The Spanish City | |
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![]() Inside the Spanish City | |
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Alternative names | Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens |
General information | |
Status | Grade II listed building (the dome) |
Address | Watts Road, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, England |
Coordinates | 55°02′51″N 1°26′51″W / 55.047616°N 1.44747°W |
Opened | 14 May 1910 |
Renovated | 2011–2018 |
Renovation cost | £10m[1] |
Client | Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens Ltd[2] |
Owner | North Tyneside Council (June 2011) |
Dimensions | |
Diameter | 180 ft long, 275 ft deep[2] |
Design and construction | |
Architecture firm | Cackett and Burns Dick[2] |
Structural engineer | L.G. Mouchel[2] |
Main contractor | Davidson and Miller[2] |
Renovating team | |
Architect(s) | ADP[1] |
Renovating firm | Robertson Group |
Website | |
Spanish City |
The Spanish City is a dining and leisure centre in Whitley Bay, a seaside town in North Tyneside, Tyne & Wear, England. Erected as a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, it opened in 1910 as a concert hall, restaurant, roof garden and tearoom. A ballroom was added in 1920 and later a permanent funfair.[2]
Located near the seafront, the Spanish City has a 180 ft-long (54.8 m) Renaissance-style frontage and became known for its distinctive dome,[3] now a Grade II listed building.[4] There are towers on either side of the entrance, each of which carries a half-life-size female bacchanalian figure in copper, one holding cymbals, the other a tambourine. The building's architects were Robert Burns Dick, Charles T. Marshall and James Cackett.[5]
The band Dire Straits mentioned the Spanish City in their 1980 single, "Tunnel of Love", which from then on was played every morning when it opened.[6] By the late 1990s the building had fallen into disrepair, and in the early 2000s it was closed to the public.[7] A regeneration project was announced in 2011.[6] The building reopened as a dining and leisure centre at the end of July 2018.[8]
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