Baron House, Westgate Road

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Baron House, Westgate Road by Andrew Curtis as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Baron House, Westgate Road

Image: © Andrew Curtis Taken: 31 Jan 2010

Baron House is a 1970s office block which replaced several old properties on this site where Westgate Road joins Neville Street. An old hospital, St Mary the Virgin, once stood here from the C12th, and its chapel was occupied between 1607 and 1844 by Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (now known as the Royal Grammar School). The building was demolished in 1844 to improve the approaches to the site being cleared for the Central Railway Station. John Dobson preserved one gate pier from the old school and built it into the corner of the Express Public House. The pier was preserved again when this too was subsequently demolished and can be seen on the opposite pavement. Along the rear of the building on Westgate Road runs the Long Bar, one of Newcastle's most famous bars, inspired by its namesake in the cult film 'Get Carter'. The original Long Bar closed in 1970, the same year the film was made, and was demolished in 1971. The main entrance to the Royal Station Hotel on Neville Street can be seen to the left.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0