The Industrial Rise & Catastrophic Fall of Newcastle’s West End
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- Опубликовано: 27 мар 2024
- In this video I take and in-depth look at the rise and fall of Newcastle's West end from its great industrial past, to the demolition, riots and then the rebuilding of this famous area.
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This is tv documentary worthy !
Im 56 and lived in high rise flat in Benwell with my parents in the 70s, left home at 17 after my dad died and got a flat in the Beeches Cruddas Park, lived with my fiance in a flat in Buddle Street, walked along Scotswood Road to College and back, I remember all the terraces and the pubs. Drank in the Robin Adair, the Villa Victoria and the Chieftain on the shopping centre. Walked to Newcastle to work when the Benwell riots happened and the buses refused to go to the area.
This video has made me very sad and nostalgic. The people were the best and I have fond memories. Best video I have seen on the area. Keep them coming!
Thank you for sharing this
I'm an old Welshman, but I remember Geordie coal miners in South Wales, because of the closure of local mines. Same as it ever was, the working class get the short end of the stick.
Great video, I’m from Spain and went to Newcastle College in 2003. I lived for 2 years in one of those student accommodation flats in Crudas Park! didn’t know then anything about the history of the area. Great content! Geordie forever
Cheers Nicolas 👊🏻👍🏻
Vamos nicolas
U said there was a difference between being poor and poverty, what's the difference between Biker and Scotchy ?
@@helenaconway9738 byker is a shit hole. Scotchy is the land of the greats
Born in the general hospital , first 3 houses were in Elswick then Scotswood , moved to Blakelaw when I was 16 until I left home at 21 and got my first flat in Benwell until I was 29 . I could see the writing was on the wall and there was no way I was bringing my kids up in my beloved west end . Moved to Cramlington and love it here but the west end still tugs on my heartstrings , I still drive through it at least once a week varying my routes and I find it hard to believe the state of it . We all know who and what's to blame , no it's not what you think !! It's the likes of the government and local councils who have allowed this decimation of the area , they only care for themselves and don't have to live among it . Don't get me on or I'll be here all week . Brilliant video as usual Eddie .
Thanks for sharing bud 👍🏻
High levels of immigration by ant chance?
@@kevh7941 No, just decades without sufficient public investment. The immigrants came after the decline, because the place became undesirable, and therefore cheap. That said, Newcastle doesn't suffer from many of the social cohesion problems that some towns in the north-west do, for instance.
Excellent video Eddie, I was born in Arthurs Hill in 1958 and I went to Rutherford school, I remember one day a Tank from Vickers came rumbling down the West road, the whole school was shaking. It was a bit sad when you highlighted the demise of the heavy industry that kept people so many people employed, If Vickers were still going the West end would be a different place today .
Aye, the area did come across as quite sad now unfortunately
I was born and raised in Arthur’s hill. Absolute dump of a place.
I went to Rutherford too from 1967 to 73
We had to choose 3 schools to go to ,aged 11 . Rutherford was always top of the list but I went to Kenton - loved it
Makes you realise that today’s problems aren’t all recent… very much needed to understand this. Thanks for the video!
Great video! I was a design engineer at Vickers, on the tanks for ten years. I lived in the West End but the crime and violence got too much and so I packed my bags in the nineties. I hated seeing the old pubs being torched. It all seemed to implode. I'm settled now in Singapore but I still feel sad that so much was thrown away - for nowt.
Thanks for sharing bud 🙏👊🏻
Has that knowledge gone forever? I see the 'new' tanks (tarted up Challenger 2s) are being built by Rheinmettal. And General Dynamics have made a complete hash-up of the new Ajax fighting vehicle.
My grandad still lives on ladykirk road and I lived most of my early life off the west road on Baldwin avenue. I left Newcastle 10 years ago but always return to see my grandad it just feels like the west road and areas go from bad to increasingly worse. The rubbish on the old remaining terrace streets is absolutely shocking, you mention poverty but poverty was always there. Some horrible people moved into the area and have really dragged the place down.
I try to tell the story of the difference between being poor and poverty.
Up until the 1970’s people had work. They were poor but proud. Like other council estates, of which I grew up, families didn’t know they were poor.
The destruction of the west end has left living people in abject poverty and a destroyed community
My grandad was a works Policeman (security ) for Vickers after the 2nd War and he told us some hilarious stories about the blokes who tried to smuggle stuff out. Like the winter of 48 a bloke in a ex army greatcoat fell over by the gate the security lads and his mates could not lift him up he was that heavy with the amount of brass offcuts stuffed in his coat. Another one with an army great coat and a flat cap was a tall thin bloke held up by two of his mates when checked it was a oxygen gas bottle with a coat hanger attached to bulk it out. My grandad loved that job and strangely he was always well liked even thogh he did a security role. The lads gave him a great send off when he retired we went to pick him up from the pub and he was well pickled. Happy days different times.
😂 thanks for sharing bud 👊🏻👍🏻
Newcastle has changed so much, I remember when my dad used to take me to watch the motorbikes pulling wheelies etc on Westgate Road, the crowds of people used to line the streets, there's nothing like that now!
Another great video Eddie lad, Im
Born and Bred west end, Sctchy and Benwell have lost their identities and the west rd has been lost to other cultures, lack of investment and employment and moving out of families has destroyed the communities we had.
Thanks for sharing Richie 👍🏻
"Other cultures" is generally a positive. We live in a multicultural world.
@@listeyThey treat it like a public skip!
@@listey the long term effects of multi culturalism have yet to be seen .....-we cant say at this point whether it is a positive or negative . .. . -for example have you ever been to London ...?
@@listey Many countries around the world are still mono cultures and are perfectly functioning.
This country of my birth is in a controlled deconstruction in every aspect!
IT MADE ME SAD AS AN 82-YEAR-OLD MAN, Born and bred in Elswick we had a good life.😪Thanks for your video although sad I had some nice memories.👍👍
Superb video Eddie, being born and raised in Scotswood I loved the area. Growing up there in the 80’s and 90’s was fantastic we were all one big community then the council decided again to take it all away and disperse friends and families
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i never knew any of this Eddie..i'm a geordie....you are doin gods work mate....a likeable geordie taking pride in his region....and once its on the internet its here forever...cheers for this mate....could watch stuff like this all day. HWTL
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As a born and bred Southerner I have tenuous links to this area but my old man was born in Wallsend and came down to East London in the 1920s! He only went back for weddings, funerals etc. but for some reason these nostalgic videos tug at my heart strings. On a humorous note he used to sing the cockney interpretation of the Blaydon Races, the cockneys not knowing Blaydon thought they were singing " Ganning along the Scotswood road to see the bleedin rices.
😂 thanks for sharing Ian 👊🏻👍🏻
Well done Eddie, great video and some excellent archive footage that I've never seen before. I was born on Gerald St in 1951, the extended family occupied three homes within 50yards or each other, Gerald St, Armstrong Rd and Joan St.
The two most abiding memories I have of those days were my chronic respiratory problems involving many prolonged stays in Newcastle General. This was cured by moving to Fenham when I was 9 years old. The water running down the walls, the freezing draughty rooms and chronic air pollution undoubtedly the main cause of my health problems. Some days the air itself was an orangy yellow colour, from the factory chimneys and open coal fires in all the houses.
The other memory was learning that not ALL the local women were my Aunties, I was in my early teens before this fact dawned on me :) Happy days??? (but it could have been a short life).
Haha! I love that. Thanks for sharing Chris 👊🏻👍🏻
My late mother in law worked in Vickers during the war , she inspected the shells , she wrote an article for a booklet called Voices from Vickers . My husband previously worked there on the big horizontal borers.
Thanks for sharing 👊🏻👍🏻
Great video, Eddie. I did my uni dissertation on the war effort and heavy industry of Tyneside during WWII. I was able to handle original Vickers-Armstrong production plans stored in the Tyne & Wear Archives. The strong smell of smoke on them was amazing after all the years gone by. It really connected you to the past, making it very real.
Were there any attempts to bomb the factories?
@@TynesideLife Vickers was targeted, however luckily never hit. Though the Luftwaffe did come close in April 1941 during the Newcastle Blitz, when they targeted heavy industry along the Tyne (including the newly built aircraft carrier, HMS Victorious).
Fortunately Vickers-Armstrong and the Victorious were not hit. Though sadly, during the raid civilians were killed as houses were hit around Tyneside. Such as the raid of April 25th 1941, where 47 people were killed in one night.
I recommend a few books on this including Tyneside at War by Clive Hardy/Paul Harris and Tyneside In The Second World War by Craig Armstrong.
@@-GeordieDan- thank you Dan 👍🏻
@@TynesideLife No probs, Eddie! 👍
They're running East to West because people like evening sunlight. Eddie, I love that you've done this. Top quality research, great footage from back in the day. Perhaps you could look for some modern-day positives. We're a resilient bunch; some interviews with West-End residents might have added some perspective, and an element of hope.
I was hoping to get a couple of interviews on there as I enjoy interviewing folk, but the ones I asked wouldn’t go on camera and they only had negative things to say about the area anyway 🤷🏻♂️
It’s a task that’s easier said than done. I hoped to have added some optimism at the end when I was discussing the new builds, new hopes and new communities 👍🏻
I lived in Northbourne Street (Elswick) from the '70s till the '90s, which brought back a lot of memories, Vickers used to test their tanks up & down the street, as it was that steep. I used to knock around Noble Street, till it got pulled down, very bad place to live in. not much left of the old West end now.
Absolutely excellent video. I remember the riots on the 80’s in Meadowell and elswick. I’m a Wallsend lad born in the early 70’s so although not from the west end, I have fond memories of Newcastle in the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Such a shame what happened to the area.
I’ve lived in the west end for 30 years & watched it changing over the years it’s definitely not the same, but it’s still my home & I have loved every minute of it !
Great video Eddie! Love these retrospective looks back blending into the modern, especially now as an ex-pat living in NZ. I was born in the General in '71, Nan lived in Sutton Dwellings (gone now) just over Barrack Road from the stadium, and our last house in Newcastle was just off Elswick Road, loved the place. I look at your match day videos outside the stadium and I'm blown away by the changes, even from the mid-90's. Going back further to my childhood stomping grounds, it is a strange thing to only see the bare bones of what used to be, unsettling and encouraging at the same time. Progress I guess.
Cheers Rob. Aye, things have changed a lot!
Fascinating history. I grew up in Scotswood Benwell and Elswick. I remember seing a car on fire and the post office being robbed at gun point in the 90s. It was a interesting childhood. 😂
Thanks for sharing Henry 👍🏻
Fancy seeing you here buddy 😄
So it was you, you little flamer! 😂😂
Thanks for sharing Eddy. I grew up in Gateshead and then Fenham from 1972 to 1981 before joining the Army so it was nice to relive some memories 😊
Im 18 years old now and I remember when my grandma used to live up Scotswood way in one of the remaining houses, I used to play out with some of the local kids there. We used to sneak through the fenced off areas where the new builds are being developed on Atkinson Road. It was a weird feeling knowing how rich the history was where we stood and played compared to what remains. Brilliant documentary mate.
Cheers 👊🏻👍🏻
Absolutely love it when you delve into the history of our beloved region, warts and all. I'm a child of the 50's and luckily grew up when we were still the heartbeat of the nation, I'm from N. Shields but this story applies right along the river. When I left school just about every lad found a job, there was 50,000 apprenticships every year and the future was clear, however the bubble burst, I was lucky enough, good education, joined the merch and then flew the coup for Canada but my heart is still there on the streets of canny Shields. The river Tyne and Newcastle touched every corner of the planet then the boot was put in and the fall was fast, I hope someday prosperity returns and todays youth can feel the resurgence. Giant thumbs up for this one Eddie.
Cheers Jim and thanks for sharing 👊🏻👍🏻
Very interesting to me, although I was raised in Manchester, a massive part of my family was from in a around the Jarrow area, and most of them worked in the ship yards and mines. The family history goes back a long way, even having 2 of the family being on the Jarrow march. So thanks for this, I can pass this family history, on to my children and 15 grandchildren.
Thank you for sharing Sandy 👍🏻
Amazing video Eddy, your back to your best. The information and videography are combined to perfection.
Thank you 🙏 👊🏻👍🏻
I'm from Hexham (a town 20 miles West of Elswick) but I once worked with someone who told me that Benwell was actually a nice area in days-gone-by. But the council moved a load of "wrong un's" into the area in the 70's and it went down hill quicky?
Spot on as that is what happened
My Uncle & Aunt & cousins lived in James St. Elswick in the 50s/60s, I used to visit a lot and had some very happy childhood times there, everyone knew their neighbours an all looked out for each others kids. It was a very friendly close community.
Thanks for that Eddy
A brilliant video as always.
Keep them coming.
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When I lived in Elswick it was rough AF and Paddy ran the pub around from my house on Northbourne Street. Not been back in years.
@@davidknowles7466 I know Bull, he and Paddy always were good to me, and I remember the shopkeeper at the bottom of the street, Mrs Singh, liked them.
@@AmbiguousMrE my mam used to work for me Singh and his daughter was in the year above me at school…needless to say she was a very intelligent young lady….lovely family
@@AmbiguousMrE look at paddy now in his 60s sitting in some grubby shed being m8s with a convicted sex offender and grassing on everyone going 😂😂 paddy is nowt but a scruffy old grass
I'm pretty sure the 1st black and white clip of the 3 youngins going in to the shop am sure the 1st lad is paddy when he was a child he mentioned it in one of his videos
Fascinating video, Eddy, very well done. You were born to do this.
Haha! Cheers Ian 🙏👊🏻
Great video Eddie, I subcontracted for Vickers in the Eighties and worked for few years for an engineering design agency who were all ex Vickers Engineers, all brilliant engineers, I learned a lot from these guys, it could rise again one day, the talent is still there.
Thanks for sharing Tom 👍🏻
Hi Eddy I was born at home in Ramshaw Street , Elswick in1948, which was between St. Michael's RC Church and North/South Westmorland Road and Scotswood Road . Leaving there to go to the new estate in Longbenton when `I was 7. I remember my granda Bob taking me to Vickers Armstrongs where he worked on the Chieftain Tank. I sat on the turret above the main gun. A long long time ago to me now. A great video, you brought it all back to me. Thanks
Thanks for sharing Terry 🙏👊🏻
I was living in Fenham back in 1991. I remember it well.
Yes Eddie, this is the content I love. Great video and well made, LOVE the history.
That’s appreciated pal 👊🏻👍🏻
Fantastic video Eddie, thoroughly researched and professionally presented. Our city has been through some bad times but the Geordie spirit and pride will always be there.
Cheers bud 👊🏻👍🏻
This is the best video you have put out yet for me. Well done Eddie💪🏼👏🏻
Thank you Jamie 🙏👊🏻
Excellent content! So glad you’re back! 👍
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Yes. Keep going, Eddy. You're going to blow up. Love it. Your channel keeps getting better and better.
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You're around my age. The punk rock era. We understand cycles. However, I truly believe Newcastle will see a big trophy in our lifetime.
@@marcusoreallly me too 🤞🏻
Thanks for the video and research, I only knew a little bit about it, thanks again
Nice one, Eddie, this was great. More please
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Great stuff, loved it.
Very interesting, thanks for posting.
Great video Eddie, thanks for all your hard work and a trip down memory lane. 👍👍👍
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Great video Eddie as a lad from the west end you've told the story of our area well. 👍
Thank you George 🙏
Thoroughly enjoyed that mate, absolutely great job! 👍
Cheers Jonny 👊🏻👍🏻
This was a grim reminder. Basically a video about why I and so many others left Tyneside for an new life. The loss of heavy industry caused a sizable Geordie diaspora.
Another great informative video Eddie ,keep up your great work,keep posting !
Thank you 👊🏻👍🏻
Brought back floods of memories this vid….also why I joined the RAF as soon as I could to get away from all that…another good video thanks Eddy… it’s triggered me to watch our friends from the north again….keep them coming Eddy ❤
Glad you enjoyed it Stevie 👊🏻👍🏻
Enjoyed that Eddy. I grew up in Benwell in the late 80s and early 90s. Moved away completely but I'm back in Denton now for a couple of years. Hopefully they keep making more and more new builds as the contrast is stark. Long way to go.
Fantastic video Eddy, brilliant editing! Love your historical content
Cheers Jack 👊🏻👍🏻
worked at Vickers Armstrong's in 1965 after leaving school for a couple of years. Bit of a hike for a 15 yr old from Cramlington.
Ny grandad George William mcdonald worked there if you can remember his name. This would be amazing
I'd describe it as bereft! Generations of both sides of my family lived there and some still do. It breaks my heart to see it now. They pulled down what they described as slums and that's fair enough but the people who once lived in those houses had pride in their homes and the streets they lived in.
Sad to see it now...but grateful for the memories I have. Great video. Thank you 👍
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Great video mate !!
Just came here after your Byker video and it’s sad to see that both the east and west ends of Newcastle have got like this. The Geordies are the friendliest people on Earth and deserve so much better than the areas they now have. Such a shame
However, glad to drive through the west end and see that parts of it (Fenham) are looking good
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Nice one Eddie, really love this new direction you’ve taken. For someone living abroad like me it’s even more informative. I’ll be walking the full length of Hadrian’s wall in 4 days again in May and the final days walk along the banks of the Tyne still gives me shivers only a Geordie would understand. Keep them coming mate
Cheers Alan. The Hadrian’s way walk is on my list and I’ve already done the research and planning for a 6 day walk. I’ll be doing the West Highland Way May/June.
4 days is a good effort 👍🏻
Alot of people moved out to the newer estates like Newbiggin Hall Kenton Bar which was new estates on the 1960s. Great video. Always have been interested in the West End.
Top journalist Eddy. Allways interesting and factual. Keep it up Ed
Cheers Chris 👊🏻👍🏻
Great work Eddy thanks for all your research and graft in making this so interesting
Cheers Greg 👊🏻👍🏻
Great video Eddie, love how you give care to detail of Newcastle upon Tyne and Newcastle United. I’m a west end lad living in Fenham, Newbiggin Hall and now West Denton. Area needs investment, care and community initiatives created
Cheers Thomas 👊🏻👍🏻
A superb piece of work
Thank you Derek 🙏👊🏻
Great video. Lived in Newcastle for 3 years and am familiar with almost all of it other than the west end.
This is part of a fascinating series and one you should be proud of. I am from Yorkshire but lived in Newcastle, including Benwell, for 20 years. Both my lads were born in Newcastle and are proud Geordies. God bless. JP
Thank you 🙏 👊🏻
Excellent video . Amazing how so much information can be given in 15 mins .
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Great video Eddie! Keep up the good work 👍
Cheers Alan 👊🏻👍🏻
Fantastic! Love the way the channel has pivoted!
Cheers Chris 👊🏻👍🏻
Definitely a good move with the documentary style approach. Really enjoyed this video mate
Cheers bud 👊🏻👍🏻
Great video, I always learn a lot from your videos! 👍🏻
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Great watch thanks
Great video mate.
Loved the video Eddy, well done and looking forward to seeing more 🍉👍🍉
Thank you 🙏
Great video Eddy, never knew them swing bridge facts. Keep up the good work mate 👊
Cheers Peter 👍🏻
This was fantastic you should definitely do more of these 🙏
Thank you 🙏
Great video Eddie
Mate, class….loved this
Love the videos on history of Newcastle
Really well made interesting video. Thanks Eddy, food for thought.
Thank you Rita
Another quality video Eddy, you really do provide some excellent content. Also just realised I was not yet subbed, which I have now rectified.
Welcome aboard 👊🏻👍🏻
Top quality video Eddie well done i love local history videos and this is up there with the best of them👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you 🙏
Great video Eddie very well researched you stay safe mate,
Cheers James 👍🏻
Such a brilliant video Eddie I'm a born and bred Scotswood lad I've lived here my whole life, I was amazed at all our previous history although I've herd many a story about the old Scotswood road It was great to see it in such depth, so thank you once again for all your hard work mate and keep them coming 🖤🤍
Cheers John 🙏👊🏻
Eddy
A fascinating look into another area of my favourite English City. I’m a new subscriber and look forward to viewing your back catalogue.
Thank you 🙏 👊🏻
Interesting video! I’m from Durham originally but work on the Business Park, specifically William Armstrong drive, so it’s good to see what was there prior to how it is. People I worked with told me about the pubs and the terraces and I remember the riots being on the news but thank you for providing more information on the area
Great video. I worked in Scotswood in the 1980,s and it was a tough place with really great people. I hope it is on the rise again. Thanks for a really interesting trip down memory lane
Cheers Martin 👊🏻👍🏻
Great one Eddy. Interesting new info for me on the Swing Bridge with the original Georgian bridge stone arches. Aww the little laddies eyeing up the toffee cakes in the Newsagents.
Glad you enjoyed it Abigail
I live in west end so proud
Great vid, sir. More of this please.
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1 minute in Eddy and I’m hooked….👍👍👍
I really enjoyed this Eddie, I look forward to more social history videos about Tyneside and I’m not even from the area, but I do understand the areas wonderful contribution to the UK economy throughout history.
Cheers bud 👊🏻👍🏻
Great watching Eddie. Enjoyed it, remember some of those sites from my early childhood in the early 80's.
Eddie this is absolutely incredible!! being from Benwell and Scotchy my whole life and this definitely resonates with me especially the part about the communities and what scotchy road meant to them great bit of footage that but most of all would just like to thank you for the history lesson going to show this to my aunties and uncles see if they recognize any of the pubs too.
Thank you Micky 👊🏻👍🏻
Brilliant presentation and fascinating information cheers mate
Cheers Tony 👊🏻👍🏻
Great video, you deserve a tv documentary series
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I’m 30 years old, grown up in North Tyneside. I’m very passionate about where I live and was raised. These videos are great, very informative and interesting. Keep them coming! Subscribed.
Thank you 👊🏻👍🏻
I grew up in the West End and it was always an area that was undergoing change and large scale building projects were a continual feature of my whole life there. Lots of grand ideas and lots of experimentation but it’s still riddled with decay and poverty and the same old social problems. It’s a shame because there are plenty of great people there and I live in hope that they’ll have a brighter future.
Fantastic Eddie I remember the West end during my childhood and especially Scotwood Road fantastic memories well done again
Cheers Keith 👊🏻👍🏻