History of operations
Tram lines were built into the Tyne Bridge structure and ready for immediate use after the opening ceremony in October 1928. Tram car No. 289 was the last Newcastle tram to run into Gateshead over the Tyne Bridge on Sunday 5 March 1950 at approximately 10.55 pm. The tram lines were subsequently removed, although some vestiges of these remain such as redundant fixings for overhead power lines.
Golden jubilee celebrations were held on 10 October 1978, when one thousand balloons were released into the sky above the Tyne to celebrate the anniversary of the Tyne Bridge. To mark the occasion a cavalcade of vintage vehicles and a procession of people in period dress stopped traffic, re-creating the opening ceremony when King George V declared the bridge open in 1928.
Upon opening, the bridge carried the A1 road. Following the opening of the Tyne Tunnel in 1967 however, the A1 was diverted to the East and the road became the A6127. Following the construction of the Newcastle Western Bypass, the A1 moved again and the bridge was redesignated as the A167 which it remains today.
Eldon Square Shopping Centre was opened in 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II and is named after the original Eldon Square (now known as Old Eldon Square) which the shopping centre was built around. Eldon Square was at the time the biggest indoor shopping mall in Britain, covering a large portion of Newcastle city centre.
The main building is split in two halves, the northern part being separated from the southern part by Blackett Street. The Blackett Bridge walkway, which crosses Blackett Street near Grey's Monument, connects both sides of the centre. Most of the structure is built in textured brown brick and mirror glass.
Some of the shopping malls are named after elements of local culture; notably Chevy Chase is named after the medieval Northumbrian Ballad of Chevy Chase, and Douglas Way is named after the Scottish Earl of douglas who takes a prominent role in the aforementioned ballad. Water features were originally seen in some large courts or squares, however as a result of subsequent renovations, these have all been removed.
On top of the northern part of the building is a car parking deck reached from Percy Street via an eight storey spiral-shaped multi-storey car park and a high concrete bridge. This upper parking deck is reached from the malls by lifts or stairs within the John Lewis Department Store. The flagship Fenwick department store is also attached to the centre.
The Green Market, which was situated in the southern part of the centre was demolished in 2007 as part of redevelopment works. As a result, the market shops, rotisserie and wet fish shop have been relocated to the nearby Grainger Market. The Green Market was also linked to a Safeway supermarket (formerly Presto and originally Hintons) at street level, however this was demolished along with the market.
Above the shopping malls, is a leisure centre called Eldon Leisure. This features various fitness studios, squash courts and a large sports hall, suitable for a range of indoor sports, including basketball and tennis. The southern part of the complex links to the underground Monument Metro Station. Metro trains provide links around Tyne & Wear and to the mainline Newcastle Central Railway Station.
The opening of the Metrocentre in nearby Gateshead during 1986 provided competition for Eldon Square, however, both are now owned by the Captital Shopping Centres (Eldon Square in a joint venture with Newcastle City Council, thus resolving any potential conflicts). Unlike the Metrocentre which has glass roofed shopping malls allowing in some natural daylight, the Eldon malls were initially completely covered. In the late 1980s, the southern most tip of Eldon Square shopping complex had a food court built, which was later converted into an Argos store. An adjoining mall called Eldon Garden (owned by a different company) was built during the same period, in a more contemporary style than the main centre.
