The QT

Tuesday 7 May 2024
07/05/2024

North Tyneside

A strip to the seaside

Believe it or not, long before Whitley Bay became a gentrified coastal retreat for wealthy retirees and post-pandemic millennials, it rivalled Newcastle’s infamous Bigg Market as a melting pot for no-holds-barred partying. During the hedonistic 80s and 90s, when it came to letting your hair down in Whitley, the gloves — and just about everything …

How Helix Arts makes lives better

Goodness only knows how many lives have been improved, however minutely, by Helix Arts during its 40-year history of working with artists and communities. The value of its work was acknowledged in December when the National Lottery Heritage Fund granted nearly £100,000 for an archive project called Re:Visits. There’s a wealth of material to be …

Banking on the Exchange

Consternation greeted the news at the beginning of last year that the council had appointed a new operator to run the venue known as The Exchange on Howard Street, North Shields. The arts-orientated charity that had been in charge for seven years had tendered but a rival bid from Stonebanks Investments, promising a lavish revamp, …

The name’s Bond…

“But what’s the local angle,” my irritable news editor would bark across the office floor at least 10 times every day. Inevitably, there was one. And the Chronicle, like every local and regional newspaper back in the day, would pride itself on finding some close-to-home connection to the biggest story of the day — however …

Eyes and ears

GREEN FOR STOP: The Green Party candidate for Tees Valley Mayor has withdrawn from the election on May 2 because she does not want to help Ben Houchen get a third term in office. Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Sally Bunce said: “The main reason I stepped back was because it was becoming clear that …

Gary’s big break is right on cue

Earlier this month Ronnie O’Sullivan, arguably the greatest snooker player to grace the game, momentarily paused his post-match press conference to make a point of praising an opponent ‘who loves the game so much’. The Rocket was describing North Tyneside’s Gary Wilson, just moments after defeating the 38-year-old in the semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint …

Energy giants face multiple claims after court win

“We’ve fielded dozens and dozens of inquiries,” admits Callum Thompson, managing director at North Tyneside-based Business Energy Claims.  “Our web traffic has gone through the roof. We’ve been flooded with calls and emails and we’re just trying to assess each potential claim on a case-by-case basis.  “We knew it was going to get busy but …

Laurels unveils another fine season to get into

When it comes to articulating the mission of Laurels Theatre, Jamie Eastlake is not messing about. “We want to make and develop stories and artists in our region and help get them on that rocket ship into the wider world.” And fresh from a week workshopping an under-the-radar project at the National Theatre (the National …

Race is on for mayoral hopefuls

Bookmakers don’t often make mistakes. There may be six runners attempting to be first past the post in the race to be North East mayor, but they make it a two-horse race. Labour candidate Kim McGuinness is favourite at 1-2 while independent Jamie Driscoll is a 13-8 shot. That means if you put £1 on …

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