Where Did Byker Go! Part 1 of 2

Where did Byker Go! A visit to Shileds Road and a trip to the Raby Hotel for a drink with my family. You'll have a great night they are lovely people.

[@anneflavell8350]

I came from byker my mum still lives their I could cry when I see it now drunks smack heads criminals people with no respect our morals I could never go back I miss the old byker and the people I grew up with tank you for sharing this video 👍🌍🌈🌈😊

[@jean2740]

Every thing you said so true 👍

[@Geraldine-uk9jo]

No what you mean people didn't have much and had hard lives but they would do anything to help anyone. ..all changed now people want to be out to many foreigners playing music until all hours they are lawless. ...this government has a lot to answer to..

[@jean2740]

B y k e r and all the lovely people who where born there are gone but never !!!! Forgotten R I. P. B Y K E R .

[@spinynorman8217]

Criminal destruction of a once beautiful area, however poor. "You don't know what you've got till it's gone.."Joni Mitchell.

[@philgray1023]

Reminds me of George Welsh's famous song, it went something like "and she's buying a stair-carpet at Beavans".

[@terryono-ss8he]

nice one

[@christinehales4222]

Wow this brings back memories .I moved away in 1975 & the new Shields Road is unrecognisable .Dad always took us to the Apollo & Odeon .I remember buying pick & mix at Woolies,my msm used to work on Shiel'd's Road in the late 1940's.There was a store on the right called Parrishes. Im almost sure a friend's parents used to run the Raby in the early 70's .Yhanks for the memories

[@garysmith4425]

I left byker in the early sixties it had a great sense of community but Christ it was a shithole !

[@jean2740]

B y k e r was a shit hole !!!,I think you mean is a shit hole now it was a friendly lovely place and everyone earned there keep ,went to work not sat in the pub all day as they do now loads of stinking layabouts.

[@tonymarran4077]

Ringtons tea was at the top of shields road you could get tea chests basically a wooden box and use them to put your stuff in to move house now of corse we use cardboard boxes made from trees and thousands of gallons of water to save the planet how strange we are when these wooden boxes lasted for umpteen years and you can planar trees and save the world and use no water

[@TheGreatest1974]

Wasn’t Byker a victim of the corrupt town developers in the 1970’s? If old Byker houses and streets had just been modernised instead of being demolished, the area would be a national treasure today. The developers destroyed many communities in Newcastle in the name of ‘progress’ and slum clearance. Yet the people in the streets and houses were happy and didn’t want to move.

[@DavidRenwick-t1e]

They weren't houses they were tyneside flats and they are not popular even when modernised.

[@kenstevens5065]

Like every city and large town in the UK whole communities in the 50's and 60's destroyed by slum clearance. Forgetting some of the awful architecture and building standards, the ego of the architects and Councils, such schemes forget the residents. Whole areas swept away in one go, the families rehoused and scattered far and wide, probably never to return to the areas they had lived in for generations. Still the madness continues with dilution of populations by migrants, not encouraged to integrate or not wanting to. School kids textbook stuff, when will our elite masters learn.

[@jean2740]

My parents where born in Baker I moved there 50 years later moved to gateshead cos now Baker a dirty dump all shops Sheila's road non English, people used to be friendly all shops used to be clean friendly staff I loved the place with all my heart , bur would be afraid to walk past the place now fear of being robbed as was robbed doing my shopping that's why I now live other side of the water..

[@feorag]

In the 1940s/50s our back yard door was almost directly opposite the Raby Hotel's back yard and when they left their gate open we used to go and play on the empty beer barrels that were stored there waiting for collection by the brewery. Happy Days!

[@julienorton8322]

Oh I see it's still really lovely though brings back lots of memories thank you very much x

[@jean2740]

I must be missing some thing ,it's NOT still really lovely it's a he'll hole my parents where born there and theirs befor them it used to be perfect it's a dump ,

[@TheGreatest1974]

Even the hills have gone? I can’t help thinking old byker was far better than the monstrosity they replaced it with.

[@IanPike-zm7uz]

What memories, the Apollo kids club on Saturday morning, one highlight was trip down to Brinkburn street for a Savaloy dip with all the trimmings. Agree with the comments how heart and soul is gone, all those canny people working at Parsons, the shipyards etc. all those skills gone

[@tonyanderton3521]

Interesting enough. But I'm after voices. I want to hear the old dialects, not background music. Why do all these archive films have music as background rather than voices?

[@da90sReAlvloc]

Chavs ruined everything

[@kopynd1]

a was there yesterday, a miss dougies motorcycle shop raby street

[@sicks6six]

my family came from Avondale Terrace (pre-wall) right in the centre of Byker in what was called Byker Village, tough times, no shoes, no top coat, and the candy man, they had nothing except community spirit but the corporation took that away when they redeveloped byker and tore the heart out of it, the pubs kept some of the community spirit alive for a few years, from the top end the Grace, the Butchers, the Heaton, the Raby, down to the Ford next to Angelos scooter shop, the Appolo cinema was an art decco palace, sheilds road was as busy as Northumberland street on Saturday, woollies, beavans, parrishs, to name a few but Newcastle City Council has managed to turn Shields road from an area where you could buy almost everything you needed into a pile of bookmakers, bars and charity shops, then just to make sure all the small family owned shops closed they allowed a huge supermarket to be built at the bottom of shields road, it looks out of place and has helped create driving chaos with all the extra cars, people used to walk and shop on old shields road they now turn up in cars go into one shop and then go home with out even seeing any other shops. Newcastle City Council is responsible for the decline of the East end and closure of 100s of independent family-run businesses, do they care NO they don't.

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

Thank you for your comment. I know and have visited everywhere you mention (my brother had his wedding reception in the Ford. The photos in the pup are of my mum and dad with my uncles and aunts in the Raby )and agree with everything you say. My family lived in Shipley Street. Byker was once a great place to live.

[@zeddeka]

Byker High Street suffering a fate very similar to Gateshead High Street and Coatsworth Road in Gateshead. Shopping patterns gradually changed over the 20th century as supermarkets took a lot of trade from independents and people headed more into central areas like Newcastle city centre or the Metrocentre. I remember in the early 80s on Saturdays, my parents seemed to spend the whole day on one high street or another just to pay bills. That must have brought a lot of other people to the shops. That all went with Direct Debits.

[@spiritualconnection6289]

Great to see aye

[@majesse8828]

like you video! i am an architectural student and now i am studying the Shield's road. Your video is much useful than the old maps! Thanks

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

Glad you find them useful, thank you for watching

[@ElzevereBlock]

When I used to travel up to Newcastle to see my cousin Jimmy Burns in Forest Hall I always went into The Raby and Jacksons' first. The area has changed out of all proportion and made me realise that the years have flown by when I wasn't looking. Always an experience though, especially in Jacksons.....characters by the score with a sense of humour to match.

[@julienorton8322]

I think I've seen a pic of my granny Dorothy Turner near the beginning am I right ?xx

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

Hi Julie, the only people I know are the ones in the Raby. I took the other images off the internet and edited them in. So it may well be your granny.

[@julienorton8322]

@@Spartcusisoverthere Hello my granda was Sammy O'Neil he was the window cleaner on Shields Rd and my nana worked in the Glendale does this sound familiar ?xx

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

@@julienorton8322 No sorry this was really my parents era

[@marionharney6673]

@@Spartcusisoverthere all of the pictures in the Raby are pictures of my family too! My Dad was Jimmy Smith, married to Vena and brother to Aunties, Doris, Evelyn, Ellen, Tommy et al. I am the dark-haired twin in the photographs with my Dad and brother. It would be great to know how we are related. My name is Marion Harney nee Smith and Me and my brothers Ken Smith and Gordon Smith and Michael Smith are all on Facebook.

[@HS-wq6dh]

Where did you get the photos of the people in the Raby? They’re all relations of my dad - brothers, sisters, uncles Also where did you find the internet photos you talk about, the ones of the kids in the streets by the car etc? Thanks!

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

Hi Harry, The photos in the Raby are from our family album. From left to right Uncle John, my dad Alex, aunty Evelyn and my mother Rita. The other photo is Evelyn, uncle Tommy aunty Helen and aunty Doris. If you've seen Where did Byker go part 2 most of the photos in that are me with my brothers, my mum grannie and dad. The other images used are from a memory stick someone gave me years ago. They had a contact in Newcastle library I think. thanks for watching and commenting.

[@marionharney6673]

@@Spartcusisoverthere Hi Brian, I see my nephew Harry has beaten me to it but I have sent you a separate email too - Just to say hello cousin Brian!

[@kopynd1]

do you have any pictures of the toffee factory union road

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

Sorry trevor don't think so

[@kopynd1]

great photo's

[@petea2485]

@@kopynd1 ill have a look for you and see what I can do

[@anthonygilbert9134]

Is the man in the stripey jumper Stephen Forrest

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

No its Aex mcgregor