The rapid rise and fall of Gateshead's 1960s-built Trinity Square is well-chronicled.
But when this image was captured 50 years ago, hopes were still high for the recently-built shopping centre and its adjoining multi-storey car park. In the event, the complex failed to prosper and decline came relatively quickly.
In some ways, the demise of the area seemed almost a perfect fit for the downbeat narrative that had long surrounded Gateshead. Historically, the town had had its detractors. The famous Dr Johnson in the 18th century dismissed it as “a dirty lane leading to Newcastle”. Two centuries later, in 1934, the writer JB Priestley wrote “no true civilisation could have produced such a town”, adding that it appeared to have been designed “by an enemy of the human race”.
READ MORE: How Kielder Water was officially opened 40 years ago
Notwithstanding, back in 1972, when our photograph was taken, the Chronicle was reporting how Gateshead was "acquiring a town centre which it did not really possess before," and that previously its shops had "been strung out inconveniently along West Street and High Street."
Looking at our main picture, on the left we can just about see what was the popular Shephards department store. (It would eventually stop trading to become Shopping City in 1980 - and the building was demolished in 1986). On the right are the shops and outlets of Trinity Square, which included a Rediffusion, a Currys, a Coral betting shop and a Midland Bank among others. The controversial car park, which opened in 1967, towers in the background. It was, we reported, "one of the most aggressive pieces of architecture on Tyneside".
The plan was to encourage trade in the centre of Gateshead. Trinity Square would soon have a Presto supermarket and a new market hall - and there would be a new 30,000 square feet Tesco supermarket opening opposite the precinct in the summer of '72.
Sadly, the expected economic take-off was never realised. The new Metro system which started rolling in 1980 took Tyneside's shoppers straight into Newcastle, while the Metrocentre complex, which opened in 1986, attracted even more customers away from Gateshead town centre.
Trinity Square car park fell into gradual disuse and the shops struggled for footfall. In July 2010, the bulldozers moved in and the whole place was demolished by early October. It had stood for little more than 40 years.
In the last decade or so, the area has been transformed and the hopes, dreams and concrete architecture of the 1960s planners have been consigned to history.
In 2013, a new, re-built Trinity Square complex opened at the heart of Gateshead’s rejuvenated shopping area, boasting leading retailers, big-name chain restaurants, and the state-of-the-art Vue Cinema.
Along with the ongoing major revitalisation of Gateshead Quays, it was another major step in the right direction for the town.
READ NEXT:
Victorian criminal mugshots from the Tyneside of 1871 to 1873
- A dark day in Tyneside history: How 92 men and boys died at Felling 210 years ago
- The Newcastle tower blocks that became 1970s TV 'stars'
- Step back to Butlin's holiday camp, at Filey, North Yorkshire in its 1970s heyday
Glam rock on the rise and teenage T Rex fans at Newcastle City Hall 50 years ago
