The Spanish City
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Spanish City was a permanent seaside fairground in Whitley Bay, a seaside town in the North East of England. It was demolished for redevelopment (including a new school) in the late 1990s. The centrepiece of the Spanish City was the Dome, which still exists, although most of the fairground site has gone.
The Spanish City was opened in 1910. It earned its name in 1904 when Charles Elderton, who ran Hebburn's Theatre Royal, brought his Toreadors concert party troupe to perform there. The Spanish City became the Empress Ballroom in 1920.
In 1979 the Rotunda Ballroom was converted into the starlight rooms for live entertainment. The Spanish City's funfair was extremely popular with fairground rides and amusements, including a 'Corkscrew' roller coaster, which is now at Flamingoland in Yorkshire, ghost train and waltzers.
The Dome has had a number of uses over the years as a ballroom, amusement arcade, and Laser Quest Laser Tag Arena, most recently it became a live music venue playing host to several bands including an appearance by Ash in 2001.
[edit] The future of the Spanish City
The fairground returns to the town on Bank Holiday weekends, but is now located on 'The Links', an expansive seafront park adjacent to the former Spanish City site. The fabulous Spanish City Dome is to become the centre piece of a multi-million pound regeneration of the sea front, which will include hotel and leisure developments of shops, restaurants and cafés, but like all things the local council haven't the money or the imagination to attract investors to develop the site.
The once famous Spanish City as mentioned by Dire Straits has had it's inside stripped, but nothing done to the outside in years. There was even a stupid suggestion it should be painted a different colour than white to make it more attractive. It looks like its being allowed to decay to the point it will have to be demolished. A sad state of affairs for a landmark of great significance. North Tyneside Council and the Mayor should be ashamed of the neglect! [1].
[edit] References in popular culture
The band Dire Straits mention the location in their 1980 song "Tunnel of Love" and, for a period of years afterwards, the song became the unofficial theme song for the fairgound, being played every morning when the park opened. The lyrics pertaining to the fairground were:
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- Girl it looks so pretty to me
- Like it always did
- Like The Spanish City to me
- When we were kids
The surrounding area of Whitley Bay is also mentioned in the song.
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- Rockaway rockaway
- From Cullercoats and Whitley Bay
- Out to rockaway
Dire Straits frontman and songwriter Mark Knopfler went on to say in a television interview that The Spanish City held special significance to him as the first place he ever heard Rock 'n' Roll played "really loud".
There is also a Spanish mailing list (Spanish-City ML) and website (SpanishCity.net) about Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler, named after The Spanish City because of its inclusion in the lyrics of that song.
Spanish City is also the title of a novel by Sarah May, set in the fictional North-East town of Setton, which is home to an amusement park called the Spanish City. Setton borrows other features from Whitley Bay such as 'The Island'.
