It's 50 years since a Chronicle photographer captured these night time scenes in Newcastle.
The images come from a set originally taken for a planned feature on nightlife in the city, which never came to print at the time. We see a barmaid hard at work as a couple get to know each other better in the background, three young women enjoying a night on the town, and one man propped up against the wall, seemingly slightly worse for wear. The photographs were taken on October 22, 1972, in a very different Newcastle.
It was a time before the opening of Eldon Square shopping centre changed the character of the city centre, before the arrival of the Tyne and Wear Metro system revolutionised local public transport, before Newcastle United's St James' Park was totally rebuilt, and when you might grab a cuppa at Carrick's cafe on on Market Street, go to the pictures at the Odeon cinema on Pilgrim Street, and catch a bus home from Worswick Street bus station - all of which are now gone.
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In the news during 1972, a three-day working week and power cuts led to black-outs across the country early in the year; 'the troubles' escalated with bombs exploding in Ulster and on the British mainland, while the ‘Bloody Sunday’ shootings saw tensions rise even further; and, much like today, rocketing prices at the shops were a major source of concern as inflation ran rampant.
For the folk in our photographs captured having a night out in Newcastle 50 years ago, a pint of beer would have cost 13p and 20 cigarettes 27p – figures that many in the country still had to mentally translate into pounds, shillings and pence following decimalisation the previous year.
If you'd fancied a night at the flicks this week in 1972, the ABC in Newcastle was showing The Godfather , which carried an X-rated certificate. For those wanting some nightclub action, there was cabaret at La Dolce Vita with Edwin Heath, while at the Cavendish on Grey Street, Monday night was billed as Crazy Night, and at Change Is on Bath Lane, ladies were given free entry.
It was the golden era of glam rock, but at the top of the singles charts 50 years ago was a rather unlikely song - Mouldy Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon - a family pop group with the 60-year-old mother playing honky-tonk piano. Flying the glam flag in the charts, meanwhile, were Sweet with Wig Wam Bam ; T Rex with Children Of The Revolution ; and David Bowie with John I’m Only Dancing - while on television, at a time when there were just three channels, BBC1 was showing Mastermind , BBC2 featured Alias Smith and Jones , and the highlight on Tyne Tees was Opportunity Knocks .
And that was some of what was going on this week in 1972.
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