Fifty years separate these two views of the Cloth Market in Newcastle city centre.
Our older view takes us back to 1972, while our modern view shows a recent scene from 2022. Back in time, the Cloth Market was one of several medieval Newcastle markets clustered around St Nicholas’ church (later cathedral) on the route of the Great North Road. Popular fairs were held there every August and October when linen and blankets were sold ahead of the impending winter.
The area at different times was also home to the Flesh Market and Fish Market, and traders found the nearby Lort Burn - which is now culverted and ran down where Grey Street and Grey Street stand today - handy for throwing animal and human waste into. It smelled badly, apparently!
Apart from some cosmetic differences, the architecture on the right of our 1972 photograph remains relatively unchanged. One noticeable difference is the Midland Bank building which is today home to the 1970s-themed Flares nightspot. There was a bank at this spot, on the corner of Mosley Street and the Cloth Market, from 1897 until Midland closed for business there in 1983.
Meanwhile, the tatty-looking building on the left - a long-standing Newcastle bone of contention - was soon to be bulldozed. This was the old Town Hall, built on the site of Middle Street which was itself demolished in 1858. While much of the Victorian-built city centre was a source of pride, the Town Hall - designed by architect John Johnstone - was never popular. One critic moaned: "Looked at from the Bigg Market, the entire pile has a most mean and beggarly appearance. A tower has been erected which suggests the idea of a pigeon ducket."
Things could have been different. Builder Richard Grainger - the man largely responsible for many of the central Newcastle streets we know and love today - promised to redevelop the frontages of the Cloth and Groat Markets and redevelop the area between them as an open space. Grainger's plan was turned down by the council by 32 votes to 17. The Town Hall which was built there would soon become Newcastle's most unloved building. The renowned Roman Wall scholar Dr Collingwood Bruce dismissed the site as "a huge pile of of buildings of modern erection which greatly impedes the traffic of the street and almost totally obscures the view of St Nicholas".
Completed in 1863, the Town Hall was home to Newcastle’s seat of local government from the mid-19th century until the opening of the new Civic Centre in the late 1960s. Bizarrely, it was also the scene of the country’s first dog show in 1859. Just over a century later, in 1965, it renewed its acquaintance with animals. Those of a certain age may recall the winter zoo which housed lions, tigers, monkeys, exotic birds and snakes.
In the meantime, the old building had been left to rot. Its tower had been demolished back in the 1930s. A report from November 1965 declared: “Newcastle’s old Town Hall is a monstrosity to begin with, but now derelict, dilapidated and filthy, it’s a nightmare.” The Town Hall was demolished in 1973 and replaced by a period-design office, shop and leisure complex, One Cathedral Square.
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Then and Now: All change at the western entrance to Newcastle city centre
