Journey’s end for once-busy station
55-YEAR-OLD MAN DIED FOLLOWING MEDICAL
WORSWICK Street bus station is finally under demolition after standing empty for many years. The Newcastle city centre station opened in 1928 on the same day as the Tyne Bridge and was the start and finish point for generations of bus passengers travelling to and from the south of our region.
It closed in 1996 and has remained a disused relic of the region’s transport past until now.
The demolition is part of the planned regeneration of Newcastle city centre’s Pilgrim Street area.
Buildings on Worswick Street and Carliol Square will be knocked down as part of plans to build office space, restaurants, cafes, bars, a pavilion and a car park on the site.
But it seems the departing bus station holds plenty of memories for folk and its passing struck a chord with readers on The Chronicle’s Facebook page.
Here are a selection of the hundreds of comments recalling Worswick Street bus station:
Mark Lloyd: What a shame – hours spent there waiting for, and waving away, friends and girlfriends in the 1960s. And a little basement cafe just to the right of the bus stands. Just another piece of history down the drain.
Flossy Gooch: Good old 231 waiting to depart for Hartlepool. Memories. Didn’t like the bank up to the city centre!
Anne Carvell: Remember leaving from here and going to Scarborough for a week’s holiday with my best friend Vivienne. We were 17 years old, and had never been away from home before. We had a great time. She is no longer here. Happy days, happy memories.
Vivian Fitzpatrick: Worked in the offices at Worswick Street for Northern General Transport in the personnel department from 1961 to 1970. Lots of happy memories.
Chris Parry: Remember going to town with my Nana in the 1960s. There was always a long queue to get the bus back.
John Ogden: Before the Metro opened in the early 80s, you got the bus from here back over the river after nights out and the match.
Ann Duckett: Oh how I remember the times my mum and I arrived and departed from there when we came up to my Nana’s for my holidays from Yorkshire. Good times.
Elizabeth O’Dwyer-Lunn: I remember
it because we used to go to church opposite it when I was young.
Rita Summerell: I remember queuing here with my mum in the 1940s for the bus back to Chester-le-Street. Thanks for a last glimpse.
Andrea Stewart: All my good memories from the 60s. How many people met their dates there when they got off the bus?
Beverley Hope: I stood at those bus stops after many a night out.
Gary Turnbull: Great memories from nights out and the match. 725 was my bus.
Leslie Hodgkinson: Remember it well as a kid getting the bus back to Boldon.
Mary Burns: I worked upstairs in the offices for 13 years as wages clerk for Northern General Transport. Lots of memories.
Tricia Parker: The times I stood in queues waiting for the bus home. Great atmosphere on the last bus. Great memories.
Dave Matless: Would like a pound for every time I’ve driven into Worswick Street. Worked on the Northern from 1978 to 1991.
Paul Fitzpatrick: Fine memories of waiting for buses to and from school.
NORTHUMBRIA Police have launched an appeal to help reunite a grieving family with the belongings of a late relative.
Neighbourhood officers in Jesmond are looking to help the family of Robert Simpson after he died following a medical episode on February 11.
The 55-year-old was cycling along Skinnerburn Road when he suffered a suspected cardiac arrest. He died in hospital while surrounded by members of his family.
However, Robert was moving between a number of hotel rooms at the time of his death after recently leaving his home.
Police inquiries have been unable to track down his main residence and his family have been unable to track down the majority of his belongings.
Now officers are appealing for the help of residents and hotel staff across Newcastle to see if they can identify where Robert was staying around the time of his death.
Sergeant Tony Davis, of Northumbria Police, said: “This is a really difficult time for Robert’s family who have been by his side in the hospital.
“As Robert was moving between different hotels at the time of his death, we have been unable to track down where he was living when he was taken ill.
“We have checked some of the rooms he has been staying at and recovered a small number of possessions but we have not been able to track down all of his belongings.
“It is very difficult for Robert’s family to have closure until they have recovered his things and so we are doing everything we can to identify places he had been staying.
“If you recognise Robert, and know where he may have been living in recent weeks and months, then please get in touch.”
Anyone who can assist the police and Robert’s family is asked to contact officers through the ‘Tell Us Something’ pages of the Northumbria Police website quoting log 467 11/02/21.