A little bit of Newcastle retail history uncovered
Tags: Bainbridge, footwear, George Rye & Sons, John Lewis, Newcastle, William Hill
Fascia of former George Rye store, Newcastle
Walking through Newcastle’s Bigg Market last Sunday, I was interested to see that part of the William Hill bookmaker’s fascia appeared to have dropped off, exposing some much earlier signage underneath (above).
I was also curious to note how the height of the fascia had evidently been increased from what it was previously, with the top portion of the adjacent doorway concealed as a result.
The uncovered ‘Geor’ is, of course, a remnant of the George Rye shoe shop that opened on the site in 1879, and that lasted there for 128 years before finally closing at the end of 2007. Though the George Rye wholesale business continues to operate successfully from its base in Cramlington, the retail operation was seemingly the victim of the Bigg Market just not being a major retail destination any more.
In contrast, in George Rye’s early years the Bigg Market would have been a major retail thoroughfare. In 1885, the Bainbridge department store (the forerunner of today’s John Lewis Newcastle) acquired the Coach and Horses Inn in the Bigg Market; the inn was promptly demolished, with a new three-storey building for Bainbridge’s House Furniture Department constructed in its place. This opened up a direct route through the store from Market Street to the Bigg Market, creating a short cut that was affectionately known, for many years, as ‘Bainbridge Street’.
George Rye store just prior to closure. Photograph courtesy of Citikey.com
Interestingly, the exposed fascia is not the one that George Rye sported immediately prior to its closure (above); rather, it would seem to be an earlier version that George Rye had already covered up itself. That’s one of the fascinating things about new shopfronts – generally speaking, it’s easier simply to cover up what’s already there, rather than to rip it out. Most of the time, nobody on the street is any the wiser; it’s only when something is unexpectedly exposed that we get a tantalising reminder of what was there before.
The photograph of the George Rye store prior to closure is courtesy of Citikey.com, the free local directory.
Martin Rye said:
Jan 24, 10 at 20:45I stumbled across this note that has been written about the old fascia of the George Rye Shoe shop in the Bigg Market. If you are interested, I have an image of the premises from 1928 showing the original shop front. Many thanks, Martin Rye.
Soult's Retail View» Blog Archive » Remember Maurice Gerald at 6 Bigg Market, Newcastle? said:
Feb 07, 10 at 23:25[...] was intrigued therefore to receive an email from Norman Gerald – prompted by my previous post about George Rye & Sons’ shoe shop in Newcastle’s Bigg Market – telling me about his father’s business [...]
Soult's Retail View » The Wo- of Woolies makes a brief comeback in Rhyl said:
Mar 07, 11 at 23:51[...] my George Rye example from August 2009 showed, fallen-off signs are often fun in revealing little bits of retail history that might [...]