St James' Park

[Jackie Broon]

6 minutes ago, Ben said:

 

Yie ar Kung Fu and Summer Games were brutal on joy sticks 

 

Nothing compared to Daley Thompson's Decathlon on rubber spectrum keys.

[Wallsendmag]

52 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Nothing compared to Daley Thompson's Decathlon on rubber spectrum keys.

 

Went through 3 Spectrum 48 keyboards from playing that game alone.

[TomYam]

10 hours ago, Ben said:

 

Was it built around the green market or did that come after 

The Green Market existed for centuries, but it moved to the site on Clayton Street opposite Grainger Market when the new town centre was planned and built in the 1830s. It was given a permanent home on the same site when Eldon Square opened in 1976. Demolished in 2007ish. Big shame as it was very popular and had lots of useful small independent units. Newcatle's shopping scene has definitely become much more uniform, faceless and anodyne over the years. Sigh. 

[NG32]

1 hour ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Nothing compared to Daley Thompson's Decathlon on rubber spectrum keys.

California games was mint with varying different types of challenges. 

 

[Colos Short and Curlies]

2 hours ago, NG32 said:

Man the time i spent in those places

I used to go through Joy Sticks like no ones business.   The most robust Joy Stick was the Atari one, they were unbreakable. 

 

The staff used to get sick of me returning them. 

 

The Zip Stick was a game changer

[Dr.Spaceman]

8 minutes ago, NG32 said:

California games was mint with varying different types of challenges. 

 

 

Loved that game, although I had no idea what I was doing with the half-pipe and the surfing.

[Dr Jinx]

15 hours ago, DiddyLevine said:

There is no true beauty without decay ...

Montague H Withnail

 

I mean to have that stadium.. even if it must be burglary

[Kid Icarus]

The pang of excitement I got from seeing a photo of Charlie's Games man

 

Spent more of less every weekend there from 13 to 15 and almost made it my goal to be as girlfriend-less as possible. Halcyon days though. 

[AJ9]

Is the circular cafe in eldon square still there, the one with the walk way off John Lewis? Also, what the fuck was John Lewis called before it was John Lewis?

[manorpark]

11 hours ago, Ben said:

 

Was it built around the green market or did that come after 

 

Pre-construction poster . . . 

 

[Keegans Export]

3 minutes ago, AJ9 said:

Is the circular cafe in eldon square still there, the one with the walk way off John Lewis? Also, what the fuck was John Lewis called before it was John Lewis?

Bainbridge's wasn't it?

[Jackie Broon]

3 minutes ago, AJ9 said:

Is the circular cafe in eldon square still there, the one with the walk way off John Lewis? Also, what the fuck was John Lewis called before it was John Lewis?

 

Bainbridge's

[manorpark]

3 minutes ago, AJ9 said:

Is the circular cafe in eldon square still there, the one with the walk way off John Lewis? Also, what the fuck was John Lewis called before it was John Lewis?

 

Bainbridge Department Store . . . 

[manorpark]

Prior to its 1976 re-location into the Eldon Square Shopping Centre, Bainbridge Department Store was located in Market Street.

 

Bainbridge ("Bainbridges" as most people called it) had actually been taken over by John Lewis in 1953, and had traded as "Bainbridge a branch of the John Lewis Partnership" from that date onward.

 

Bainbridge Department Store of Newcastle was also the VERY FIRST actual Department Store in the world - https://www.skyscrapercity.com/posts/46413021/

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2024 by manorpark

[ponsaelius]

11 hours ago, TomYam said:

I think you're both right. Eldon Square was hugely important to Newcastle and was a real shot in the arm for the local economy.

On the other hand, it could have been designed more sympathetically - particularly with regard to retaining all 3 sides of Old Eldon Square.

 

 

Yep, this is it. But I don't think people realise how difficult a lot of old buildings are to adapt to new uses. Retail demands changed so dramatically in a short space of time - and most of that demolished wasn't usable for what people wanted. Same story with the old city hall and the new civic centre - the old city hall was completely unfit for purpose (not that it necessarily should have been knocked down). Ultimately cities do need to be vehicles for the economy and society more than they do museum pieces - it is a balance.

 

In hindsight some form of facadism might have been a good compromise to retaining the historic appearance of old Eldon Square - but it would have been far more expensive I would say. And that option certainly wasn't in vogue at the time.

[TheGuv]

The buildings were compulsory purchased - I'm not sure how many buildings in Eldon Square would have been retail shops anyway?

[AJ9]

36 minutes ago, manorpark said:

 

Bainbridge Department Store . . . 

That’s it!

[Abacus]

Used to love hanging round Eldon square when I was a kid. Must be a sign of age though, that now I mainly avoid it and would much rather have had a wander around the area before those old buildings/ streets were demolished to make way for it instead.

 

On St James's, I'm not particularly attached to the building itself. I realise some are, but it's more the pitch I'm attached to and also the area it's in. I realise the practical problems with staying but if there's some very ingenious rebuild plan no-one has been able to think of, or preferably one that involves only a short relocation, either would be what I'd emotionally prefer. So, a curse on you Leazes Terrace, even if that makes me a massive hypocrite about not demolishing old buildings when talking about Eldon Square just before 

 

The Arena site would be a very clear third, and out of the city centre a definite no-no. On that last one, I think it symbolises east and west Newcastle clubs being joined together in the middle, so I think the location has a historic importance for that reason if nothing else. Though I'm probably talking guff there. But I know I'm not talking guff about the trudge through town through the same streets being part of the ritual and experience of going there.

 

 

Edited October 17, 2024 by Abacus

[NG32]

1 hour ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

Loved that game, although I had no idea what I was doing with the half-pipe and the surfing.

Totally, just seemed to wiggle the joy stick and occasionally get the odd move. 

 

Hacky sack was canny as well. 

[TomYam]

59 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Used to love hanging round Eldon square when I was a kid. Must be a sign of age though, that now I mainly avoid it and would much rather have had a wander around the area before those old buildings/ streets were demolished to make way for it instead.

 

On St James's, I'm not particularly attached to the building itself. I realise some are, but it's more the pitch I'm attached to and also the area it's in. I realise the practical problems with staying but if there's some very ingenious rebuild plan no-one has been able to think of, or preferably one that involves only a short relocation, either would be what I'd emotionally prefer. So, a curse on you Leazes Terrace, even if that makes me a massive hypocrite about not demolishing old buildings when talking about Eldon Square just before 

 

The Arena site would be a very clear third, and out of the city centre a definite no-no. On that last one, I think it symbolises east and west Newcastle clubs being joined together in the middle, so I think the location has a historic importance for that reason if nothing else. Though I'm probably talking guff there. But I know I'm not talking guff about the trudge through town through the same streets being part of the ritual and experience of going there.

 

 

 

Leazes Terrace was built about 45 years before a football ground made its home beside it. So leaving aesthetics and legals to one side, that lovely old Georgian pile wins out on lineage.

 

Newcastle West End were, of course, the original club to make St.James's Park home. Newcastle East End (formerly Stanley FC) played on the Heaton/Baker border. East End is the precursor to NUFC as West End went bust and East End simply upped sicks and moved into the newly vacant and superior St.James's. The club changed its name to Newcastle United in 1892 but, in reality, the club was formed in 1881 with the formation of East End. In other words, our original home is Byker/Heaton. Perhaps the romantics would seek a return to that area? 

 

On the development of Newcastle city centre, Ponsaelius is obviously correct in his assertions that old building can be difficult to adapt to different uses and expensive to incorporate into new schemes. I'd simply argue that it depends on the quality and group value/setting of said building(s).

The old Town Hall was correctly demolished as it had no grouping and had limited merit architecturally (although it incorporated the Georgian Corn Exchange, which imo should have been retained), and would have been devilishly expense to renovate (it was falling apart) - correct decision to demolish.

Old Eldon Square was an intrinsic part of Grainger's new town - honeyed stone, beautiful group setting, fine classical architecture. Repurposing those terrace buildings - if needed at all - would have been easy enough; they just wouldn't have housed C&A, BHS, HMV or Boots. Eldon Square shopping centre - which has serviced the city so well - could have been routed in a way that didn't have such a negative effect on Newcastle's townscape and heritage.

[RS]

could copy the old Bainbridges ufo restaurant as a blueprint for the new St James’ Park. Stilts high enough to clear the old terrace but not so high as to leave the atmosphere. 

[Cookie1892]

6 hours ago, OpenC said:

Not sure where that started, always assumed it was Grainger Street or Grainger Market but i was never sure.  Charlie's and Woody's in Alnwick were where it was at for the north Northumberland gamer of the early 21st century.

 

 

 

 

 

We always used to get games released early in there

 

If you told them HMV were selling the new fifa or medal of honour etc they would sell you it a few days early

 

Halcyon Days

[TRon]

14 hours ago, TomYam said:

I think you're both right. Eldon Square was hugely important to Newcastle and was a real shot in the arm for the local economy.

On the other hand, it could have been designed more sympathetically - particularly with regard to retaining all 3 sides of Old Eldon Square.

 

 

It was a state of the art shopping centre of it's time, and everyone loved it. So this is hindsight obviously, but newer shopping centres have roofs which allow light in which makes the experience far nicer. I haven't been there in ages, but pretty sure some of the newer sections of Eldon Square have incorporated this.

[TomYam]

33 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

It was a state of the art shopping centre of it's time, and everyone loved it. So this is hindsight obviously, but newer shopping centres have roofs which allow light in which makes the experience far nicer. I haven't been there in ages, but pretty sure some of the newer sections of Eldon Square have incorporated this.

True. Also, it's worth mentioning that if Eldon Square hadn't been built, John Hall's Metro Centre would have had a devastatingly negative impact on Newcastle's shopping scene. Not that he'd have cared, of course. 

Eldon Garden is a different matter altogether as it always seemed overkill, was never successful and - worst of all - brought about the destruction of the unique and countercultural Handyside Arcade. I have no doubt that had The Handyside lived on into the 1990s it'd have been renovated and be a magnet for the young and leftfield to this day. 🥲

 

[pinkeye]

7 minutes ago, TomYam said:

True. Also, it's worth mentioning that if Eldon Square hadn't been built, John Hall's Metro Centre would have had a devastatingly negative impact on Newcastle's shopping scene. Not that he'd have cared, of course. 

Eldon Garden is a different matter altogether as it always seemed overkill, was never successful and - worst of all - brought about the destruction of the unique and countercultural Handyside Arcade. I have no doubt that had The Handyside lived on into the 1990s it'd have been renovated and be a magnet for the young and leftfield to this day. 🥲

 

 

There is a Facebook page for people to share memories of Handyside Arcade.  As a Yoof I spent so much time mooching about in the vintage clothing shops and the record / magazine places.