Loathe: Top End Subway

[Cympil]

Does anyone actually use this? Other than a toilet! Get it filled in,it`s stinking to the high heavens

[Hamburger Pimp]

Their foot long sandwiches with the meatballs in are nice.

[Mr Darn]

Their foot long sandwiches with the meatballs in are nice.

I have used it once in at least the last 5 years... one day when i got caught in the rain.

Thing was, after 5 minutes of a downpour it was an inch underwater!

[Hamburger Pimp]

That's quite a big wee.

[Monsta®]

not only does it stink it attracts chava's! some where to drink there white lightning!  spackers!

[Pete]

Does anyone actually use this? Other than a toilet! Get it filled in,it`s stinking to the high heavens

Where is the subway?

[Monsta®]

Where is the subway?

round the corner from the wharton. or should that be it is the whartons toilet!

[Pete]

round the corner from the wharton. or should that be it is the whartons toilet!

Is it at the top of the hill just after the island, I vaguely remember it last time I was up there.

[Mr Darn]

Is it at the top of the hill just after the island, I vaguely remember it last time I was up there.

thats the one

[Pete]

thats the one

That was a single road when I left Bedlington, there was shops and a pub as you walked down the hill, can not remember the name of the pub. The Prince of Wales cinema was on the other side of the road it became a bingo hall.

[Blank]

Have to agree with you there Cympil, you get all sorts of looneys hanging around that place. Now that there is crossings above, theres no need for it.

It'll never go away though...

[Mr Darn]

That was a single road when I left Bedlington, there was shops and a pub as you walked down the hill, can not remember the name of the pub. The Prince of Wales cinema was on the other side of the road it became a bingo hall.

Pub at the top of the hill opposite the wharton was the top club, but it burned down.

they built another at the bottom of the hill and built flats on the old site.

now the top club is on the front street as the new building subsided. thats a Netto now, and the bingo hall is a gym!

[Monsta®]

Pub at the top of the hill opposite the wharton was the top club, but it burned down.

they built another at the bottom of the hill and built flats on the old site.

now the top club is on the front street as the new building subsided. thats a Netto now, and the bingo hall is a gym!

i a remember the club were nettos is! it was built to the same standards as the perry project! sub standard! then it got pulled doon!  they used dodgy concrete!

[Mr Darn]

i a remember the club were nettos is! it was built to the same standards as the perry project! sub standard! then it got pulled doon! they used dodgy concrete!

was that what it was?

i was told it was the west mine that had collapsed under the weight of it.

[Blank]

was that what it was?

i was told it was the west mine that had collapsed under the weight of it.

If there was a collapsed mine there, they wouldnt have built on it again, would they?

[Mr Darn]

If there was a collapsed mine there, they wouldnt have built on it again, would they?

isnt that why the netto building is built on piles?

[Monsta®]

was that what it was?

i was told it was the west mine that had collapsed under the weight of it.

what? nor they check the ground! nen body builds on mine workings unless they have been filled in!

nor it was the concrete foundations were made from sub standard concrete and it cracked!

[Guest MONGO]

what? nor they check the ground! nen body builds on mine workings unless they have been filled in!

nor it was the concrete foundations were made from sub standard concrete and it cracked!

aye your rite there monsta i remember that the foundations were crap and gaveway causing it 2 sink and the brickwork was put up with sand

[threegee]

...they used dodgy concrete!

It was High Alumina Cement that was used in lots of civil engineering projects - motorway bridges, school roofs etc. in the 1950's, 1960's and maybe beyond. It was used because of the strength and rigidity. What no one knew at the time was that it deteriorated very quickly under certain circumstances. Until - one day - things started to fall down! The Top Club was particularly vulnerable because of the way the architect had suspended the outside walls to extend the floor area and give it an "ultra-modern look".

I'm not aware that ground stability was a factor, but if you are building again on the same site then, as an architect, you'd want to be extra extra careful in order not to get sued. Although - thinking back - maybe that's why many of the buildings on the East side of the Glebe Road were missing long before the Coooncil completed the demolition job (for the totally unnecessary dual carriage way)! And, it's from this (unnecessarily isolating part of the west end from the center) that has arisen all the problems.

Now why - you might ask - was the road connecting Ashington to the smoke deemed far more important than any of the other roads going in and out of the Town? Answers on a postcard to the: "Let's Screw Bedlington - Again!" Subcommittee, WDC Council Offices, Station Road, ASHINGTON.

[Pete]

Pub at the top of the hill opposite the wharton was the top club, but it burned down.

they built another at the bottom of the hill and built flats on the old site.

now the top club is on the front street as the new building subsided. thats a Netto now, and the bingo hall is a gym!

Yes I remember the Top Club and I remember it burning down. I went into the new Top Club when it was first built and I have been in the present day Top Club but that is not what I am talking about. If you go down the hill on the Choppington road there used to be a pub, its not there now but I can not remember its name.

I am refering to the early sixties (1961-64)

[Mr Darn]

Yes I remember the Top Club and I remember it burning down. I went into the new Top Club when it was first built and I have been in the present day Top Club but that is not what I am talking about. If you go down the hill on the Choppington road there used to be a pub, its not there now but I can not remember its name.

I am refering to the early sixties (1961-64)

so were talking after the top club, but before choppington?

nearer bedlington or choppington?

i remember their used to be a petrol station on the right as you left bedlington, was it past that too?

[Mr Darn]

AHHHHHHHHHH

"The Tank!"

or the Tankerville it may have been called.

My Mum remembers it well.

[charlie]

Yes I remember the Top Club and I remember it burning down. I went into the new Top Club when it was first built and I have been in the present day Top Club but that is not what I am talking about. If you go down the hill on the Choppington road there used to be a pub, its not there now but I can not remember its name.

I am refering to the early sixties (1961-64)

A bit before my time but was it the Tankerville Arms ?

[threegee]

i remember their used to be a petrol station on the right as you left bedlington, was it past that too?

That was Begbie's. The late Harold Begbie, and his wife's after he died. There's a daughter somewhere.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Now why - you might ask - was the road connecting Ashington to the smoke deemed far more important than any of the other roads going in and out of the Town? Answers on a postcard to the: "Let's Screw Bedlington - Again!" Subcommittee, WDC Council Offices, Station Road, ASHINGTON.

Thats right about the concrete GGG, but this road...........I was told it was the brainchild of a certain BUDC official and the plan was to link Bedlington to Ashington by dual carriagway starting at the top end roundabout?

The subway what a bliddy saga! There have been several attempts to get it filled in, one by yours truley, but the answer was always the same, "we need access to the underside of the road to check its condition." Honestly, that was the reason given, what a crock! There was presedence and the cops would have loved it filled in but without "political" support no chance! There is another effort ongoing at the moment to get this dumb arsed thing filled in and it looks like it might actually succeed, especailly after WDC is no more next year!