Storing up memories of Metrocentre
ALOT has changed in the 34 years since the Metrocentre opened. The first visitors walked into Gateshead’s shiny new shopping centre in 1986. Since then, millions of us have headed to the malls to shop, eat and meet up.
While the shops are still there, many are different. Some classics such as C&A, Geordie Jeans and Tammy Girl are consigned to history - and it is not just the shops which have changed. The inside of the Metrocentre is very, very different from its early days. Gone are the fish, giant chess and, of course, Metroland’s indoor rollercoaster (yes, really, we had one). Here, we go down to Memory Mall to recall what we miss about the early Metrocentre.
THE MEDITERRANEAN VILLAGE Step into Metrocentre’s modern-day “Qube” and you could be in any modern shopping mall. The chains are all there: Five Guys, TGI Friday’s, Nando’s et al ... Nothing wrong with that in itself, but it is not the absolute assault on the senses which the former Mediterranean Village was. The what? The Mediterranean Village was a film-set style replica of southern Europe, complete with wells, trees, Juliet balconies and an assortment of themed restaurants.
Squint and you are in the Greek islands. Except it is always night time and you are inside a Gateshead shopping centre.
GIANT CHESS
When Trainspotting’s Mark Renton told us to “choose life, choose a job, choose a big television, washing machines, CD players and electrical tin openers,” author Irvine Welsh offered a critique of consumer capitalism. Nothing says Western consumer capitalism in the 1980s and 1990s like the Metrocentre, but – to their credit – they did more than flog us white goods. In the early days, giant chess boards were dotted around the malls, complete with oversized pieces. It was Gateshead’s answer to leafy squares on foreign shores where old souls take each other on in the ultimate brain game. Except, as it was the Metrocentre, normal chess was not good enough. It had to be BIG. Consumerism dumbs us down? Come on...
THE NOT-AT-ALL-WEIRD TALKING STATUE
Not content with a Mediterranean Village, the Metrocentre designers had to throw in a bit of weird in its “Antique Village.”
This was a vintage-styled English square. Pleasant enough with a barber and even a chapel.
There was also a bearded statue, which shouted at passers-by. Clearly the architects wanted to inject an authentic Geordie shopping experience into their artificial utopia.
THE FISH
There are many things which the 21st-century shopper would find odd about the Metrocentre 20 years ago: the audible screeching from kids riding a rollercoaster inside, the stench of tobacco smoke and the sight of hot air balloons attached to the ceiling. Oh, and indoor ponds full of tropical fish. Why? Because it was the ‘90s.
THE OLD UCI CINEMA
The Metrocentre’s modern multiplex is all well and good but is it better than the old UCI next to the bus station? Not that there was anything especially amazing about UCI itself - but a sweet shop was conveniently close to it. Which meant absolutely no-one ever dodged rip-off cinema food prices by smuggling pick’n’mix bought right in front of the cinema staff.
Extra marks if you managed to fit a Big Mac and large Coke under your jacket.
METROLAND
Last but not least, the thing we miss most about the old Metrocentre. It really is hard to walk around the Metrocentre today and comprehend the fact it once housed an indoor theme park, complete with a rollercoaster, a swinging pirate ship, dodgems and waltzers.
If you are a child who grew up in the 1990s, Metroland was the greatest thing in the North East. For parents, it was probably the worst. Although parents could use Metroland as a behaviour bribe and I imagine it made organising birthday parties pretty straightforward.
Until you are dealing with 12 queasy school kids who have hobbled off the waltzers after lining their stomach with Happy Meals and Slush Puppies.