1989 Gateshead MetroCentre home movie
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2020
- Recorded around 1989 (I'm unsure of the exact date).
A lost home movie recorded during a family visit to the MetroCentre at Gateshead, including "Metroland" amusement park.
When I buy or obtain bundles of VHS tapes I sometimes come across other people's home movies - as they are generally not of much interest to anyone else and are personal, and because I don't know the people to ask permission to upload them they just remain stored in a box. However, I thought as this isn't particularly personal and is quite interesting I would share it. I have removed some short clips showing just the family. - Zábava
Back when going to the Metro Centre was a day out. Now, it's just another characterless shopping destination, without the magical experience.
Thanks Intu.
Of course it is. You're not a child anymore. Why would going to shops be magical unless you're a child?
@@th8257 That has nothing to do with it. The Metro Centre had a character all of it's own, with lots of planting, water features, Antiques village, Mediterranean village with its various themed eateries, as well as Metroland. And not forgetting all the barrow traders on every mall. All of that was what made the Metro Centre different. Now, it is just another clinical, soul-less shopping destination, with free parking and easy transport links being it's only redeeming features. It was loved by people of ALL ages, so what you say, may be partly true for some people, but not for me, or many others.
The "Magic" was in its unique light and airy feel, and all the small traders and unique shops. So much so, that Eldon square embarked on a programme of modernisation within a few years, to try and replicate that feel. Because Eldon Square was losing footfall, as for many years, a lot of people found Eldon Square to be dark, dingy, and claustrophobic, especially on busy days. The Metro Centre was a game changer when it opened, and for a good few years after that, until Intu got their hands on it, and ripped out the soul of the place.
@@th8257hmm have you seen how things are in there recently?
@@th8257dude it was actually crowded back then. Now in some corridors I am at no risk of seeing anyone at all. Andd no kid wants to go to a supermarket. They want to go to amusement parks, and that what it was. Now is just a bus station with a supermarket attached to it
Back when the place had so much character.
Cheers for uploading this, can almost smell the fountains.
that’s exactly what i was about to comment
When it was still being completed my Nan took her brand new Audi 80 to the multi-storey and was convinced that the scaffolders took her hubcaps as they were ‘eyeing up the car’ when she got out! My father and his business partner were the first two to ride the swings in Metroland as they were one of the first to open a large shop near Marks & Spencer court, it was Collectables. You can find the swings and water jet arcades now at Ocean Beach Pleasure Park in South Shields. I remember my father using our kitchen table as a shop fitting when they were getting started. One of the last ‘real’ Collectables but it went when the new Next opened about 3 years ago. 1:44 my Uncles barrow is either just out of shot on the right (you can see the stool) or the one in shot further along. It was a party supplies barrow and he later had the Geordie Gifts barrow that a lot of people will remember. As a child we got the security tapes at home and watched my father (in his power suit!) walking about the Metrocentre. It seemed magical to us kids. For years we’d take my wheelchair bound Great Grandma to the Metrocentre every Wednesday, probably because it was ahead of it’s time in terms of accessibility vs Newcastle etc. As a boy I would wheel her around the rims of the sunken town squares and terrify her! I remember it just like this video; the green swing top bins, the smell of the fountains, the round wooden benches wrapped around trees with people smoking on them, the Roman Mediterranean and Antiques Villages, the dark smokey alley of an arcade behind Metroland with its gift shop full of gold plastic dummies, the black cyclops robot mannequins in House of Fraser, balloons with bears hanging over conversation pits in the town squares, the ice cream shop that used to be near where Primark is now with its array of sprinkle toppings and the car shop next door selling all sorts of tat you’d see in Taxis of the day. Happy happy times I’ve been so lucky, such a shame how desolate it’s become. Apologies for the long post this video has stirred up so many memories!
I miss the old Metro Centre especially the water fountains at the bottom of the lifts.
i remember as wee little lad chucking a few 2 pence coins in that fountain so nostalgic 90s Metrocentre was something else
I visited the Metro Centre just yesterday for the first time this year since lockdown and it's quite a sad sight to see now especially in comparison to this video. Debenhams is empty upstairs, the units next to Debenhams have closed down, Topshop, Miss Selfridges, Burton and Dorothy Perkins all gone. So upstairs in the green mall all you have really is the big Next store and M&S with the art shop, the cinema is still closed, a lot of the restaurants are still shut due to lockdown and up in the village where the model shop is there's hardly anything. It's a really sad sight to see and it's obvious that a lot of bad decisions have been made at this centre. They should never have closed down Metroland. They'll never admit it but they must know they made a huge mistake closing that just to make way for a new cinema and restaurants when the centre already had a cinema and restaurants. All they needed to do was modernise Metroland, revamp the old food court and revamp the old villages. They should never have got rid of the big Costa upstairs either and moved it into Next as that was keeping a lot of the small independent stores open, now they've all gone except maybe 1 or 2. You can still make a day out of going but it's not the same and there's definitely not as much to see or do. Such poor management decisions!
Malls in general across the world have been having a very tough time for years now. So many in America have just been abandoned, and a lot in the UK are a real mess too. Perhaps their time is over. I suspect the Metrocentre will be a housing estate within a few decades.
The Metrocentre back in the 80s was absolutely revolutionary. Britain was a pretty grey, dull and often unpleasant place back then, and Tyneside had its fair share of misery. Suddenly, this bright american style centre suddenly appeared. It seemed fresh, colourful and modern, especially if you were a kid. I remember though a lot of adults back then absolutely hating it. Of course, the novelty was never going to last, and shopping patterns changed a lot. Like so much of Britain's bricks and mortar retailing, the Metrocentre is in a terrible mess now and is really showing its age. The big stores that at one time or another were major attractions such as House of Fraser, Debenhams, Top Shop, BHS, Littlewoods and Woolworths have all gone bust. It's unlikely that we'll see many mega shopping malls being built in future. People don't shop like that anymore.
Two days ago I went to the metrocentre, compared to this its just an empty shell with a blank canvas such as same that business have gone and gone in recent years.
One area was completely derived of shops and in their place what allegedly is some kind of coloured art installation, theres no character there anymore just monotone colours running through with hardly a person there .
Bring back these days 🙏
Whattt?? As somebody who was born wayy after all of this- Why did they get rid of it??? The water features and the plants make it look alive!
Stupid h&s rules
Because the management got stupid, they had a place for people to go a day out in. They wanted a place for people to buy stuff. What they got was "that bus station before Newcastle"
Brilliant...far far better back then.
Retailing has moved on the death of the shopping Mall is a world wide problem ( well UK , America , canada and such ) people have moved on with Amazon and the internet also having an impact customers want experiences not just shops they want a day out not just feeling like they are cattle to be shunted from one spend area to another .I really can't see the Metro centre ever being busy again like it was in it's hey day . Once youve stripped away all the experiences ( trees & foliage , nice seating areas to relax , metrofun land for the youngsters etc etc all gone now ) what you are left with is a big empty box like warehouse with no life and no soul .
Brother has just been and told me it's as lively as Chernobyl, with a job centre there... Im sorry but the Trafford centre gave me better nostalgia than the metro centre does anymore
That branch of Job Centre Plus in the MC was out of place and a waste of space.
Thanks so much for uploading. Hope there’s tons more footage hiding out there. Loved the Metroland shots!
Absolute magic
Way better back then, now it's bland and soulless and looks like any other shopping mall. I wish I could step back in time for a day to the 1980's and visit the Metro Centre when it first opened.
So many shopping malls across the world are in a mess and have been in decline for many years. Shopping patterns have changed so much. Only areas with really massive populations like London seem to have been able to keep them going.
@@th8257 Out of town shopping centres are still performing strongly, as they tend to offer free parking and good public transport links, and more space than inner city shopping malls. And retailers are attracted, because rents/leases are often lower than inner city locations, so they can afford bigger stores.
@@th8257it's not that shopping patterns have changed, it's they changed the place and the shopping patterns changed because of it. They had a place to go out at. But management wanted spending areas when that was dull and uninviting so we just got stuff online
The MC was worth visiting then. It's shite now!
❤2024, so much better then than now. Loved the water. Mam and dad would give you a few pence to sling in 😂❤
Thank you for sharing
look at that, trees, fountains, actual colour in the place...now its the same vibe as a hospital, bland flat and sterile, bereft of enjoyment. doesn't have the giant cofee machine yeeting coffee smell, the dark twilight thing gone, those old direction signs were terrible though, the colour coded walls and tiling, the rims around the windows up top, so you knew which quad you were in.... its such a step down
I was there Dec 1st 2023 hadn't been for years, probably 2008 what an utter disappointment!!!!!!!!! Should never have got rid of Metroland.
MC has new owners as of posting this, INTU have gone into admin, good riddance. Metros new owners have posted adverts in the center about refurbishing the ‘town square’ atrium and a electric car park lot. In the local paper they was mentions of ‘the return of plants and balloons.’ They are also new stores lined up to take the place of house of Fraser and a few other who left.
Way too little, way too late. It takes several years even after this comment 2 dual refurbishment to fix the fuck up they did. Most people already completely used to online shopping now. By the time that the complete the overhaul of the place it will be way too late
hey 👋 this so cool i’m planning on making a short doc on Metroland can i ask where you found this footage?
I collect VHS tapes with TV recordings and sometimes there are home movies among them. I usually just skip through them to see if the tape was re-used and has any TV left at the end, but when I saw this I thought it was interesting enough to upload
Pop in now, it's all good outlets and empty shops..