Winter bar of opinion

Reporter A BAR based in an eyesore building site is dividing opinion.

Hadrian’s Tipi, a pop-up bar and winterthemed food market, has taken up residence in the site of the former Odeon cinema on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle.

It features festive decorations and tents adorned with fairy lights – but piles of debris leftover from the demolition can still be seen towering near some of the stalls.

Site managers have announced that the last of the clearing should be complete by the end of November.

But in the meantime, should the site have stayed empty until all the demolition work was complete?

Passers-by on Pilgrim Street were divided over the look of the temporary bar.

Anne Fielding said: “It’s very messy – if anyone comes to the city that’s what they’ll see. I think it’s dreadful.”

But others thought it had been a good idea to fill the site as soon as possible.

Margaret Meechan said: “I would rather have something there – they couldn’t do anything else, it had to come down and you can’t expect it to look wonderful overnight.”

Dave Mackenzie added: “In an ideal world they might have made it a bit tidier, but I don’t see a problem with it, it’s fine – good to have something there.”

For others, the short-term mess was not an issue – so long as the work improved the look of the area in the long-term.

Sarah James said: “I can understand them putting something Christmassy there on a temporary basis, but I’m much more interested in what it’s going to look like permanently, especially as it’s right in the city centre.

“Parts of the centre, like Grey Street, look