South Shields, King street .Road Safety 1950`s 

There was a railway to Newcastle. The station was just further up Mile end road on the left !

An amazing video. The buses and cars, the masses of people, the bikes and prams, and the clothes. A great piece of Social History.

Shields had so much character and great shops back then. Compared to now, Shields is a ghost town. That’s what happens when you close every road to transport and cars. High rents will also be another factor and lack of investment within the town centre. Which all gets thrown at the coast, which should probably be dishes out evenly.

The town is now a pale shadow of its former self. So sad 😟

I remember these busy days and remember driving along King Street; a few year after this was shot but still remember the town centre being so busy when I was a boy at school.

Astonishing to actually see how busy and exciting the town and laygate used to be. It’s heart breaking to walk through the deserted streets now and see the old building being slowly demolished. My time was the early 80’s. Jump on the 30 bus from Cleadon and head down through the nook and Harton, get off at the bus station opposite Goughs and then nip into carricks for a sausage roll. Walking down King street took ages, you were constantly bumping into people you knew and chatting. Shopping on your phone and having it delivered is convenient these days, but I’d swap a Saturday morning down street with my mates in the 80’s in a heartbeat. ❤

Excellent. Would love to see more of this.

I have watched this video many times and i am amazed with the amount of people in King Street. and its never as busy these days. another interesting point is the lack of white lines on the roads. i did notice a pelican crossing. other crossings where was just studs in the middle of road. i would like permission to borrow this clip if you don't mind for a video that i would like to put regarding white lines on the roads. or the lack of as a demonstration. I have built south shields station as it was in the 1940s. so this may be of interest for you. many thanks for sharing this old footage. best wishes Tony

Lovely video thanks for uploading. Found the narrators voice soothing too lol

I remember getting off the bus from Chester le Street in King Street when I was a little girl. It seemed so huge and exciting. (and VERY busy)

It looks so much better back then.

It's great to see this. Thanks for the upload.

Used to drink in the Golden Lion just of King Street as well as the Cri and Ship and Royal great memories

Unbelievable how packed it was to now 😳

First Class Great to see the town so Busy!

Brilliant ....love it ,remember loads of it ..lol

Wonderful film - I hate to sound like an anorak but the Narrator reveals right at the end that the filming was done from an Austin Somerset (as I suspected), which means the film must date from at the earliest 1952 - the year the Somerset was introduced.

great video but even more change since this video was uploaded states the cri still there but saddly for shields not a pub no longer but another betting shop like the rest of king street :(

Excellent video, thank you for posting.

Fantastic, thanks for uploading it!

top stuff! Everyone's so smart!

The electric trains ran until the early 60s when they became time-expired. They were then replaced by diesels, but these were never suited to the stop-start natures of the line, with less rapid acceleration than the electrics. This made them slow and unpopular. This service ran until the late 1970s when it was closed to allow for the building of the Metro, which runs on a former mineral line via Chichester.

The Narrator is clearly not from Shields but worked as a policeman in the town.

It's not true that there were no trains to Newcastle in those days. Electric trains ran on (almost) the same track as the metro follows now. This was closed in the 60s but the track (with some alterations) is now used by the Metro.

Great vid thanks!

Great stuff, thanks.

Looks a lot better back then. now its just full of mobile phone shops

this is really good I would like to see more

Sorry your wrong there was trains to Newcastle

@lazyal13 No, sorry.

Remember Allen's going there with me mam think you paid in tokens you went upstairs and change your money something like that

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department store not departmental store