New cafe-bar for the Blue Carpet square

I hesitate in celebrating the closure of any business in the north east- not just because of the impact it has on the lives of those people affected, but because I want to see a vibrant, thriving and well developed retail sector (and economy) in the north east, and take no pleasure in any set backs or failures.

However, some economists argue that recessions can be good for clearing out 'dead wood' to make room for strong new growth. I .e. - failing businesses can hog resources and finance (customers even?) which could be better employed elsewhere - they crowd out investment which could be supporting the development of new or stronger businesses. In this respect, I am glad to see the back of these two businesses: Fusion bar and Supashop newsagents and takeaway.

Back in year 2000, or so, there were two thriving businesses on what is now the (abysmal) blue carpet square on New Bridge Street. One was a newsagents, which had expanded from a small narrow unit with little stock to a larger unit with quality wooden shop fittings and an extended range of stock which included alcohol and some food. Next door was a cafe called The Sour Pickle. This cafe also sold takeaway sandwiches and other food. On a lunchtime, the cafe would be jam packed- all tables occupied and a queue of people waiting to be served. and there would be a queue of people out of the door, most days, wanting to buy sandwiches. The bacon, chicken, cheese, and coleslaw in a sun dried tomato ciabatta bun was my favourite - a bit of mouthful to order, but I rattled the order off like a New Yorker, I was tempted to ask for a cuorrfee to go.

I say they were thriving businesses, but they both no doubt suffered from the long period of disruption caused by construction work and delays when the blue carpet was being installed. This affected both visibility and access to the premises for up to two years (the project ran into funding difficulties and there were technical problems in creating that right shade of yellow-grey tile - so essential for a blue carpet).

Anyway, around this time, the owners of the newsagents and the cafe separately decided to sell up, and a single buyer bought both businesses. The new owner gutted the cafe, rearranged the layout, painted a royal blue colour and renamed the cafe "Cafe Blue". He got rid of all the friendly young fit lasses who worked in the Sour Pickle, and kept on the miserable old boiler. The place died on its arse. In the meantime, the newsagents was similarly gutted and then went through a 13 year period of constant renovation and reorganisation without any obvious improvements resulting - the phrase "you can't polish a turd" springs to mind here as being an apt description of the result of their efforts.

Cafe Blue closed down and the premises were refurbished - initially to a decent standard. Fusion Bar opened in its place and it first it seemed to be quite a pleasant place to have a drink, although it was a bit on the small side. Unfortunately, it was not long before it started to go down hill. A website called The Burglars Dog (which hilariously but viciously provided reviews of all the pubs in Newcastle - tracking their constants changes and fortunes) described the change as if it were a crack den where anything decent or of value and been ripped out and sold for drugs - leaving a depressing shitty hole in its place - I paraphrase here cos i can't find the original review, so I am not doing justice to the Burglars Dog reviewers description). Further developments saw the partial merger of both premises - they knocked a hole in the wall for a door, but access between the two premises was impeded by a supporting column.

Unbelievably, both business limped on for many years until they finally closed earlier this year. I have now heard that the original owner of the newsagents is hoping to open a cafe bar here in October, which will be called "The Laughing Tiger". It's a bit of an odd choice of name, especially since there is a cafe nearby, on the base of block of flats above John Dobson Street, called The Laughing Cat. Is he trying to prove that he is the top cat in town?