The 55 Degrees North pictured in 2013

Memories of when a 'roundabout' of Newcastle bars started at 55 Degrees North

09 Nov 2024, 16:00 by Barbara Hodgson · ChronicleLive

It had one of the most prominent positions in Newcastle, was named after its location and the site too went on to share its name with a popular TV show.

The first bar offer at 55 Degrees North - part of a mixed-use development on the Swan House roundabout at the end of the Tyne Bridge - was a hit with city revellers and the busy hub, on an island surrounded by constant traffic, could not fail to grab the attention of passing drivers. And Bar 55 tempted people in, if they managed to cross through the flow of cars or find their way to it via the underpass labyrinth that is.

The towering building on the site was named after Newcastle’s line of latitude - which was known as Swan House when it was built as the headquarters for BT in the 1960s - and a TV show with the same name was set to follow. BBC detective drama 55 Degrees North, starring Don Gilet as a London detective who relocated to Newcastle, launched in 2004 and ran for two series, with the second aired the following year.

When it was all-change at the bar-restaurant set-up at the base of the apartment block, Bar 55 closed in 2008 and Linekers Bar - the franchise which was initially launched by football legend Gary Lineker’s brother Wayne - followed there in early 2009 but this too ran its course and closed in 2011. The site was to become home to Asian bar-restaurant Fat Buddha and alpine bar Antler in 2018 and so the social whirl on the roundabout continued up until 2019 when administrators were called in - then came news of jobs there being saved under new owners.

The Fat Buddha continued life upstairs for a while. Then life revolved again with the opening of The Purple Peacock in 2019 and the launch of Bar 52 sports bar in 2020, in the area previously occupied by Antler, and it's party time again on the island. Here's a reminder in pictures of the whirl of action on the 55 Degrees North site whose mix of commercial tenants has also included Metro Radio station, web designers Think and pasta bar Zucchini Pasta.