Spanish City
The Spanish City was a permanent fairground in Whitley Bay, a seaside town in the North East of England. It was founded in 1908 and formally opened in 1910, when a dance hall was added. It was largely demolished in the late 1990s. Its centrepiece was its distinctive dome, now a Grade 2 listed building; when it was built it was believed to be the second largest unsupported concrete dome in the UK. There are towers on either side of the entrance to the fairground, and situated on top of them two half-life-size female lead figures, one carrying a cymbal, the other a tambourine. The building's architects were from the local firm Cackett, Burns Dick—Robert Burns Dick, Charles T. Marshall, and James Cackett.[1]
The band Dire Straits immortalized the Spanish City in their 1980 song, "Tunnel of Love", and thereafter the song was played every morning when the park opened.
History
The Spanish City earned its name in 1904 when Charles Elderton, who ran Hebburn's Theatre Royal, brought his Toreadors concert party troupe to perform there. The City was formally opened by Robert Mason, the chair of the local council, at 7:30 in the evening on Saturday, May 7, 1910, when it was known as The Spanish City and Whitley Pleasure Gardens. The new building housed a 1400-capacity theatre, shops, cafes, and roof gardens. [2]
The Spanish City became the Empress Ballroom in 1920. In 1979 the Rotunda Ballroom was converted into the starlight rooms for live entertainment. Its funfair was extremely popular with fairground rides and amusements, including a 'Corkscrew' roller coaster—which is now at Flamingoland in Yorkshire—ghost train and waltzers, the House that Jack Built, and the Fun House.[2] The Dome has had a number of uses over the years as a ballroom, amusement arcade, and Laser Quest Laser Tag Arena, most recently it became a live music venue playing host to several bands including an appearance by Ash in 2001.
References in popular culture
The band Dire Straits mention the location in their 1980 song "Tunnel of Love" and, for a period of years afterwards, the song became the unofficial theme song for the fairground, being played every morning when the park opened. The lyrics pertaining to the fairground were:
- Girl it looks so pretty to me
- Like it always did
- Like The Spanish City to me
- When we were kids
The surrounding area of Whitley Bay is also mentioned in the song.
- Rockaway rockaway
- From Cullercoats and Whitley Bay
- Out to rockaway
Dire Straits frontman and songwriter Mark Knopfler went on to say in a television interview that The Spanish City held special significance to him as the first place he ever heard Rock 'n' Roll played "really loud".
There is also a Spanish City mailing list (Spanish-City ML) and website (SpanishCity.net) about Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler, named after The Spanish City because of its inclusion in the lyrics of that song.
Spanish City is also the title of a novel by Sarah May, set in the fictional North-East town of Setton, which is home to an amusement park called the Spanish City. Setton borrows other features from Whitley Bay such as 'The Island'.
Sections of The Spanish City fairground and several other areas of Whitley Bay feature in the video of Tina Cousins' song "Pray". It can be seen briefly in the 1976 film version of The Likely Lads.
Notes
- ^ Usherwood, Paul; Beach, Jeremy; Morris, Catherine. "Public sculpture of North-East England", Liverpool University Press, 2000, pp. 218, 319.
- That the dome is now Grade 2 listed, see "Duncan's amusements demolished", North Tyneside Council, May 12, 2006, accessed July 11, 2010.
- ^ a b [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=530b6YGGuSo "A History of the Spanish City", local history project, YouTube, accessed July 11, 2010.