Then and Now: It’s been all change on Newcastle’s Pilgrim Street behind the familiar facades

Дата публикации: 25-07-2026 23:09:00

From fire station and electricity showroom to luxury hotel and high-end office space in just four decades

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From fire station and electricity showroom to luxury hotel and high-end office space in just four decades

Wander around the streets of central Newcastle and you’ll see plenty of examples of old buildings that have been imaginatively repurposed for modern-day use. On Grey Street, in particular, where banks, insurance houses and legal offices traditionally traded, you’ll find bars, cafes and restaurants have taken their place, all part of the city’s thriving 21st century leisure economy.

Around the corner, Pilgrim Street is undergoing a hugely ambitious - and long overdue - programme of redevelopment. While some old worn-out buildings have been swept away, the better ones still stand, though their roles today are a world away from their original functions.

Take our photograph from 1988 - a Newcastle scene unchanged for decades. On the right, as it was nearly 40 years ago, we see part of the fine building that was home to the city’s principal fire station. It was built on the site of the former Victorian courts and police station on the corner of Pilgrim Street and Worswick Street. Roman numerals inscribed above the entrance reveal that construction work began in 1931.

Designed by Cackett, Burns Dick & Mackellar and completed in 1933, the building was set off with Portland stone columns complete with four carvings of winged beasts on the colonnades of the upper floors. The site became the long-time home of the city’s fire station, police station and magistrates’ court.

The Market Street section of the building housed the police station, cells, and courts. The fire station, on Pilgrim Street, had space for seven fire engines. The site was finally vacated in 2005.

After sitting unused for 20 years, the revamped Grade II-listed building reopened as Hotel Gotham at the end of last year. Described as a ‘spectacular destination with theatrical flair’, the luxury hotel features a restaurant and bar open to both guests and non-residents seven days a week, along with an exclusive private bar Club Brass for members, VIPs, and hotel guests.

The interior of the building also tells stories of the station’s heritage from preserved artefacts to design details, all recalling Newcastle’s fire and rescue history. Carliol House on the left of our photograph, was home to NEEB (the North Eastern Electricity Board) in 1988.

Another product of the inter-war years, it was built between 1924 and 1927 as the headquarters of the North Eastern Electric Supply Company, standing as a proud symbol of a modern, electrified Tyneside. Designed by Burnet, Tait & Lorne alongside local firm LJ Couves & Partners, the seven‐storey block mixed period Art Deco flair and classical swagger, boasting a Portland stone frontage with marble flourishes.

For a region in the 1920s standing on the cusp of the fully electrified age, the new building’s interior with its electric lifts and central heating was considered almost futuristic. For many years its large showroom was the go-to place for Tyneside families buying modern household electrical appliances.

Grade II-listed in 1987, Carliol House remained a city‐centre landmark, though later years brought shopfront alterations and a slow decline. In 2023 the interior was demolished, leaving only the long, sweeping frontage. It will live on as part of the £155m Pilgrim’s Quarter scheme, set to welcome thousands of HMRC staff from next year.

Today, the familiar facades remain, but the roles of the two buildings have changed beyond recognition - a reminder of how Newcastle reinvents itself while keeping one eye on its past.

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