Eldon Square Shopping Centre

Eldon Square is a shopping centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was officially 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 also the name applied to a terrace development on the same site, designed by John Dobson in about 1824 and demolished in the 1960s.

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. An adjoining mall called Eldon Garden, owned by a different company, was built in the late 1980s in a more contemporary style than the main centre. Eldon Leisure is a leisure centre built above the shopping areas that offers sporting, health and beauty facilities.

Reconstruction work began in June 2005 to convert the former bus station into a new lower mall, which houses Argos and Waitrose as anchor tenants. The new Eldon Square Bus Station opened on 18 March 2007 between John Lewis and Haymarket bus station. It features a series of glass screens designed by the artist, Dan Savage.

The former Green Market has also closed and been demolished to make way for Eldon Square South, a new mall including several new retail outlets, with Debenhams department store as the anchor tenant. The New Green Market at High Friars opened in March 2007, with its entrance from Nelson Street and upstairs from the Grey's Monument and Monument metro station.

Notable stores

• Fenwick, flagship store and headquarters of the chain.
• John Lewis Newcastle, known as Bainbridge, until 2002.
• Marks & Spencer, one of the more profitable Marks & Spencer stores outside of London, with the most profitable food hall in the company.
• Debenhams, opening in 2009/2010 as part of the Eldon Square South re-development - the final and largest part of the Eldon Square's major re-development.

Trivia

• Eldon Square is mentioned in the song 'Samantha Pope' by Honeycrack.

References

External links

• Official web site
• Unofficial website for Old Eldon Square (known locally as "the green")
• "Shopping in the Square will get even better" - Local News Article
• Tyneside Life and Times - photograph of Eldon Square interior, taken in 1976