| The Spanish City | |
|---|---|
| Spanish City, Whitley Bay, September 2010.jpg Photographed in September 2010 by Adam G. Bell |
|
| Alternative names | Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens |
| General information | |
| Status | Grade 2 listed building (the dome) |
| Architectural style | "Concrete architecture" [1] |
| Address | Watts Road |
| Town or city | Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | |
| Opening | May 7, 1910 |
| Renovated | 2011–2014 |
| Technical details | |
| Diameter | 100 ft long, 275 ft deep [2] |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens Ltd [2] |
| Owner | North Tyneside Council (June 2011) |
| Main contractor | Davidson and Miller [2] |
| Architecture firm | Cackett and Burns Dick [2] |
| Structural engineer | L.G. Mouchel [2] |
| Renovating team | |
| Architect | ADP Architects |
| Renovating firm | Robertson, Gateshead |
| References | |
| Location on bing maps | |
The Spanish City was a permanent funfair in Whitley Bay, a seaside town in the North East of England. Erected as a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, it was formally opened in 1910 as a concert hall, restaurant, roof garden, and tearoom. A ballroom was added in 1920, then the funfair.[2]
Just yards from the seafront, the Spanish City had a 180 ft-long (54.86m) Renaissance-style frontage,[1] and became known for its distinctive dome, believed to have been the second-largest unsupported concrete dome in the UK when it was built, now a Grade 2 listed building. There are towers on either side of the entrance, each of which carries a half-life-size female bacchanalian figure in lead, one holding cymbals, the other a tambourine. The building's architects were Robert Burns Dick, Charles T. Marshall, and James Cackett.[3]
The band Dire Straits immortalized the Spanish City in their 1980 song, "Tunnel of Love," which was thereafter played every morning when the park opened.[4] By the late 1990s, the building had fallen into disrepair and was closed to the public in the early 2000s.[5] In June 2011, ADP Architects won a commission to regenerate it, with a plan that includes a 50-bed four-star boutique hotel, 20 apartments, a 1950s diner, and a pleasure garden. The completion date is 2014.[4]
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The resort located in the area before the building was erected became known informally as the Spanish City in 1904, when Charles Elderton, who ran Hebburn's Theatre Royal, brought his Toreadors concert party troupe to perform there.
The new pleasure palace was formally opened by Robert Mason, chair of the local council, at 7:30 in the evening on Saturday, 7 May 1910, and was called The Spanish City and Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens.[6] The Union Jack was flown at half mast because King Edward VII had died the previous day.[7] The new building housed the 1400-capacity Empress theatre with a seating capacity of 1,400 on the floor and 400 on the balcony.[8] There were also shops, cafes, and roof gardens.[6] The Empress Ballroom was added in 1920, and the Rotunda in 1921. In 1979, the Rotunda was converted into the starlight rooms for live entertainment.
Its 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 House that Jack Built, and the Fun House.[6] The Dome also housed an amusement arcade and later a Laser Quest Laser Tag arena. It was also used as a classroom for pupils of Whitley Bay High School during a caretakers' strike in the 1980s. Most recently it became a live music venue playing host to several bands, including an appearance by Ash in 2001.
Dire Straits songwriter Mark Knopfler said 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". Dire Straits mention the location in their 1980 song "Tunnel of Love," and for years the song was the unofficial theme song for the fairground, played every morning when the park opened:[4]
Girl it looks so pretty to me,
Like it always did,
Like the Spanish City to me,
When we were kids.
Sting (Gordon Sumner), who was born near Newcastle, wrote in his memoir that he whiled away afternoons and evenings in the Spanish City's amusement arcades when he should have been studying for his A levels.[9]
Spanish City is the title of a novel by Sarah May, set in the fictional north-east town of Setton, home to an amusement park called the Spanish City. Sections of the Spanish City fairground feature in the video of Tina Cousins's song "Pray". It can be seen briefly in the 1976 film version of The Likely Lads.
Wardle, Frank Wilson. "Spanish City in Whitley bay 1967", YouTube, accessed 1 July 2011.