‘Majestic’ shopping centre a landmark
LET’S go back 45 years to Newcastle’s Newgate Street and a view of the North Eastern Co-op’s flagship city centre store.
It was July 1977, and the striking building was done up in Union Jacks to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. That month saw the Queen and Prince Philip visit Newcastle and the wider region – as part of their sprawling nationwide jubilee tour – and they were greeted by huge enthusiastic crowds wherever they went.
For decades the Newgate Street store was a firm favourite with Tyneside shoppers. It opened 90 years ago, joining Marks & Spencer, British Home Stores, and C&A, all of which unveiled major outlets on Northumberland Street in 1932 as the city underwent a retail boom, despite the era’s prevailing economic difficulties.
The new Co-op was described in local newspapers as “majestic” and “a palace of trade” – with “the new skyscraper building of the Newcastle Co-operative Society” being built in two stages. Hundreds of members of the society attended the first opening in September 1932, and by Christmas that year shoppers were flocking to the store’s various departments which included ‘grocery and provisions’, ‘butchering’, ‘confectionery’, and ‘drug’.
The Co-operative is still with us today, but back in the 20th century almost every North Eastern town and village had its own Co-op outlet or “store” selling every conceivable good and service. Newgate Street had been home to Co-operative premises since 1902 and the early days of the movement, and come the emergence of Northumberland Street as Newcastle’s main retail hub in the late ‘20s/early ‘30s, the Co-op decided to stay put in Newgate Street.
With its twin towers, sweeping curves, huge windows boasting impressive views across the city, the now-iconic building was once regarded as Newcastle’s most elegant shopping outlet. Across 170,000 square feet and housed on six floors linked by marble-lined staircases, it was the ultimate retail experience.
The Co-op’s in-house architect LG Ekins designed the new store, employing many Art Deco features – inside and out – that characterised the inter-war period. Classical and Egyptian styles also featured in the design. But over time as tastes and fashions changed, shoppers increasingly took their custom to Northumberland Street and, later, to new shopping malls in Eldon Square and the Metrocentre in Gateshead.
In 1998, the Rainbow Rooms nightspot, housed on the third floor of the Co-op building, shut down after more than 30 years. Then in 2007, the store itself – with the exception of the ground-floor food hall – closed after 75 years. Finally, in 2011, this final section of the once imperious Co-op store at 117 Newgate Street shut up shop. It was the end of an era. Today, the building is home to a Premier Inn which opened in 2016.