Newcastle Vintage Aerial Shot - Guess the Year

Goat Herding on the Tyne: Newcastle Vintage Aerial Shot - Guess the Year: I posted this picture on a Facebook group "Old Photos of Newcastle" to see if anyone could come up with the year the photo was taken.  From the responses I got, the most likely date seems to be 1983.  For me, the main clue has to be the date on which the Tuxedo Princess arrived on the Tyne.  It opened as a floating nightclub in December 1984, but I have no idea how long it had sat on the Tyne before it opened.  The former owner of the Tuxedo Princess, The Michael Quadrini Group, bought the boat in 1982.  In 1983, it was renamed Tuxedo Princess (having previously been called Caledonian Princess - a car ferry operating in Scotland until was retired from service in 1981).

Other clues:

• Manors Metro station opened in 1982 - seen here as the pristine white square building on the upper right hand side of the picture.
• NCP Car Park on John Dobson Street - not yet built but the land has been cleared for construction
• Planning permission for the car park given in 1981&1982
• Further planning permission sought for alterations in 1984 (so the car park had to have been built by then).

Interesting fact: while trying to find out information on the Tuxedo Princess, I found out from Wikipedia that the famous revolving dancefloor in the night club was originally a turntable for maneuvering the cars on deck - the Princess was a roll-on/roll-off car ferry, but it only had a rear set of doors.

Co-Op Clocks

The former Co-Op building on Newgate Street is undergoing a major re-development as it is turned into a Premier Inn hotel.  In 2012, thieves managed to steal the clocks and barometers from the building's two towers. 

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-co-op-clocks-stolen-scrap-7273365

They have not yet been recovered, but some replacements have been made and were installed last week.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/clocks-targeted-thieves-historic-newcastle-7943794

These are some photos I took back in 1994 when I had a brief spell working in Newgate House next door (which was demolished to make way for The Gate leisure complex). I was working on the second floor, but the rest of the building was empty so I went for a bit of an explore.  I discovered that there were some excellent views from the top floor, especially from the the former weather centre which looked directly onto the clock.

Town moor run

Too windy for cattle 'worrying', but a lovely day for a bracing and invigorating run instead, especially when engaging in a spot of freikörperkultur.

Darth Vader busker Northumberland Street