Revamp hope for Whitley Bay's Spanish City
- Published
North Tyneside Council is hoping to get Heritage Lottery funding to help fund a restoration of Whitley Bay's Spanish City. In 2012, planning permission was granted to turn the former tourist attraction into leisure and retail use, including a cafe, community hub and a gym.
The Spanish City and Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens opened in 1910 as a concert hall, restaurant, roof garden and tearoom. A ballroom was added in 1920, and later there was a funfair in its surrounds.
The centrepiece, constructed from reinforced concrete, was said at the time to be the largest unsupported dome in the UK after London's St Paul's Cathedral.
The name Spanish City was said to have come about after a theatre impresario brought his Toreadors concert party troupe to perform at the site of what later became the pleasure resort.
During a recent consultation exercise by the council, the Grade II listed building was open for three public viewings, attracting hundreds of people. Many more gave their views online, at libraries or on special postcards depicting it in its heyday. Hundreds of people said they wanted it brought back to life.
By the time it closed in the early 2000s, the dome and facade were in a poor state of repair. To tie in with the 100th anniversary, structural work was carried out, and the derelict buildings next to it were demolished.
In 2012, the Shimmer Festival used video and lighting effects on the exterior of Spanish City to recreate its glory days.