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Gateshead adventure - July (small hours one Sunday)

I'm not often up in the early early morning, if I am it's probably (as in this case) because I've been up all night. Unusually on this particular morning I went on an adventure...

After a brilliant night clubbing in Newcastle, and with nothing to do for the 5 hours or so until the first train at around 10am, my mate Phil and I went on a little adventure We'd lucked out on the weather. As the sun rose over the Tyne it was clear this was going to be one of this July's all-too-rare sunny days By way of giving us a goal, I steered our walk here: the remains of the Trinity Square complex in Gateshead (better known as the Get Carter carpark) I know I'm in an unfashionable minority on this one, but I love this big old brute of a building. There's a sense of soaring optimism in mid-twentieth century brutalist buildings. The Trinity doesn't have the playfulness of its lost cousin the Tricorn (same architect, similarly failures as civic centres, similarly deliberately run-down and neglected by their local councils, vilified and eventually demolished) but (I think) there's a protective solidity about it... ... anyway it's a building that's always fascinated me, so when I spotted an opportunity to sneak inside before it's gone for good I grabbed it with both hands
Predictably (and sensibly) the stairs to the beckoning upper levels (with the never-occupied sky-restaurant) were closed off with impenetrable metal gates I managed a few close shots of the disintegrating geometric edges of the carpark levels ...before turning away from the closed off upper levels and heading back to the outside world At least until I passed the partially demolished loading docks that is. I couldn't resist a look further inside and since it was still the early hours of Sunday morning I knew I wouldn't be in anyone's way... My phone camera balks at low light so I couldn't take many snaps of the winding back corridors of (what's left of) the old shopping centre ...and I stayed clear of the areas which weren't still intact
I would have loved to see this place when it was new... I've read that by the time it opened brutalism in Britain had already had its day, and more significantly shopping trends had rendered the Trinity's outdoor precincts (the rubble of which you see here) obsolete... ... even so there were tantalising glimses of a living past here. Standing here I really got why 28DL chose its name. There's an eerie sense to deserted public spaces like this that feels post-apocalyptic somehow... like you've accidentally stepped inside a film, and something sinister is about to happen perhaps it's to do with seeing decay where you don't expect it to be Anyway, after catching the light playing around the ruins a little more I made my exit ...grabbing a quick snap of another external detail on my way out
Phil and I made our way back toward Newcastle talking about buildings and historical perspective Mused whether the fated Sage will someday be as out-of-favour as the Trinity is now ... and occasionally just taking photos for the hell of it because the morning was glorious and the Newcastle - Gateshead waterfront presents some beautiful shapes Serendipitous litter :) Looking back at four landmarks... and then five after a short stroll up the quayside.