Development and Architectural Design
Eldon Square Shopping Centre was opened in 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II and is named after the original Eldon Square (now known as Old Eldon Square) which the shopping centre was built around. Eldon Square was at the time the biggest indoor shopping mall in Britain, covering a large portion of Newcastle city centre.
The main building is split in two halves, the northern part being separated from the southern part by Blackett Street. The Blackett Bridge walkway, which crosses Blackett Street near Grey's Monument, connects both sides of the centre. Most of the structure is built in textured brown brick and mirror glass.
The bottom level houses roadways for HGV trucks to deliver to shops in the malls above, and until recently these roadways also included an underground bus concourse. Loading bays are linked to shopping areas by freight elevators, while passenger lifts and escalators took people from the bus concourse to the Mall. Most of the mall levels are located on the upper level but some slope up from street level such as the entrance from Northumberland Street.
Some of the shopping malls are named after elements of local culture; notably Chevy Chase is named after the medieval Northumbrian Ballad of Chevy Chase, and Douglas Way is named after the Scottish Earl of Douglas who takes a prominent role in the aforementioned ballad. Water features were originally seen in some large courts or squares, however as a result of subsequent renovations, these have all been removed.
On top of the northern part of the building is a car parking deck reached from Percy Street via an eight storey spiral-shaped multi-storey car park and a high concrete bridge. This upper parking deck is reached from the malls by lifts or stairs within the John Lewis department store. The flagship Fenwick department store is also attached to the centre.
The Green Market, which was situated in the southern part of the centre was demolished in 2007 as part of redevelopment works. As a result, the market shops, rotisserie and wet fish shop have been relocated to the nearby Grainger Market. The Green Market was also linked to a Safeway supermarket (formerly Presto and originally Hintons) at street level, however this was demolished along with the market.
Above the shopping malls, is a leisure centre called Eldon Leisure. This features various fitness studios, squash courts and a large sports hall, suitable for a range of indoor sports, including basketball and tennis. The southern part of the complex links to the underground Monument Metro station. Metro trains provide links around Tyne & Wear and to the mainline Newcastle Central railway station.
The opening of the MetroCentre in nearby Gateshead during 1986 provided competition for Eldon Square, however, both are now owned by the Capital Shopping Centres (Eldon Square in a joint venture with Newcastle City Council, thus resolving any potential conflicts). Unlike the MetroCentre which has glass roofed shopping malls allowing in some natural daylight, the Eldon malls were initially completely covered. In the late 1980s, the southern most tip of Eldon Square shopping complex had a food court built, which was later converted into an Argos store. An adjoining mall called Eldon Garden (owned by a different company) was built during the same period, in a more contemporary style than the main centre.
Eldon Square takes up much of the land space in the city centre. Many British city centres have such large developments, such as The Bull Ring in Birmingham, The Arndale Centre in Manchester and The Merrion Centre in Leeds.
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