It was all change in Newcastle 50 years ago - and these down-at-heel, once-grand Georgian terraces were on the brink of demolition.
Of all the widespread transformation imposed on the city centre, the loss of two thirds of old Eldon Square is still a major source of regret for some, half a century later. Our main image from 1972 shows the northern section just before it was bulldozed to make way for the new shopping centre - and a small part of the eastern section which survived.
Originally conceived in the early 1960s by Newcastle City Council leader T Dan Smith and his chief planning officer Wilfred Burns, the new Eldon Square would be the 'high street of the future', allowing people to shop undercover and away from the ever-growing number of cars clogging up the city's roads. It would symbolise a new, forward-thinking, post-war Newcastle .
