A well-known city centre site, 45 years ago
WE step back to a time just before the Christmas of 45 years ago to a familiar sight for many of us.
This attractive building with Portland stone columns on the corner of Newcastle’s Pilgrim and Market Streets was photographed on an unseasonably mild day, December 21, 1972.
Opened in 1934, the site was home to the city’s fire station, police station and magistrates’ court until vacated in the mid-2000s.
The grade II-listed building is set to feature in the regeneration plans for Pilgrim Street as it becomes a reborn leisure and retail sector.
Earlier this year, the Chronicle reported: “Plans to transform the city’s former fire station and police station buildings into a boutique hotel with a range of restaurants and bars have been revealed by two of the country’s richest people.
“Motcomb Estates, owned by billionaire entrepreneurs David and Simon Reuben – ranked the 60th wealthiest people in the world in the 2016 Forbes List – are seeking an operator to work with them to deliver a high quality hotel and food and beverage offering at the prominent site.
“The multimillionpound plans would represent the first phase in a far-reaching scheme to regenerate the Pilgrim Street area, also bringing back jobs into buildings which have lain empty for many years.”
Fingers crossed - this would make great use of a favourite city building.