Adios, Spanish City!
Spanish City in Whitley Bay, which has brought all the fun of the fair to holidaymakers and local people for more than 90 years, is to be demolished.
It was one of Britain's best know funfairs and was immortalised by North-East rock star Mark Knopfler in the song Tunnel of Love which was recorded by his band Dire Straits for the album Making Movies.
Knopfler, who moved from Glasgow to Tyneside when he was a boy, has said: 'I'll be really sorry to see it go. The Spanish City is something I will always associate with my days at Whitley Bay seaside as a child.'
The fairground dates back to 1904 when Charles Edderton, who was manager of the Theatre Royal in Hebburn, started holding concert parties on the grassy area above the promenade.
The story of Whitley Bay as a popular holiday resort began just over 90 years ago when local businessman Joseph Lawson spotted a potential market. He began hiring out deckchairs and ponies to trippers.
The holiday business was established by the 1920s, although its fame had not spread beyond the immediate locality. Then in 1925, the council decided to exploit the town's potential and embarked upon an extensive advertising campaign.
Golden age
It had a promotion budget of £800 a month, a huge sum for the time. Business boomed. Jobs were created - everything from beach superintendents to candy floss sellers - and by then Whitley Bay already had its crowning glory in the form of Spanish City with the Empress ballroom, topped by the famous white dome.
Spanish City grew more and more popular. The end of the war brought the golden age of seaside holidays in Britain before the arrival of cheap holidays abroad - with the guarantee of good weather.
Whitley Bay reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s when the resort was packed with visitors. Many of you will remember the town being full of Scots during Glasgow fortnight!
These days, even on the rare sunny Bank Holiday, the funfair attracts just a handful of people.
Your memories of Spanish City . . .
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The day I went on the ghost train
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I never got to the Spanish City much, but I do remember going there on a bus trip with Barley Mow Mother's Club. There was me, me ma, Aunt Peg, other Aunt Peg and me cousin Col and sometimes our Pauline, another cousin, but she was a girl. Yechhhhh!!!
Anyhow, when the 'trip' was on we were under strict orders not to ask for anything 'cos we had nowt - not a bean! And it was just as well the trip was paid for so we'd get fish 'n' chips for dinner, or else it was jam banjops and a bottle of water, so there! . . . . .
'And do not show me up, or your aunties, or the trip, or it's your last . . . . .!'
So started the trip from Barley Mow to Whitley Bay, all those miles away! Yes, we'd cross the Tyne Bridge, and go somewhere to get to the coast, sing-songs all the way, trying not to eat all the sweets you got at Ramshaw's paper shop before you got on the bus. Ahh, Susan, where are you now? My first-ish love?
We were spooked!
Col and I plotting how we'd get to do the dodgems, or waltzer, or even the caterpillar, we were toughies us, no softy rides like the horses for us. We'd maybe even get to go on the ghost train - we'd never managed before - but this year . . . . . and it was the year! Pauline wouldn't come with us (good!) but me sister Jean who is six years older than me, and hated me, didn't want to be here and all that, said she would take me and Col on the ghost train. She did, and we were spooked! 'And anyway, it's nearly dinner time and we have to find me ma, and I still hate ya!'
Of course that hate grew into real war when I turned teenage, but at least now we speak civilly and 3,000 miles distance does make you think.
Dinner time in the café! I forget which one now but it was the same one every trip. We could have a sausage and chips or kids portion which was so small you couldn't see it. Ma would do the fish, chips peas, tea, bread and butter, and once again it was: 'Now mind, do not show us up . . . . or else!'
A funny game with bottle tops
How I got through childhood alive I do not know! I was terrified of showing anybody up, but questions needed asking:
'Can we gan on the sands? Ride a donkey? Are there any shuggy boats here? Can we have some candy floss before we gan yem?'
The usual answer was: 'We'll see!'
Then, after dinner, and managing not to show anybody up, no spilt pop, all crusses eaten, and the fish skin left on the plate, the Mothers Club appointed someone to look after the kids while they played a funny game with bottle tops. Some won prizes, some went for a gill, but at 6 o'clock we all trooped back to the car park to get Richie Joplings bus back home.
Tired, fed, not much of a sing song, but we did ride some 'big rides' - and we had done the ghost train!
We went back a few times, we had fun, and when I could, I took my kids there. I'll miss the old Spanish City, not for just one memory, but for a collection of mixed images. The trip, teenage visits, chatting up girls, and, of course, the odd Bank Holiday barney! That was something to be caught up in!
Just last year, I took my American wife Lois, her sister Jan and Jan's hubby Ralph all round the North Coast and pointed out Spanish City and St Mary's Island. They loved it! I showed them the Fish Quay, alas no longer what it was.
Change is supposed to be good, but some change pulls at the heart. I'm sorry to see it go, if you get the chance, pop up and tell it Jim says 'ta ra!', but as long as I remember me ma, and the Mothers Club trips, I'll not forget Spanish City.
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I read the news about the Spanish City closing with mixed emotions. I first met my wife there in 1952 - she was fourteen years of age and lived in Cullercoats and I was a 'day tripper' from Ryton. It was the luckiest day of my life!
We have been happily married since 1955. Yes, she was seventeen - and I tell her that now 'n' again and it makes her feel good :- )
I knew the place was getting run down and was not fashionable any more, but it still seems a shame.
When things get old here in Vegas - over 20 that is - they just blow it up and build a bigger and bettor one!
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I just read a sample newsletter and I hear the Spanish City is closing down. This breaks my heart! You see, I grew up in the Spanner. My Grandmother ran a lot of the stalls my Dad worked there, missed a lot of schooling because of the fairs met my Mam there etc. etc.
I can't believe this; I am totally shocked! I spent every day after school and weekends there, getting coffee and hot soup for the workers, hiding in the ghost train and grabbing people's hair as the train went by or sitting on the Waltzer and finding the loose change that had fallen out of people's pockets while they were on the rides!
We were really poor then and every penny I found helped feed us. My God, the memories are flooding back! We lived in one of the boarding houses my Nana owned on Elmwood Grove (the street running right by the Spanner). We (My Mam, Dad and brother) lived in two small rooms; one bedroom and one living room cum kitchen and shared bathrooms with other lodgers.
Boy, I could go on forever! The next time I visit I will dearly miss going to the Spanner - I have even taken my daughter there on previous visits.
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After visiting Spanish City the whole family would go to Tony's ice cream shop where we usually had a Knickerbocker Glory.
I can remember that at first they cost 1/6d and eventually rose in price to 2/6d. I can still say that because of Tony I don't like anyone else's ice cream!
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If you have memories of Spanish City to share Drop me a line!
Your stories
The day I went on the ghost train
The luckiest day of my life!
Growing up in the Spanner
Tony's Knickerbocker Glories!
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Have your say!
Do you have memories of Spanish City to share? Click on the link below to write to me!
Write to Sue
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Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Sue Kelly