It is not the underpasses that are the problem. The murals celebrating the history of Newcastle built by the hands of the people of the toon of the era, should be something that should be preserved and not vandalised. It should be something that should even withstand WWII levels of bombings. But if the town is filled with people who do not care about their city and their neighbours inside it, what can you do? It is an overall trend in society and sadly there are no easy fixes to bring a change in mindset.
The amount of regeneration that has taken place in the north of England in the last decade is the same as what happens in London each year. It's disgusting how much more money and development London gets compared with the rest of the country. We might aswell still be living under Feudalism.
Good to see some attention shown to dead malls in the UK for once - lots of great channels on RU-vid but very much focussing on the American side of things. Have only once been in Newcastle, about 8 years ago but I did walk around Monument Square and the resurrected arcade nearby. I can't help but be quite surprised how many malls there are in the city given that in Nottingham where i live we've only had two (one of which shut during Covid and is a partly demolished shell).
Alexei Sayle once said "Architects and town planners are very clever people - you don't catch them living in the sh*t they build." The Scotswood underpass is absolutely the worst I've ever seen.
I've grown up having a fear of these places and public toilets and being streetwise I sussed at an early age if anywhere makes you uneasy vulnerable and just out your comfort zone we'll avoid at all costs. For to enter somewhere and you're entrance and exit could be compromised never sat easy with me I.e. subways public toilets! Iam in my 50's and have stayed safe 🤞 Take care people 👍
Roadway surface crossings obviously hinder the traffic - although this is sometimes the plan. The underpass is the solution to this, but they must be clean and light. Maybe the responsibility for keeping them clean and light could be placed in local residents, who would work a sort of concierge system as employees of the council. Heavy refurbs would be carried out by the council's direct labour organisation, but day to day upkeep by local concierges. Personal touches would be e.g. allowing the concierge to name the underpass or decide on wall colours. I noted that the most presentable of the exemplified subways was the one with the mosaic murals, there's a lesson in there somewhere.
A Clockwork Orange, Made in Britian, Harry Brown, among other films where I associate underpasses with seedy, criminal behavior. It's too bad really, it's a civil engineering solution that isn't being properly utilized in reality. More lights? More patrols? Seems they're always left in the dark.
A product of car-centric planning. Along with walkways, the idea was to separate traffic and pedestrians, the problem being that the cars were given the flat priority route and pedestrian sent down dark tunnes or up stairwells onto the walkways. The basic problem is we tried to design the city for cars rather than people. It was a failed experiment which maybe we're beginning to reverse, but the problem is cars.
I was born in 1972 so Newcastle and Eldon Square went hand in hand. It was watching GEt Carter and Michael Bradys location site ( sadly now long gone) which awakenen my interest in the development of the city since the 60s. I was a student in newcastle in 1990. I have hardly visited in the last ten years. Change is a constant , i just find it all a step too far. THere was no need for a new central library. The Haymarket has been truly destroyed with the new university buildings. At least the Claremont bridge and tower was set back somewhat. I remember circa 2008 , the demolition of the old brewery buildingsAs a child in the late 70s, a rare treat was catching the train into newcastle. ( ii live 25 miles away) the first thing that struck was the smell of the hops , churned my stomach.Wengers department store, beautiful building. At least it was put back to some use . I find it fascinating that there are still street signs for Trafalgar street and Oxford street which exist only fractionally. THe remodelling of the Haymarket in the mid 90s was the worst for me. THe loss of the Farmers and the prefab shops with old hitz records.Thanks Jordan for uploading these gems. Its obviously a passion for you and wonderful to watch.
I was a police officer in Newcastle in the 1980s and we used to patrol the underpasses our Panda Cars were small enough to drive through and we could keep an eye on the locations If the police had the man power and were committed to paroling them 90% of the issue of unsafe under passes would go and the public could use them today a Camera network could also be used The problem with the police today is they abdicate there duties to councils and the councils dont have a clue
Hello Jordan. Great fan of your videos. Just watched the one on Newcastle's underpasses. They're grim! I live on the 18th floor of Vale House with an excellent view. The architect of Vale House was Douglas Wise whose son, Greg, is married to the actress Emma Thompson. A woman who still lives here was one of the first people to move here in 1968. The rent was 5 shillings (25p) a week! It's now £111 per week. The building hasn't changed but the rent certainly has. 😂
there's an underpass in great park that had some lovely murals painted on it. the council, in their infinite wisdom painted over it, in grey paint. which is now tagged and looks a complete mess. less adverts and more art in our cities please
People will tag murals too. That's normally why they end up getting painted over. Look at the Alan Shearer vinyl things under Swan roundabout for an example.
The question that springs to mind, and this covers many architectural decisions, who in their right mind thinks these are a good idea? Judging by Gateshead town centre, these people are also incapable of learning from even recent history!
Utopia syndrome. On paper, these look like complete solutions for pedestrians. In practice, they would be except for the human element, which can be mitigated by pro-active measures no one seems to ever adopt.
I found this very interesting. I was involved in regeneration in Sheffield back in the 2000s and led the other shortlisted bid in the competition for Park Hill that was won by Urban Splash. Looking back now it is very frustrating to see how slow the pace of urban regeneration has been over the last 30 years.
So many fond memories of the former Newgate Centre, many quriky shops including the now long closed Tandy had something Eldon Square could never offer. Many a great night below the Newgate Centre in Idols Bar during the late 90's and early 00's, like many of the bars and night clubs of newcastle during this era, not one were the same, different crowd, music and atmosphere.
yes, as with the rest of the modern world, the planned destruction of a history of "better times" they did not want the public to have knowledge of and so in one generational memory, IT'S GONE.!!..
The area the river flows through Boldon by what was Boldon Comprehensive school we always referred to as The Burn and we used to jump over it during lunch breaks. Digger jumping! We didn't invent those names, the people of the area always called that part of the river The Burn. I ruined my uniform with mud and sludge more than once. This was the mid 1980's. Great video, nostalgic for me personally.
I’ve lived in Sheff for the past year and a half and must say, its urban development is 100% on the right path They’re laying down loads of dedicated cycle lanes isolated from cars, planting trees all around and although it’s still very much a WiP, it’s deffo getting there There are still loads of empty buildings/spaces that need sorting out and the car centric neighbourhoods on the edge of town are a massive danger to walk/cycle through but all in all, it’s a real nice city to live in
wonder what that PR bloke @ 20:24 has to say about the ghost mall it is now, when Debenhams shut up shop all the other retailers left as well, being a spin merchant he will have an excuse, the fact is just about everything that has been done to the city centre since old Eldon Square was demolished in the early 1970s has been an epic mistake and turned out be hated by shoppers,
You would've had a fair walk...the burn (Don) starts in Washington, goes through Boldon colliery where I was from, the don was allowed to fill up with plants etc to encourage wildlife etcetc, back in the 1960s we would play in it, paddle tin baths down it.....many moons ago. 😢
The old green market was not a a group of sheds. It was a market building complete with cobbled streets & fantastic high gates. It was used by wholesalers who moved South of the river when it was demolished. The new green market as part of Eldon square was nothing more than a sad pastiche & not lamented on its closure. You missed the central arcade, the finest in the NE.
Amazon & the like have killed retail. Why would you get in your car, drive into a city centre, pay to park & then slog around carrying stuff when you can get it 20% cheaper delivered the next day with free return if you don't like it?
One things in this film noticable is that there are a lot of malls competing with each other. People need more affordable sound proof living places and quiet reading spaces to practice read languages a lot more teach oneself areas to keep up train etc .there no 50m pool all pools are expensive.the stadium needs TLC .
English Heritage and now Historic England know how to grade list a lot of crap! It's a shame they didn't list places like The Yorkshireman public house that was much more architecturally better than the shitehole that is Park Hill!
Since this video, Cambridge Street has had a surprisingly rebirth. The Cambridge Collective and the newly opened Leah's yard both show extremely promising signs of life. The collective looks like a food hall from a typically more upmarket city, and has seemingly been a big hit so far.
Leah's yard is brilliant but why on earth does it have to close at 5pm Monday to Sunday? I fear it won't last long with those sorts of opening times, hopefully I'm wrong. This seems to be a problem with a lot of the city centre too. By the time people finish work a lot of things apart from the pubs are closed.
