14th-23rd MARCH 2025

ENGLISH TOURISM WEEK

MIKE TURNER

We have a plethora of iconic buildings and Tourist Attractions here in the North East.
For English Tourism Week we take a shopping inspired look around Newcastle and explore the History behind some of Newcastle's Heritage brands and their buildings.

Northern Goldsmiths Blackett Street

Northern Goldsmiths

Listed Grade II. Northern Goldsmiths, Pilgrim Street/ Blackett Street

Northern Goldsmiths, started life as a small family business founded by a Northumbrian jeweler & watchmaker called Thomas Cooke in about 1778.
Northern Goldmiths then later commissioned architect James Thoburn Cackett, to design a new building c1895 which replaced a smaller Richard Grainger build.

In 1935 the company installed the building's famous golden timepiece - a metallic lady Venus adorning a Rolex clock and finished in 24c gold leaf, her outstretched arms symbolising progress.
Designed by Alfred Glover the clock is fourteen and a half feet in height and weighs one and a half tons and is finished in 24c gold leaf.
The clock, used to chime every 15 minutes, by all accounts but I don’t think it does now.
The building was given a Grade 11 listed status on the 16th of September 1997.

Having started off from humble beginnings nearly 250 years ago Northern Goldsmiths has now become one of the largest quality jewellers in the UK.
It supplied Newcastle-made watches and marine chronometers to the Admiralty during the Great War from its workshop, made the Rugby League Trophy and were the first retailers of Rolex watches back in 1919.
Now with over 90 showrooms in every major town and city from Aberdeen to the south coast, as well as four in Northern Ireland selling fine jewellery and diamonds, including exclusive brands Jenny Packham and Mappin & Webb.

Fenwick Northumberland Street

Fenwick

Fenwick stands proud on Northumberland Street, and is a a major institution of the citys bustling shopping scene.
Fenwick opened its doors in March 1882 by Mantle Maker and Furrier John James Fenwick.
He was was born in Richmond, North Yorkshire in 1846 and began his retail empire when he took over a doctor's house in a residential area of Newcastle.
It cost him £181 and 4 shillings to convert the building at No 5 Northumberland Street into a shop .

John James Fenwick or J.J, Together with two assistants, sold mantles, silk goods, dresses, fabrics and trimmings. Sales began to show a good profit and the business grew. Within three years he decided to purchase 37/38 Northumberland Street and when Fred Fenwick, his eldest son, joined the business in 1890, he acquired number 40.

In 1891 J.J Fenwick bought 63 New Bond Street and like the Newcastle store it specialised in exclusive tailoring for ladies. Over the next decade the two shops gained a reputation as exciting places to visit as they were full of the newest ideas and styles in fashion.

Fenwick's masterstroke, however, was to embrace a new retailing concept emerging in Paris. This was the department store. Fred Fenwick went to Paris to train in the art of retail and was so inspired by what he saw at Le Bon Marche, which was regarded as the first ever department store.

Until this point all retail was based on the concept of specialist merchants, such as drapers, ironmongers, bakers and butchers, so the idea of combining different kinds of goods in clearly defined departments, all under the same roof, was groundbreaking.

Central Arcade Grey Street / Grainger Street

Central Arcade

The Newcastle Arcade was first built in 1837 for Richard Grainger as part of his iconic architectural redevelopment of the city.
This triple-domed building was originally a commercial exchange and newsroom and later an art gallery. It was rebuilt in 1906 after a fire, to create a an elegant Edwardian shopping arcade, a cut-through from Newcastle's famous Grey Street to Market Street and Grainger Street.
Shops in Central Arcade include:

The Naked Deli
Space NK Apothecary
JG Windows (now closed sadly)
Scribbler
Grey St Opticians

END. Clothing 104-108 Grey Street

END. Clothing

104-108 Grey Street
Royal Exchange Buildings
The building was designed in Italianate style in 1904 by William Henry Knowles and Thomas Ridley Milburn.

The building sits in the corner of Grey street and Hood Street and built originally for Mawson, Swan and Morgan. a stationery and art materials store.
The company which was founded in 1878 also had a store at 58-62 Grainger Street and sold fine art and had a gallery. The company then later went on to become a book seller.

Grainger Market Grainger Street

Grainger Market

Generations of Geordies have wandered and shopped in the historic alleys of the Grainger Market. There was a time when everyone shopped here for their weekly food shopping before the existence of the supermarket giants we have today.

Named after the visionary builder Richard Grainger, the man who reshaped much of the central Newcastle we know and love today, it opened in 1835 – two years before Queen Victoria ascended to the throne.

On October 22nd that year, Grainger was one of 2,000 guests – all men – who sat down to a celebratory dinner in the new market. For five shillings, wealthier diners could enjoy food and a pint of wine provided by one of several ‘respectable’ innkeepers, who each catered for 100 people. The less well-heeled could buy ‘substantial’ dinners at two shillings each, including ale. Women, numbering around 300, were allowed to watch the proceedings, but were strictly confined to a specially built temporary gallery, along with the band.
One contemporary commentator declared: “It was a glorious vista – irradiated by gaslight. The whole market was decorated with flags. In the centre were two massive and elegantly-shaped stone fountains, the basin of each of which was capable of containing 3,000 gallons.” The Newcastle Chronicle reported how there were many toasts and that the gun at the Castle Keep was fired in celebration.

Fast forward to the third decade of the 21st century and the Grade I-listed Grainger Market is a cherished Tyneside institution and home to more than 100 independent traders and small businesses.
Step inside the unique city-centre location, and it’s like stepping into history, it’s quite magical, the sawdust strewn floors, where so many have gone before you and is still
a hive of activity. You'll find high-quality butchers, greengrocers, artisan bakers, street food traders, coffee shops and cafés, craft stalls, mini bazaars, jewellers, clothing and plant stalls.

There’s also the famous Marks & Spencer Original Penny Bazaar dating from 1895, the last surviving example of the Penny Bazaar shops which gave birth to the well known Marks and Spencer's chain of stores, and even a weigh house where traders would weigh their goods and you can get weighed yourself on the scales.

Revolution Collingwood Street

Revolution
Collingwood Buildings

Revolution is a nationwide network of bars and pubs that began when two friends launched a modest pub in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, and has expanded to more than 70 locations.
Revolution Newcastle Upon Tyne is one of the city’s best cocktail bars and restaurants, with an incredible selection of creative cocktails, delicious food and unrivalled party vibes.

In 1899 the Wellington Public House closed its doors and was then demolished to make way for Collingwood Buildings that you see here today
Part of the building was going to be a hotel but during construction, it was taken over by Barclays Bank.The architects of Collingwood Buildings were architects Oliver, Leeson & Wood.
During construction when Barclays Bank took over part of the building, work was completed by architects Cackett & Burns Dick who gave the bank its magnificent marbled interior.

Mark Toneys Grainger Street

Mark Toneys Ice cream, a small independent coffee shop and Icecream Parlour and is another that plays a part in Newcastle’s Heritage.
Mark Toney has been an institution on Tyneside for longer than any of us has been alive, operating from the Chaucer Building since 1962, making it the oldest surviving coffee shop in Newcastle.

The building itself The Chaucer Building was designed by architect Richard Gibson Kyle (1820–1903) born in Ponteland.
The Freemasons moved to Chaucer Buildings in 1899 and occupied the building till about 1976.
The building upstairs is now private apartments.
The building was given a listed status on the 17th of December 1971.
Grainger Street was once a major shopping street and whilst it is somewhat tired looking today, you only need to look up to see its magnificence and the money that was once spent here.
The street features historic buildings like the Church of St John the Baptist, which dates from 1287, and the headquarters of the Newcastle and Gateshead Gas Company, which later housed Wengers department store and is now a bar

The company was established by the Marcantonio family who hailed from Picinisco, a small mountain village south west of Rome.
They first came to the region in the last decade of the 19th century, selling ice cream from a cart in Newcastle in 1892.
Many other impoverished Italian families in the same era were heading for new lives in the United States - but some would instead settle in Britain in locations such as Glasgow and Manchester, as well as here on Tyneside.

The Marcantonios had seven children who all eventually joined the family business.
As the popularity of their ice cream grew, they were able to open parlours in places such as Byker, Low Fell and Gateshead.
The family name was anglicised to Mark Toney between the two World Wars in response to some hostility towards Italian people in England.
In Newcastle, Mark Toney’s first store had opened in the Grainger Market in 1902. Another parlour opened in Percy Street in the 1930s, before moving across the road to the current location in 1974. And the Grainger Street parlour - which is perhaps the most well-known today - opened in 1962.

It has been recently refurbished and now boasts an exhibition of old ice cream memorabilia, awards and historic photos.
Still serving the best Icecream Sunday in Newcastle.
Enjoy!