Central Arcade, Newcastle

Central Arcade in Newcastle is a superb two-storey building dating from 1906, with lots of original features on the inside, including the ornate brown tiling, the upstairs balcony, entrances onto three streets in the centre of Newcastle, and one shop that has been there almost since the beginning.

Windows Music Shop is a beautiful place, talking up these days almost half of one side of the arcade, and if you have any connection to the world of music, it is a fabulous place to browse for musical instruments, sheet music, records and CDs, as well as more quirky music paraphernalia. I defy anyone to enter this store and not come out with a purchase of some sort. And it’s been here for almost 117 years.

There are a couple of cafes and bars backing into the arcade, so again, pick the right table and you can sit for a coffee or meal looking out onto the superb tiling and ceiling of this arcade gem.

John Hamilton, Bootmaker with his Ladies’ Fitting Room is no longer in the arcade, but his frosted window still stands, and behind it today is still a footwear shop, which gives another nice piece of continuity.

The floor tiling was apparently redone in the 1980s, but they kept true to original designs so it fits in well today. The upper balcony is not accessible to the public these days, but looks beautiful, even from below.

Other shops today include a vintage clothes shop, a stationery, hair salon, and down at the Market Street end, the arcade passageway curves nicely, with a beautiful shop front copying that curve as the arcade leads out to a big fitness sports equipment shop.

My favourite shop today

There’s no contest here. It has to be the extraordinary J. G. Windows music shop, which not only has amazing stories of its own to illustrate the arcade’s past, but has managed to stay up-to-date with all things musical. A real treasure trove.

My pick of the arcade’s past

October 1910 saw a banking disaster which will remind people today of the Northern Rock closure ahead of the more recent Global Financial Crisis. The Charing Cross Bank went into administration, with the owner declaring bankruptcy and debts of £2million. After a notice was pinned to the bank’s door in the arcade, there was a constant stream of people coming by to check it was really true. Newspapers described ‘pathetic scenes,’ as people realised that all their savings were gone. The majority ‘appeared to be of the middle and poorer classes,’ said the Newcastle Chronicle.

In the spring of 1914, the music shop in the arcade published its third volume of ‘Tyneside Songs.’ Among the song titles were: “I tickled Mary,” “Hi! Canny man hoy a hapenny oot,” and “Ha’ ye seen wor Jimmy.” There was also a short story, “Jack and Geordie’s visit to Paris.” Once war broke out, the music shop owner, Mr Windows, decided to send a travelling gramophone to troops at the front, so that they could listen to music in quieter moments. And his support for frontline troops continued: in 1917 he commissioned a song for the benefit of the Northumberland Fusiliers, entitled “The Fighting Fusiliers.”

There was a dispute between two shops in the arcade in 1931, with the case going to court over damage to hats stored in a basement that became flooded after a leak from the shop next door. The milliners were claiming £50 damages for lost stock. However, part of the defence from the photo shop being prosecuted was that “it was a long time since women wore ostrich feathers in hats,” so the damaged hats were old and less valuable. Another witness said ostrich feathers were fashionable again, and the judge concluded: “If you keep a hat long enough, it comes into fashion again.” He fined the photo shop £12.

Stories in this section taken from www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. British Library Board. 1) Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 19 October 1910, Reach plc; 2) Newcastle Journal, 18 May 1917, Reach Plc; 3) Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 12 June 1931, Reach Plc.