ewcastle at night with Woolworth and Fenwick stores on Northumberland Street in the run-up to Christmas 1970(Image: Mirrorpix)

Newcastle at Christmas: 20 photographs recall city scenes during the festive season - from the 1960s to the 2000s

20 archive photographs of Newcastle at Christmas: From Fenwick's window, to Lindisfarne at the City Hall, to Alan Shearer switching on the lights

by · ChronicleLive

The run-up to Christmas 1970 and beneath a dark Northern winter sky, the busy shops on Newcastle’s Northumberland Street were giving off a blaze of light.

Our striking main photograph is one of 20 we’ve pulled from the archive that recall scenes around the city during festive seasons of years gone by. The two well-known stores in the centre of our picture are both synonymous with memories of Christmas on Tyneside.

At Fenwick, as well as having a peerless toy department, the seasonal window display has become an annual tradition. Beginning in 1971 (a year after our photo was taken), the store took the bold decision to devote the entire shop frontage to animation. Since then, it’s been a must-visit attraction every Christmas for shoppers young and old in Newcastle. This year’s animated display features The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, while the first display 52 years ago was a celebration of the children’s television favourite Camberwick Green.

If Fenwick is still going strong, its next-door neighbour Woolworths is long-gone. Famous for its Pic 'n' Mix sweets, the store with its own sizable toy department was a long-time favourite destination for Christmas shoppers. The first Woolworth’s had opened its doors in Liverpool in 1909. It arrived in Newcastle in 1913 on Northumberland Street where it traded until its closure in 1984. At its height, there were 25 Woolworths stores across the North East - the last one opening at the Metrocentre in 1988. The ‘wonder of Woolies’ finally met its demise at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 as stores up and down the country closed their doors and the brand disappeared from the high street.

Elsewhere, among our photographs, we see local heroes Lindisfarne in 1992, performing one of their legendary Christmas concerts at Newcastle City Hall in a yearly tradition that began in 1976; Newcastle United captain and centre-forward Alan Shearer was switching on the city centre Christmas lights in 2002; and, on Christmas Eve in 1970, children at Newcastle Theatre Royal were watching the pantomime Treasure Island.

Enjoy our 20 photographs of Newcastle and Christmases past.

Newcastle at night with Woolworths and Fenwick stores on Northumberland Street in the run-up to Christmas 1970(Image: Mirrorpix)
Newcastle United manager and chairman Sir John Hall took 270 Newcastle youngsters to Norway to meet Santa Claus, Christmas 1996
Christmas shoppers on Northumberland Street, Newcastle, 1971(Image: NCJ Archive/Mirrorpix)
Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer switches on the Newcastle city centre Christmas lights in 2003(Image: Mirrorpix)