RETAIL MEMORIES : from times past in Newcastle and the North East

[bigchrisfgb]

Originally Posted by AngerOfTheNorth

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.

[Newcastle Historian]

Originally Posted by AngerOfTheNorth

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.

[cranfan]

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'.

image hosted on flickr

052056:Eldon Square Shopping Centre Newcastle upon Tyne City Engineers 1976 by Newcastle Libraries, on Flickr

[BigLebowski]

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...

[toonlad]

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.

[ferret88]

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

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

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

F

[WilfBurnsFan]

Originally Posted by toonlad

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)

[GrahamSoult]

Originally Posted by ferret88

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:

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.

[GrahamSoult]

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

Pic from October 2009. Source: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/20...ocentre-today/

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by GrahamSoult

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

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

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by WilfBurnsFan

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?

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?

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by GrahamSoult

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

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 ). 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

[GrahamSoult]

Originally Posted by ferret88

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_wh...ry_of_whsmith/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowes_%26_Bowes

I have no recollection of it though!

[paddytoonleics]

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

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by GrahamSoult

Apparently it was a bookshop owned by WHSmith:
http://www.whsmithplc.co.uk/about_wh...ry_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

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by Newcastle Historian

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



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 . . .




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 . . .



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?

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

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

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

[jkkne]

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!

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by jkkne

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

[ferret88]

Originally Posted by jkkne

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!

[jkkne]

Originally Posted by ferret88

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!

It's modern art dontcha know

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