Member Article

Bid to bring life back into historic Fish Quay

A bid to breathe life back into historic buildings on North Shields Fish Quay has been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund. North Tyneside Council confirmed that if the latest bid for £412,500 is successful, it will bring the total for the Fish Quay regeneration project to £1m.

The five-year project would see the “restoration” of the 17th century Clifford’s Fort ancient monument along with schemes to safeguard the Irvin buildings, the New Dolphin pub which is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the Fish Quay and the Old Low Lights.

Original architectural features, which make a marked visual contribution to the character of the conservation area, would also be restored.

Councillor Jim Allan, North Tyneside Council’s Cabinet member for Regeneration, said: “We believe the Fish Quay has tremendous potential and the improvements which our long term regeneration scheme envisaged, are already starting to happen. “We have already brought a number of historic buildings back into use - a £1.2m scheme has just seen the Smokehouses sympathetically reinvented as business space and many of the derelict buildings above shops on the Quayside have been restored and already have tenants. “A new £4.4m food processing factory will replace older fish units on the Quayside; but we are keen to ensure that fishing remains at the heart of the Quay and the success of the current fish restaurants, cafes and shops is living proof of that.”

If the bid is approved, work will start on the scheme in January 2007.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .