Spanish City

And girl, it looks so pretty to me
Like it always did
Oh, like the Spanish city to me
When we were kids

A visit to Whitely Bay yesterday.  My photo is of The Spanish City which is mentioned in the Dire Straits song Tunnel of Love.  

The Spanish City has been been part of my life since I was a little girl.  My parents used to take me to Whitely Bay a few times each year and we always visited The Spanish City which was then a fairground.  Later when I was a teenager I loved visiting it with my friends and then in the 1990's I used to take my own son.  

The Spanish City fairground opened in 1908 and the dome was built in 1910 and was the main entrance to get to the rides.  Initially one of the wings of the buildings hosted a menagerie (including tigers) but in 1916 this was converted to a picture house and later on a ballroom.  

During World War II the dome was camouflaged with paint and netting as obviously it stood out as a landmark for enemy bombers and the fairground was closed.  Troops were billeted in the building during both wars.

The Spanish City opened again as a fairground after the war.  Sadly, when people started to go further afield for holidays it started to loose its shine and fell into a state of disrepair.  The fairground was closed and a new school was built on the land but the dome and the other buildings remained in a sorry state.  

Finally in 2018, after a £10 million refurbishment the dome and buildings reopened.  It now has shops, restaurants, bars etc. and people can get married there.  We had lunch in one of the cafes yesterday - Valerie's Tearoom. - delicious! 

At the moment the iconic dancing ladies that stood on the towers are missing.  One of original copper statues has been badly damaged due to storms.  Plans are afoot to replace them with fibreglass replicas and the original ones will be on show in the entrance foyer.