside Princess Square, as this very recent photo confirms . .

http://www.entertainment-newcastle.com/images/trillians_now.jpg

Looking through a narrow gap in those hoardings next to Dixons (which I did a fair few times too!!) you could just make out the 'Mushroom Cafe', but the main shop you could see opposite (in BIG letters) was K Shoes . . .


FORGIVE ME!!

But I had to post this photo (again) of ME that was taken (unknown to me) on the actual opening day of Eldon Square Phase 2 (16th September 1976).

It can be found amongst those official photos on the Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM Website.

That's me on the extreme left . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/117-2ndPhoto.jpg

LINK - http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4079274855/

I remember my friend's mum used to go to "The Chattery" every Saturday but can't remember if it was in Fenwicks & Bainbridges.

I remember that when you had had your fill they put up "No Service" signs on your table and left you alone.

Cognative dissonance:

a) It was in Fenwick upstairs in Blackett Street with a rather strange pink glass internally lit sculpture near the entrance. It then got moved to another bit of the store & Keith's Mum hated the new one but still went, mainly so she could complain about it.

b) It was in the old Bainbridge store and it moved to Eldon Square in 1976, upstairs behind the mushroom Cafe. Keith's Mum hated the new one but still went, mainly so she could complain about it.

My main memory of the new ES Bainbridges was how bland it was, with terrible lighting (as in too flat). I rather liked the Binns when they moved next door but it wasn't as good as Bainbridges had been.

Here is a puzzler for you- when was the first "Down" escalator installed and where? I'm not quite certain I remember it entirely right myself but as a young teenager all the Department stores had "Up" ones but you walked down stairs- until... ?

FORGIVE ME!!

But I had to post this photo (again) of ME that was taken (unknown to me) on the actual opening day of Eldon Square Phase 2 (16th September 1976).

It can be found amongst those official photos on the Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM Website.

That's me on the extreme left . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/117-2ndPhoto.jpg

LINK - http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4079274855/

Do you mean the bloke with the specs? (If you were the half a person you might struggle knowing it was you of course!)

I remember the artists impressions of the Mushroom Cafe Square on the Dixons hoardings- the semi-random length ceiling tubes were all chamfered at a jaunty angle. The reality of it looking somewhat like drainpipes was a bit of a letdown!

Do you mean the bloke with the specs? (If you were the half a person you might struggle knowing it was you of course!)

I remember the artists impressions of the Mushroom Cafe Square on the Dixons hoardings- the semi-random length ceiling tubes were all chamfered at a jaunty angle. The reality of it looking somewhat like drainpipes was a bit of a letdown!


That is me!

Here (from earlier in this thread) are some photos of *the tubes" that you describe . . . though the copy post actually starts off by talking about some OTHER tubes!!



It was a quite spectacular feature, with the water travelling up and down in many transparant tubes, as shown in the photo.

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/SidgateentrancetoESatMonument-March1976.jpg

Graham - It was removed so that the current staircase could be built. Prior to that (as far as I can remember) you used the stairs within W H Smith, or walked along to the escalator halfway along High Friars (the upstairs mall) at the end of Sidgate (the downstairs mall) where the exit to Clayton Street is and where Bimbi's Restaurant was latterly, downstairs, until recently.

Chris, do you mean the 'Mushroom Cafe', which was actually part of Bainbridges (now called John Lewis) Department Store?

It has only recently been removed to make way for the new St George's Way Mall that replaced the Eldon Square Bus Concourse, underneath it.

Shown here . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/SUNKENSittingAreas.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BainbridgeJohnLewiscafe1.jpg

The top photo (above) of Bainbridges 'mushroom' Restaurant was taken in the late 1970s, with the lower of the two being actually taken in 1980 ('Newcastle 900' year) while the photo BELOW is much more recent as you can see the roof above it has been completely opened out to allow natural light to come in . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/BainbridgeJohnLewiscafe2.jpg

The mushroom cafe is (was!!) the very symbol of Eldon Square. Even now, I cannot believe it is not still there, it is almost akin to losing the Tyne Bridge or Grey's Monument, it was such a permanent symbol of the place!!

The fountain feature outside Smiths was quite simple really, the water was pumped up the central metal pipe then it ran down the outside of the glass rods (maybe they were plastic, they would have been very vulnerable to a lobbed can).

As far as I can make out, the only businesses still in situ (and under the same name) are most of the banks and some building societies, the Post Office, SPK and BSM on Ridley Place, and Cyril Rowe on Princess Square, and of course M&S. Not even BHS now! I'd guess a few of the shoe shops might also have survived, but I'm hardwired not to notice them

'fraid that Cyril Rowe went 'skint' last year.

Knew it as both Howards then later as Blundells. One of those mystery buildings - a large, prime(ish) site but stands empty for years!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5248/5373340536_4ca7c13995_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers
GBDT


Yes, it is still empty now.

There was a plan eleven years ago (in 2000) to re-deveop the Howards/Blundells Department Store building, as a NIGHTCLUB.

This attracted a lot of opposition from St Mary's Cathedral (over the road) and was dropped.


Evening Chronicle, Tuesday March 14th 2000 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/HowardsDepartmentStore_0002.jpg

Ha ha, yeah spot on NH. It hasn't been touched since it closed down has it? I'd love to see some pictures of the inside.


Finally found a photo of the inside (see post immediately above^^) but most of the fixtures and fittings seem to be gone.

My first post after reading this forum for several months - hope they are of some interest!

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Stells1.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Stells2.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Stells3.jpg


These are photos of Stell's shop in Northumberland Street, which originally opened in 1908.

It was owned by a current member of the Northumberland & Newcastle Society who has let me use the photos. They were of what had been her grandfather's shop. and they had been used previously in an 'Evening Chronicle' article.

I am told that the shop was very successful at first, but the big slump (depression) of the 1930s caused problems, because they had a lot of country customers who were affected by it.

Sadly Stell'sclosed down during that time, in the 1930's.

.

19th Century advert for Bainbridge & Co

http://www.fototime.com/9FFCD507EEFA121/orig.jpg

I'm surprised it doesn't list The Jubilee as formerly The Man *ON* the Moon...

(ISTR it changed its name after the historic '69 moon landing)

Sorry if this sounds ignorant, but was "ISTR" the "original" name of the bar that is now Trillians? If so, any idea what, if anything that stood for? Does anyone know of any other names this bar has had, since it came into being, other than "The Man on the Moon" and "The Jubilee"?

I'm surprised it doesn't list The Jubilee as formerly The Man *ON* the Moon...

(ISTR it changed its name after the historic '69 moon landing)

Sorry if this sounds ignorant, but was "ISTR" the "original" name of the bar that is now Trillians? If so, any idea what, if anything that stood for? Does anyone know of any other names this bar has had, since it came into being, other than "The Man on the Moon" and "The Jubilee"?


After it was 'The Man on the Moon", it changed its name to Jubilee 77.

I suppose it eventually dropped the "77" bit (1977 being the Queens Silver Jubilee year) after it became a bit irrelevant some years later.

As far as I know, it opened in the newly built Erick House, as

1 - The Man On The Moon (don't remember the "in" bit, myself) and was known as the VERY FIRST 'modern bar' in the City Centre. This may have meant 'modern-built' new bar. Then it became . .

2 - Jubilee 77

3 - The Jubilee (I think)

4 - Trillians.

Thank you NH.

I was just a bit confused the the "it changed its name after the historic '69 moon landing", which implied it had another name previous to that.

Maybe it was meant to read "it took it's name....."

.
It is 1932, on the corner of Northumberland Street and Blackett Street . . .


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Loweandmoorhouse1932-1.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/LoweandMoorhouse1932-2.jpg


Lowe and Moorhouse Hat Department on the first floor, in 1932
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/LoweandMhatdepartmentonthefirstfloor1932.jpg


Lowe and Moorhouse Main Showroom, on the first floor, in 1932
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/LoweandMmainshowroomonthefirstfloor-1932.jpg


Lowe and Moorhouse, Fabrics Department on the ground floor, in 1932
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Loweandmsellingfabriconthegroundfloor-1932.jpg


All Photos courtesy of "Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM" - http://www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4078921458/in/photostream/

.

I came across this on Simon Donald's (he of Viz) facebook page and thought I'd share it, although I think you'll need to log into facebook to see it, if anyone knows how to link to it directly let me know or just put it up.

Anyway it is from a BBC show called Delia Through The Decades that is now online and to show the swinging sixties it used a clip inside the Handyside Arcade.

Here it is -

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=435625125421&id=829180421&aid=371307

F

.
I came across this on Simon Donald's (he of Viz) facebook page and thought I'd share it, although I think you'll need to log into facebook to see it. It is from a BBC show called Delia Through The Decades that is now online, and to show the swinging sixties it used a clip inside the Handyside Arcade.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=435625125421&id=829180421&aid=371307

F


Excellent find, and great to see 'new' interior photos, taken inside the Handyside Arcade back in the 60s!!

Here are the photos on the Facebook Site in question . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/untitled2.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/17852_435626670421_829180421_10647548_234388_n.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/17852_435626720421_829180421_10647553_3910765_n.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/17852_435626715421_829180421_10647552_3985087_n.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/17852_435626695421_829180421_10647551_4976926_n.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/untitled22.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/17852_435626730421_829180421_10647554_1473875_n.jpg


ALL PHOTOS courtesy of Simon Donalds Facebook Site - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=435625125421&id=829180421&aid=371307

On SD's above Facebook page (you may need to log in) there is also an excellent little discussion about the Handyside Arcade. The discussion even includes a couple of 'credits' back to our forum!!

.

.
Excellent find, and great to see 'new' interior photos, taken inside the Handyside Arcade back in the 60s!!

Here are the photos on the Facebook Site in question . .

ALL PHOTOS courtesy of Simon Donalds Facebook Site - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=435625125421&id=829180421&aid=371307


Cheers NH!

F

Fascinating thread - it would be good to see articles on other North-East stores such as Shepherd's in Gateshead.

One omission from the Newcastle list is the short-lived Lewis's. An outpost of the famous Liverpool company (and nothing to do with John Lewis) it was a fairly small department store and only existed for a few years in the 1980s, but it occupied a prominent site on Northumberland Street and was, as I recall, rather upmarket.

Blundell's was a credit shop, with a customer base of mainly less well-off people who could only afford to buy big-ticket items if they could do it on the never-never. My aunt worked as a sales person for them, visiting customers in areas like Scotswood and Benwell in her little company-provided Mini van to take orders and deliver goods.

The site may be central, but in terms of retail footfall it's scarcely prime - it's the 'wrong end' of Clayton Street, which is itself not what it used to be in shopping terms.

Possibly not a building that receives much in the way of being noticed, as it is tucked away at the Eastern End of Market Street but I'm trying to find out if this was the building that used to house REED MILLICAN & CO LTD (Glass Makers) and STRAKERFORD (Strakers Car Showroom) in the late 1970's?

I was quite surprised to learn that PLUMMER HOUSE is Listed Grade II and was originally built as a Banquet and Assembly Rooms. Built i 1910 to a design by Newcombe and Newcombe for Tilley and Co. and later converted into offices.

One of the interesting parts of the building is that a sprung dance floor still exists on the first floor.

P.s This is the building that has Chapmans Furniture Shop - Siesta House in it.


Before they moved to the corner of John Dobson Street/Northumberland Road (which is the building I am familiar with them being in) Reed Millican were, as you say, on Market Street.

This is confirmed in the 1959 Kelly's, but the address in their advert just says "Market Street", it doesn't give the name of the building they were in.

These photos are from 1908 and 1909 and show the Reed Millican building (though not fully) in the Market Street / Back Trafalgar Street, area . . .


Back Trafalgar Street (which crosses Market Street) in 1908 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/ReedmillBackTrafalgarSt1908.jpg


This photo is described as "The Market Street extension, 1909". The stonework underneath the windows shows it is the same building as the "Back Trafalgar Street" building in the previous photo . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/ReedMillicanMarketStextension1909.jpg
Photos courtesy of "The Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM" - http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Reed%20Millican&w=39821974%40N06


The bottom photo 'description' also states . . ."the photograph shows Tilley's crane in the foreground to the right".

So, bearing in mind the 1909 date of the photo and the 1910 completion date of Plummer House (for Tilley & Co) it looks like the photo shows Plummer House actually being built, and that Reed Millican was not in that building but in the building immediately to the East, on the corner with Back Trafalgar Street.

.

Before they moved to the corner of John Dobson Street/Northumberland Road (which is the building I am familiar with them being in) Reed Millican were, as you say, on Market Street.

This is confirmed in the 1959 Kelly's, but the address in their advert just says "Market Street", it doesn't give the name of the building they were in.

These photos are from 1908 and 1909 and show the Reed Millican building (though not fully) in the Market Street / Back Trafalgar Street, area . .

The bottom photo 'description' also states . . ."the photograph shows Tilley's crane in the foreground to the right".

So, bearing in mind the 1909 date of the photo and the 1910 completion date of Plummer House (for Tilley & Co) it looks like the photo shows Plummer House actually being built, and that Reed Millican was not in that building but in the building immediately to the East, on the corner with Back Trafalgar Street.

.

Thanks for the info and photographs NH - when the health improves must get down to that area of the City and take a look for myself :)

.
Chapmans, Siesta Furnishing.

In continuation of the above discussion, the current occupants of Plummer House have always interested me - not least because through all the years that have seen big furniture retailing largely move "out of town" (where are 'Callers', 'Robsons', Waring & Gillow', 'Cantors', 'Broadloom Millls', etc, etc and their current-day equivalents, these days?) they have continued trading in City Centre shop premises.

Even further, their shops (unlike those that have disappeared) have never really been in exactly prime retail locations.

This is where I principally remember them being, on the corner of Jesmond Road and Great North Road, overlooking the Barrass Bridge/Haymarket area . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/ChapmansGreatNorthRoad.jpg

The shop, at the above address, in 1970 . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Chapmansin1970.jpg

This photo was taken from where that shop was, only two years later in 1972 as CME construction started . . . revealing why they had to leave!!!
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/WhereChapmanswas1972.jpg


The same year, 1972, showing them newly esconsed in Plummer House on Market Street. You can see 'Brown Brothers' behind them (who my wife worked for, for a while) on Carliol Square . . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/ChapmansandBrownBrothers-1972.jpg

PHOTOS, courtesy of the "Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM" - http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Chapmans&w=39821974%40N06

Would that be with or without HMV?

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/hmv_newcastle_graham_soult.jpg

I guess you're surmising that the HMV building could be a suitable spot for Forever 21?

Certainly, the property has had quite a fascinating history over the years, and while it's perhaps best known as the former Callers (well discussed in these forums before), there is a more recent precedent for it being a fashion flagship - under the shortlived 'New Lewis's' brand.

I did some digging around in the local studies library last year, and came up with the following timeline (there's a lot more detail in the newspaper articles I found, which I hope to share here and/or in a blog in due course):


Early 1980s: Callers closed
March 1984: Callers building sold to Heron Group (10% of space leased to Dixons)
(1985: HMV trading at that time from what is now Superdrug, further down Northumberland Street)
February 1985: Opening of The Place announced by Foster Brothers – a “new look fashion superstore” in 90% of the former Callers property
1 May 1985: The Place opened – 40,000 sq ft, four floors, with fashions, café and salon
17 July 1985: Closure of The Place announced following Sears’ acquisition of Foster Brothers
August 1985: The Place closed; store refurbishment as part of conversion to Lewis’s trial smaller store format – a fashion and sports shop for men, women and children, including designer names, and also selling perfume, cosmetics, jewellery and accessories. Also a hairdressing salon. 40,000 sq ft over four floors (LG, G, 1, 2). Restaurant on second floor. Lewis’s tenth store at the time (others in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, Blackpool, Hanley).
October 1985: The New Lewis’s opened
January 1987: The New Lewis’s closure announced
February 1987: The New Lewis’s closed
20 February 1987: Lease taken over by Hamleys
June 1988: Closure of Hamleys announced; store to become Poundstretcher


Basically, Lewis’s lasted only from October 1985 to February 1987 – but still longer than Hamleys after it, and certainly longer than The Place before it.

I’m yet to find out how long Poundstretcher lasted (assuming that did happen), and when HMV moved in - I guess that's something to discuss further in the retail memories thread!

I should have flagged up that Oxford Street's Forever 21 is in a property recently acquired from HMV:

http://www.retail-week.com/property/updated-forever-21-confirms-it-will-open-in-londons-oxford-street/5019398.article?referrer=RSS

I think HMV basically received an offer for the lease they couldn't refuse - so there is a precedent there!

A little hypothetical, but you have to assume that if another retailer ever took over the present HMV, HMV would still want to have a (smaller) presence in Newcastle city centre. It's interesting to consider where a suitable location might be, given that Newcastle - unlike some other big cities - doesn't have a second, smaller HMV already.


As mentioned recently on the 'Retail Memories' thread, HMV in Newcastle started off as "EMI Records and Tapes" in a much smaller shop on the ground floor of Pearl Assurance House, taking part of the 'Waring & Gillow' space.

While still in the small shop, they changed their name to HMV, as shown on this plan . . .


Northumberland Street Retail - 1978.

This is an interesting historical document, a plan of Northumberland Street showing exactly what shops were in place at 'a frozen moment in time' in 1978.

This plan is in the book "The Ins & Outs of Newcastle upon Tyne", which was produced as a specific guide for disabled access to (mainly) City Centre commercial premises, including Pubs, Restaurants and Shops.

It was very good for what it was produced for at the time (1978) but now 33 years later, it has become a useful historical record of what was around in the City Centre, at that point in time.

This plan shows Northumberland street as it was during those long years (both before and after this particular year) when it was the richest shopping street in the UK (in 'revenue per square foot') after London's Oxford Street.


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%202/NorthumberlandStreetShopsPlans-1978.jpg

.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/hmv_newcastle_graham_soult.jpg

I guess you're surmising that the HMV building could be a suitable spot for Forever 21?

Certainly, the property has had quite a fascinating history over the years, and while it's perhaps best known as the former Callers (well discussed in these forums before), there is a more recent precedent for it being a fashion flagship - under the shortlived 'New Lewis's' brand.

I did some digging around in the local studies library last year, and came up with the following timeline (there's a lot more detail in the newspaper articles I found, which I hope to share here and/or in a blog in due course):


Early 1980s: Callers closed
March 1984: Callers building sold to Heron Group (10% of space leased to Dixons)
(1985: HMV trading at that time from what is now Superdrug, further down Northumberland Street)
February 1985: Opening of The Place announced by Foster Brothers – a “new look fashion superstore” in 90% of the former Callers property
1 May 1985: The Place opened – 40,000 sq ft, four floors, with fashions, café and salon
17 July 1985: Closure of The Place announced following Sears’ acquisition of Foster Brothers
August 1985: The Place closed; store refurbishment as part of conversion to Lewis’s trial smaller store format – a fashion and sports shop for men, women and children, including designer names, and also selling perfume, cosmetics, jewellery and accessories. Also a hairdressing salon. 40,000 sq ft over four floors (LG, G, 1, 2). Restaurant on second floor. Lewis’s tenth store at the time (others in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, Blackpool, Hanley).
October 1985: The New Lewis’s opened
January 1987: The New Lewis’s closure announced
February 1987: The New Lewis’s closed
20 February 1987: Lease taken over by Hamleys
June 1988: Closure of Hamleys announced; store to become Poundstretcher


Basically, Lewis’s lasted only from October 1985 to February 1987 – but still longer than Hamleys after it, and certainly longer than The Place before it.

I’m yet to find out how long Poundstretcher lasted (assuming that did happen), and when HMV moved in - I guess that's something to discuss further in the retail memories thread!

Wasn't it Mark One after Hamleys closed? Or am I thinking of somewhere else?

There's a fascinating store room on (I think) the top floor of HMV, with a black and white tiled floor, and what looks like the remains of a cafe/bar area. Not sure what iteration of the store it comes from. Callers is before my time - was there an upstairs cafe?

Edit - just reread your post and noticed the mention of a restaurant on the second floor of Lewis's. I presume that must be it.

Wasn't it Mark One after Hamleys closed? Or am I thinking of somewhere else?.

You could well be right - I have a recollection of reading that somewhere before.

In my archive search, the records went as far as Hamleys departing, with a reference in an old Journal article to Poundstretcher (then apparently owned by the same company as Hamleys, Harris Queensway) moving in. I've yet to unpack exactly what other movements took place between Hamleys going and HMV arriving!

Graham Soult, (or anyone else who can help)

as you are our local Woolies expert could you please help me to identify where this photo is taken? Some people think it may be Morpeth's Woolies.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Pictures-Of-Newcastles-WEST-END-categorized/150729531607278?ref=nf#!/photo.php?fbid=173051756041722&set=a.173054609374770.45070.150729531607278

Cheers
GBDT


Graham,

Did you ever find Morpeth Woolworths?

Here it is, in a copy of Ward Lock's Newcastle Illustrated Guide Book from 1950 . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/WoolworthBridgeStreetMorpeth1950_0002.jpg

Graham,

Did you ever find Morpeth Woolworths?

Here it is, in a copy of Ward Lock's Newcastle Illustrated Guide Book from 1950 . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/WoolworthBridgeStreetMorpeth1950_0002.jpg

It's hardly changed.

It's hardly changed.

Yes, I often go to Morpeth so it's one of the first ex-Woolies I photographed!

It was store #439, and opened c.1931.

Here's a recent (December 2009) view:

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/woolworths_morpeth_graham_soult2.jpg

Source: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2009/12/16/one-day-ten-former-woolies-one-tired-blogger/

Yes, I often go to Morpeth so it's one of the first ex-Woolies I photographed!

It was store #439, and opened c.1931.


The closed-down Woolies store can be seen on Google Street View, with a "New Iceland store coming soon" sign.

The closed-down Woolies store can be seen on Google Street View, with a "New Iceland store coming soon" sign.

Google Street View's quite fun for this kind of thing - I remember seeing at least one place where the ex-Woolies appears as a Poundland, but you view it from the other direction and it mutates back into a Woolworths again!

Seriously though, I've found it a great tool for checking out the location of old Woolies before actually visiting them in person.

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/hmv_newcastle_graham_soult.jpg

I guess you're surmising that the HMV building could be a suitable spot for Forever 21?

Certainly, the property has had quite a fascinating history over the years, and while it's perhaps best known as the former Callers (well discussed in these forums before), there is a more recent precedent for it being a fashion flagship - under the shortlived 'New Lewis's' brand.

I did some digging around in the local studies library last year, and came up with the following timeline (there's a lot more detail in the newspaper articles I found, which I hope to share here and/or in a blog in due course):


Early 1980s: Callers closed
March 1984: Callers building sold to Heron Group (10% of space leased to Dixons)
(1985: HMV trading at that time from what is now Superdrug, further down Northumberland Street)
February 1985: Opening of The Place announced by Foster Brothers – a “new look fashion superstore” in 90% of the former Callers property
1 May 1985: The Place opened – 40,000 sq ft, four floors, with fashions, café and salon
17 July 1985: Closure of The Place announced following Sears’ acquisition of Foster Brothers
August 1985: The Place closed; store refurbishment as part of conversion to Lewis’s trial smaller store format – a fashion and sports shop for men, women and children, including designer names, and also selling perfume, cosmetics, jewellery and accessories. Also a hairdressing salon. 40,000 sq ft over four floors (LG, G, 1, 2). Restaurant on second floor. Lewis’s tenth store at the time (others in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, Blackpool, Hanley).
October 1985: The New Lewis’s opened
January 1987: The New Lewis’s closure announced
February 1987: The New Lewis’s closed
20 February 1987: Lease taken over by Hamleys
June 1988: Closure of Hamleys announced; store to become Poundstretcher


Basically, Lewis’s lasted only from October 1985 to February 1987 – but still longer than Hamleys after it, and certainly longer than The Place before it.

I’m yet to find out how long Poundstretcher lasted (assuming that did happen), and when HMV moved in - I guess that's something to discuss further in the retail memories thread!

Fascinating stuff.

As a teenager I remember quite a buzz surrounding The Place. Didn't realise it was there for such a short time. Shows how time stretches when you are a kid/teenager.

Mawson Swan & Morgan Ltd
Grey Street (corner with Hood Street)
Newcastle upon Tyne


One of the great "Newcastle" shops.


Mawson Swan & Morgan were one of my select band of famous Newcastle Shops that always made me realise (after I had been on my travels) that I was truly back in Newcastle when I went into them.

That short list of shops included Fenwicks, Callers, Isaac Waltons, and J G Windows record shop, and (for me) that was about it! Happily, two out of the four are still with us here in 2011!

So, I think Mawson Swan & Morgan definitely deserves a bit of coverage on this 'Retail Memories' thread . . .


The Mawson Swan & Morgan LOGO, from the 1970s onward . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanMorgan_0004.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanandMorgan-PaperBag002.jpg


In 1978, I remember, Mawsons celebrated reaching 100 years of retailing in Newcastle.

The following narrative comes from the typed up 'working notes' of a member of Mawsons staff, who was deputed to research the origins of the company at the time of the mentioned 1978 Centenary. She used the company records, which are now deposited in Tyne & Wear Archives at Blandford House (part of the Discovery Museum) for much of her research, to which I have added a couple of photos, when appropriate . . .


Mawson, Swan & Morgan Ltd grew out of a partnership between Joseph Swan, Elizabeth Mawson (his widowed sister - her husband John Mawson having been killed in an explosion on the Town Moor in 17.12.1867) and Joseph Marston. Exactly how this partnership came about I've been unable to establish precisely. As far as I can make out Swan and John Mawson had been in partnership with several businesses bearing their surnames. I have some less detailed notes about them, too. Swan had a finger in several pies.

After John Mawson's death Joseph Marston was brought into partnership about 1868-9. Elizabeth Mawson's partnership dated from 1868. Marston was primarily a bookseller with a circulating library, but was also a chemist.

The earliest account books that can still be traced indicate Thomas Morgan arrived from Belfast before October 1873, probably earlier that year. His father died in Belfast in 1874, so what brought him to Newcastle is uncertain. Elizabeth Mawson was a sleeping partner, the business serving the purpose of providing her with an income. Swan also was soon a sleeping partner, the business quickly being taken over and run by the dynamic Thomas Morgan. This allowed Swan to concentrate on his scientific work.

Thomas Morgan was present at the lecture in the Lit & Phil on 20th October 1880 with Sir William Armstrong in the chair. 70 gas jets were dimmed, and 20 electric light bulbs were turned on. This was the first time in Europe that a public building had been lighted by an incandescent lamp. Morgan had been sent to London immediately prior to this lecture to bring Col. Crompton that night to see the event.

The shop business grew, with a printing works, a publishing side, an art gallery, leather goods (Morgan's father was a leather merchant) books and the circulating library - and a theatrical agency. At one time there were shops in Bristol and Hull, with exhibitions of paintings arranged throughout the country.

What many people do not know, is that (in addition to their famous 'Grey Street' store) Mawsons also had an 'artists materials shop and art gallery' in nearby Grainger Street. At 58-62 Grainger street, to be precise . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/58-62GraingerSt1935.jpg

This is what 58-62 Grainger Street look like today (in 2011) . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonsGraingerSt-Today.jpg

In the early days though, the main shop in Grey Street were not originally where most of us remember them as being (in 2011, the former Waterstones building, now H & M) but were lower down Grey Street, in some rented buildings, before the move into their famous premises on the corner of Hood Street.

Within the family the business was known as "Mawsons". The telegraphic address was "Morgan Newcastle-on-Tyne".

Eventually, Swan bowed out and left things to young Thomas.

Examination of the local press shows some dynamic advertising, well ahead of it's time - special offers and promotions. I believe Thomas Morgan had an uncle Charles Morgan who had operated in a similar way with shops in Belfast and Dublin before giving it all up to become the first Baptist minister in Jarrow.

Why did Thomas Morgan come to Newcastle? I wish I knew. However, Swan kept so much within the family. Mawson, Swan & Morgan - himself, and his sister.

Swan remarried after his first wife died, to his first wife's sister - in Switzerland because it was illegal at that time in England. A third sister lived with them. His wife's maiden surname was White. Thomas Morgan's mother was also a White - and he married another girl named White. I believe there may well have been a family connection - but that remains speculation, shrouded in Irish mystery.


So, that is the end of the 1978 research notes, but amongst my own records I have some other documentation relating to 1978. A "Mawson Swan & Morgan Centenary Newspaper Supplement", from which the following articles all come . . .


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Mawsons1878to1978Centenary001.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Mawsons1878to1978Centenary002.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanMorgan_0001.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanMorgan_0004a.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanMorgan_0003.jpg

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanMorgan_0005.jpg


Some typical examples of Mawsons product range. Some ADVERTS from the 1978 Centenary Supplement . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanMorgan_0002.jpg


I have a small "souvenir" of Mawson Swan & Morgan - one of their paper bags inscribed with their logo . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanandMorgan-PaperBag002.jpg


Now, here are two aerial photos of the Grey Street shop, the second one of which was taken after they had closed down. One thing that both of these photos do show clearly (as do most of the other photos shown later in this post) is the run of "Ornamental Lamposts" outside the shop.

These were placed at the edge of the original pavement, and were installed and funded by Mawsons themselves. They are still there today.

1981 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanandMorgan-1981.jpg

Circa 2000 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Monument201.jpg


Some more HISTORIC photos of Mawson Swan & Morgan's Grey Street shop, over the years.

1916 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonsHoodSt1916.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/Mawsonsshop.jpg

During the 1935 King George V Silver Jubilee . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/1935KingGeorgeVSilverJubilee.jpg

1953, during the Coronation celebrations . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/1953CornationYear.jpg

Looking along Hood Street, in 1966 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/1966.jpg


Finally, this is an advert from 1950, from the Ward Lock Illustrated Handbook of Newcastle and Northumberland, of that year . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MawsonSwanandMorganLtdadvert-1950.jpg


So, a bit of information about one of my personal favourite shops of the past. All items and photos that are not my own, are from the Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM Website - http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=39821974@N06&q=Mawson+Swan+%26+Morgan&m=text

NB - If there is any more information or photos about Mawson Swan & Morgan out there . . . I (for one) would LOVE to see it!!

.

Mawson Swan & Morgan Ltd
One of the great "Newcastle" shops.

Mawson Swan & Morgan were one of my select band of famous Newcastle Shops that always made me realise (after I had been on my travels) that I was truly back in Newcastle when I went into them.

That short list of shops included Fenwicks, Callers, Isaac Waltons, and J G Windows record shop, and (for me) that was about it! Happily, two out of the four are still with us here in 2011!

So, I think Mawson Swan & Morgan definitely deserves a bit of coverage on this 'Retail Memories' thread . . .

In 1978, I remember, Mawsons celebrated reaching 100 years of retailing in Newcastle.

If there is any more information or photos about Mawson Swan & Morgan out there . . . I (for one) would LOVE to see it!!

What a great collection of Ephemera on this subject - I think that in addition to the main Partnership of Mawson, Swan and Morgan, there is so much history about each person individually that would probably deserve a thread to itself :)

NB - If there is any more information or photos about Mawson Swan & Morgan out there . . . I (for one) would LOVE to see it!!

.

From the P&T Image Archive for NH.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5565666225_61c1ec73b8.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5565662931_c4381e4fac.jpg

Cheers
GBDT

http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/hmv_newcastle_graham_soult.jpg

I guess you're surmising that the HMV building could be a suitable spot for Forever 21?

Certainly, the property has had quite a fascinating history over the years, and while it's perhaps best known as the former Callers (well discussed in these forums before), there is a more recent precedent for it being a fashion flagship - under the shortlived 'New Lewis's' brand.

I did some digging around in the local studies library last year, and came up with the following timeline (there's a lot more detail in the newspaper articles I found, which I hope to share here and/or in a blog in due course):


Early 1980s: Callers closed
March 1984: Callers building sold to Heron Group (10% of space leased to Dixons)
(1985: HMV trading at that time from what is now Superdrug, further down Northumberland Street)
February 1985: Opening of The Place announced by Foster Brothers – a “new look fashion superstore” in 90% of the former Callers property
1 May 1985: The Place opened – 40,000 sq ft, four floors, with fashions, café and salon
17 July 1985: Closure of The Place announced following Sears’ acquisition of Foster Brothers
August 1985: The Place closed; store refurbishment as part of conversion to Lewis’s trial smaller store format – a fashion and sports shop for men, women and children, including designer names, and also selling perfume, cosmetics, jewellery and accessories. Also a hairdressing salon. 40,000 sq ft over four floors (LG, G, 1, 2). Restaurant on second floor. Lewis’s tenth store at the time (others in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, Blackpool, Hanley).
October 1985: The New Lewis’s opened
January 1987: The New Lewis’s closure announced
February 1987: The New Lewis’s closed
20 February 1987: Lease taken over by Hamleys
June 1988: Closure of Hamleys announced; store to become Poundstretcher


Basically, Lewis’s lasted only from October 1985 to February 1987 – but still longer than Hamleys after it, and certainly longer than The Place before it.

I’m yet to find out how long Poundstretcher lasted (assuming that did happen), and when HMV moved in - I guess that's something to discuss further in the retail memories thread!


I can't remember it being made into a Poundstretcher but as mentioned earlier it definitely became Mark One after Hamleys.

One thing you haven't mentioned about the shop was the fact that Virgin used to operate from the basement when it was Hamleys (and I think Mark One too). I don't know when this arrangement started but I guess it finished when Virgin moved its other store from Eldon Square to the new megastore on the corner of Northumberland St/Blackett St.

I have fond memories of the basement Virgin. Some of it still exists in the basement of HMV but only a fraction of the size.

F

From the P&T Image Archive for NH.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5565666225_61c1ec73b8.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5565662931_c4381e4fac.jpg

Cheers
GBDT


I wondered if you would have anything GBDT, I thought you might!

The shot of the main shop is a good-un, but to see another view of the rarely photographed Grainger Street shop, is great.

Thanks for those!

I can't remember it being made into a Poundstretcher but as mentioned earlier it definitely became Mark One after Hamleys.

One thing you haven't mentioned about the shop was the fact that Virgin used to operate from the basement when it was Hamleys (and I think Mark One too). I don't know when this arrangement started but I guess it finished when Virgin moved its other store from Eldon Square to the new megastore on the corner of Northumberland St/Blackett St.

I have fond memories of the basement Virgin. Some of it still exists in the basement of HMV but only a fraction of the size.

F

Thanks for this extra info! It seems that the building has had an even more complex history than I thought.

Out of interest, where was the old Virgin in Eldon Square? I was aware that one had existed prior to Virgin taking over the former Woolworths/Next (now Peacocks) site, but not its location.

Out of interest, where was the old Virgin in Eldon Square? I was aware that one had existed prior to Virgin taking over the former Woolworths/Next (now Peacocks) site, but not its location.


In 1986 Virgin Records were still in their Eldon Square location (per the 85/86 Map, below) which was on High Friars, virtually opposite WH Smith . . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/EldonSquareMap-1985to86.jpg


High Friars enlarged . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/EldonSquareMap-1985to86a.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/8586ESShopsList.jpg

There aren't many of the original tenants left are there !

There aren't many of the original tenants left are there !


Mind, these were not actually the original tenants.

In the ten and a bit years prior to the date of the 1986 plan shown, a great deal of changes of shops had already taken place within the Eldon Square Shopping Centre!

Fascinating thread - it would be good to see articles on other North-East stores such as Shepherd's in Gateshead.

One omission from the Newcastle list is the short-lived Lewis's. An outpost of the famous Liverpool company (and nothing to do with John Lewis) it was a fairly small department store and only existed for a few years in the 1980s, but it occupied a prominent site on Northumberland Street and was, as I recall, rather upmarket.


The very short-lived Lewis's, in the former Callers building on Northumberland Street, was not included (by me, anyway) on this thread, as that branch wasn't really a Department Store.

The Newcastle Store only contained a small selection of the proper Lewis's Department Store range, a bit like the (equally short-lived) Debenhams at Home store in Eldon Gardens in the 1990s did, of the full 'Debenhams' range.

.
Evening Chronicle, Tuesday 29th March 2011 . .
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/29March2011_0003.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/29March2011_0002.jpg


The Evening Chronicle Online - http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/

.

Knew it as both Howards then later as Blundells. One of those mystery buildings - a large, prime(ish) site but stands empty for years!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5248/5373340536_4ca7c13995_b.jpg
P&T Image Archive, NCC

Cheers
GBDT

Don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but there has been a huge red skip parked outside here for the last week or so. Though it's more outside the old Barclay's Bank / Market Hotel building next door, than it is outside the department store. Every time I've walked past it, I've not seen anyone in or out of either building though. Something is being done somewhere though lol

.
Some very early MetroCentre photos, from during construction, that were in todays (Wednesday March 30th 2011) Journal . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MetroCentre1980s_0001.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MetroCentre1980s_0002.jpg

There have been several mentions of record shops on this thread but I can’t remember any reference to Jeavons. When I first started work in the early 60s and had a bit of money in my pocket the Pudding Chare shop was one of my favourite haunts, listening to the latest pop songs through the earphones and later turning to the Jazz collection. I don’t recall buying many but nobody seemed to care how many records you listened to. The shop itself was dingy and old fashioned like most of those on Pudding Chare, Woosters springs to mind, but the staff were real enthusiasts. I was a regular there until Singer’s Sewing Machine shop next to Mark Toney’s on Grainger Street opened a record department and my friend landed the job of manager. He had a tremendous selection of Jazz albums which we used to spend Saturday afternoons listening to. When he left too seek his fortune in London we migrated to Windows in the Arcade. Jeavons also had a shop in Percy Street though I don’t think I was ever in that branch.

There have been several mentions of record shops on this thread but I can’t remember any reference to Jeavons. When I first started work in the early 60s and had a bit of money in my pocket the Pudding Chare shop was one of my favourite haunts, listening to the latest pop songs through the earphones and later turning to the Jazz collection. Jeavons also had a shop in Percy Street though I don’t think I was ever in that branch.


It's the Percy Street shop that I remember the most, taken here in 1972 alongside a few other 'retail memories' from the 70s, at the Percy Street entrance to Handyside Arcade . .

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/4078206709_11bcf7e8aa_o.jpg

Photo courtesy of Newcastle City Council / City Libraries PHOTOSTREAM - http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/4078206709_11bcf7e8aa_o.jpg

Thanks for this extra info! It seems that the building has had an even more complex history than I thought.

Out of interest, where was the old Virgin in Eldon Square? I was aware that one had existed prior to Virgin taking over the former Woolworths/Next (now Peacocks) site, but not its location.

I remember it had both floors but technically had three stories as it had a small part between floors that used to have videos in it in the late 80s. The larger first floor was records, posters etc and the smaller ground floor was CDs which were just becoming popular then.

The first floor site was where specsavers is now, next to Game.

As you can tell I used to frequent a lot of record shops in the late 80s!

F

.
Some very early MetroCentre photos, from during construction, that were in todays (Wednesday March 30th 2011) Journal . .

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MetroCentre1980s_0001.jpg


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv345/manorpark_photos/Newcastle%203/MetroCentre1980s_0002.jpg

Great find Newcastle Historian and great pics. I really miss Metroland, sad I know!

F

^^

You are not alone there!

Metroland was something of a 'unique' facility, in a shopping centre, and I know of a lot of other people who miss it!

The Metroland rollercoaster was the first one I ever went on!

The Metroland rollercoaster was the first one I ever went on!

Same here. I'm not a big fan of rollercoasters (I'm a bit of a wimp) but that one was brilliant.
I loved the ship too and that mini ferris wheel.