Sad end to pleasure palace

It is 30 years since a fire tore through one of Tyneside's most historic coastal landmarks, leaving it a smouldering ruin requiring swift demolition.

- By DAVID MORTON

February 10, 1996: Fire crews battle the flames engulfing Tynemouth Plaza, which had overlooked Longsands for more than a century

Tynemouth Plaza, the imposing Victorian-built pleasure palace on Grand Parade, had overlooked the North Sea and the Longsands for nearly 120 years. Generations of Geordies flocked to its attractions - but its long life came to a dramatic end on February 10, 1996.

A 70-strong team of firefighters battled to save the Grade II-listed building as flames roared through its structure. The inferno was so fierce it could be seen from the Wills factory on the Coast Road.

By the time the blaze was finally subdued, the Plaza's central section had been destroyed and the two end wings left fatally weakened.

Demolition crews moved in less than three weeks later, on March 1, to pull down what remained.