Opened on Newcastle’s Percy Street in 1906, the quirky Handyside Arcade survived for 80 years before the bulldozers moved in. It was replaced by the Eldon Garden shopping mall which currently lies all but empty.
There were calls to save the arcade. One leading voice was Professor Miles Danby, chairman of the Northumberland and Newcastle Society.
He insisted the arcade had “special qualities” and noted “if it had been in Leeds or London, it would have long ago been refurbished and would have been filled with very good shops”.
The appeals fell on deaf ears and the last traders finally moved out of the arcade in May 1987 before it was bulldozed.
Press coverage
Read the Chronicle Live article here.
