Eldon Square Shopping Centre facts for kids
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Eldon Square's main entrance on Northumberland Street
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| Location | Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
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| Coordinates | 54°58′31″N 1°36′54″W / 54.9752°N 1.6151°W |
| Opening date | 4 March 1976 |
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| No. of stores and services | 150 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 (Debenhams, Fenwick, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer) |
| Total retail floor area | 130,100 square metres (1,400,000 sq ft) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
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| Public transit access |
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Eldon Square (stylised as EldonSq.) is a shopping centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in 1976 and was built on the site of Old Eldon Square, a famous part of Georgian Newcastle designed by John Dobson in about 1824. This redevelopment, which left only the eastern terrace standing, has been criticised, with one writer calling it "the greatest single example of architectural vandalism in Britain since the war".
When the centre opened it was the largest city-centre shopping centre in the UK. In 2013 it was rebranded as Intu Eldon Square. In 2020, the centre returned to its original name following the collapse of Intu.
The site
The shopping centre occupies an area close to the old town wall, which followed the course of Blackett Street. This means the modern shopping centre is built on either side of where the wall once stood. From a map drawn by Charles Hutton in 1770, it appears that the ancient wall would have run parallel with the south side of Blackett street. This is the northernmost wall of the southern portion of the shopping centre.
As the city would have grown within its town walls, just south of the north wall was the Nunn's Garden. This is around the location of the now demolished Green Market. The Nunn's Garden was bordered by High Friar Chare, a street running almost in-line with 'High Friars way' in the present shopping centre. Wards in this area were named after the towers which guarded the ancient town walls. The wards occupying the south portion of the shopping centre would have been 'Andrew Tower ward' site of Newgate multi-storey car park (now demolished) and Eldon Leisure. 'Fickett Tower ward', is below where Eldon Leisure is located in the present megastructure, and 'Bertram Momboucher Tower ward' is located where the now demolished Eldon food courts and Newgate car park once stood.
North of the town walls Charles Hutton's 1770 map shows a bowling green on the site of the present day Marks & Spencer, John Lewis part of the megastructure and Prudhoe Street car park. The area presently occupied by the Northumberland Street entrance to the centre and Fenwicks were in 1770 market vegetable gardens. That would have been south of the bowling green.
In 1824 John Dobson was commissioned by Richard Grainger to produce designs for Old Eldon Square. The design involved terraces facing a central square: the terraces were faced with finely cut ashlar.
Notable stores
Anchor Tenants:
- Debenhams
- John Lewis
- Next
Eldon Square also has main entrances to:
- Marks & Spencer, one of the most profitable Marks & Spencer stores outside London, with the most profitable food hall in the company.
- Fenwick, flagship store and headquarters of the up-market chain. One of the largest department stores in the UK.
Images for kids
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The previous Northumberland Street entrance to Eldon Square, now redeveloped.
