Plans to open a new bar on the corner of Newcastle’s Bigg Market have been dropped – for now.
The proposed Geordie Racer would have transformed the empty plot at the corner of the Bigg Market and Grainger Street, which was formerly home to a KFC and later VietCafe. But developers have been forced to put their vision for a radical transformation of the vacant unit on hold, after being met with stern opposition from city authorities.
The Geordie Racer, named in honour of Victorian world cycling champion George Waller, had been touted as a high-end establishment that would be a “flagship site for the redevelopment of the Bigg Market". However, Northumbria Police and council bosses were unimpressed by the plans to bring another drinking venue into one of the city’s most notoriously busy and troublesome areas.
