The controversial car park that has dominated the Tyneside skyline for the past four decades will be consigned to history by the end of the year.
Gateshead's infamous Get Carter car park will be knocked down, along with a massive swathe of the town centre to make way for a new shopping and leisure complex fit for the 21st Century, council bosses said yesterday.
Making the announcement alongside supermarket giants Tesco, Gateshead Council leader Mick Henry said the town would finally get a town centre its residents deserved.
And Tesco bosses, whose current store will also be demolished and replaced, revealed new facilities could include a cinema, cafes, restaurants, apartments, a public square and a new car park.
The car park, made famous by Michael Caine's 1971 film, will be bulldozed in November if Tesco's proposals proceed as planned.
Shoppers yesterday delighted in the downfall of the 1969 car park, and even Get Carter fans conceded it would be expensive and difficult to restore and maintain.
But the move has angered the 27 traders in the Trinity Square market who will not be re-homed and are who are now taking legal advice.
Coun Henry said: "I'm really excited - not just for the skyline.
"Everybody has been waiting for this for a long time and it's certainly long overdue. I know some people will be sad to see the car park going, but I think everybody understands we need a modern town centre that's genuinely mixed-use and fit for this century.
"We know the level of investment Tesco can make, but it isn't just about money. They're committed to creating an exciting and vibrant town centre.
"We always needed private sector developers to help us to do this and this is an opportunity for them too, and we've had nothing but co-operation from them."
With Gateshead College due to move onto the Quayside, Coun Henry said he would like to create a new student economy in the town centre, making it as pedestrian-friendly as possible.
Max Curtis, Tesco's corporate affairs manager, made the announcement on behalf of the supermarket's commercial property arm, Spen Hill Developments Ltd.
Although exact plans have yet to be drawn up, he said the new buildings would be "architecturally impressive".
Mr Curtis said: "This is a great combination of our expertise and funding, and it's all based around doing our best to respond to the vision that the council has for the town centre.
"It's a great location for a new development. Not only is it a brown field site, it has really superb transport connections.
"The potential is massive, not only for the new shops, there will be hundreds of jobs, an improved transport network and landscaping, and creating somewhere that people choose to visit both in the daytime and in the evening."
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Uprooted traders say they can't afford to move
Traders in the indoor market underneath the car park will today (WED) make an 11th-hour attempt to keep their shops.
The stallholders, warned six years ago about the plans, received letters yesterday outlining the demolition of Trinity Square indoor market, giving them notice to quit along with an offer of free rent for July and August.
But despite an acknowledgement the car park has to go, the 27 traders, who will not be accommodated in the new development, are fuming at the loss of their livelihoods.
A delegation is today due to meet a solicitor and a barrister to find out where they stand. Shoppers yesterday bemoaned the loss of the market and also the shops in Trinity Square, which include cafes, opticians, travel agents, a bakery, butcher, jeweller, chemist, pet shop, banks, clothes shops, book store, health food shop and curtain shop. None of the traders would yesterday be identified.
One said: "We've tried to relocate, but the prices in Gateshead town centre are just too prohibitive. The cheapest I could find was £18,000 a year, before rates.
"Tesco are a law unto themselves. Four or five years ago, the plans included a market and I was offered a place. But now they've made no calculation for anybody but themselves - we're on our own.
"I've been here for 32 years, I've got customers of all generations. It's just something you can't let go of.
"The car park has to come down. There's no doubt about it. It's just the way they've gone about it and ignored us.
"We've never been told anything and they've never done anything to try to make the market work." Gateshead Council leader Mick Henry said the authority's economic development team would do everything it could to help the traders, and Tesco has planned a series of surgeries to help people move or find new employment.
But another trader said: "We're going to take advice and see what the way forward is. Why haven't they tried to incorporate us somewhere else, even until the new building is built?
"Some of these people have been here for 40 years. Everyone accepts it has to be renovated or pulled down, but they haven't done anything to accommodate the traders."
Another said: "We're scared to say anything in case it backfires on us. We'd love everyone to know how we've been treated."
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Sad day for fans of Caine movie
One of the biggest Get Carter fans in the country last night spoke of his sadness that the iconic car park is to be bulldozed.
Michael Brady, who set up the Get Carter Tour website six years ago, said it will be a sad day for fans of the film when it goes.
Mr Brady, 37, of Northumbria Lodge, Cowgate, Newcastle, said he would like the car park to be retained as part of future projects, but conceded it was unrealistic to expect council chiefs to save it just because of the film.
The multi-storey car park was designed by Owen Ludder in 1964 and opened in 1969. The following year saw Michael Caine arrive on Tyneside to film the movie. Its most famous scene features gangster Cliff Brumby - played by the late Bryan Mosley - being thrown from the car park.
The car park's roof-top cafe failed to find a tenant and was never opened and now the upper floors are not deemed safe enough to take cars.
The car park has repeatedly featured in polls of the worst buildings not just in the North-East but in the country, although its iconic status has seen it featured among the Civic Trust Heritage Open Days.
Along with Get Carter fans, a number of groups have opposed demolition in recent years, including the Twentieth Century Society, who regard the car park as an important work of its era.
Mr Brady added: "When it comes down, it will be a sad day for Carter Fans. It's the focal point of any Get Carter fans location hunt."
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Eyesore with icon status
The Get Carter car park not only dominates the Gateshead skyline, but that of Newcastle as well, as our picture shows.
Taken from Grey Street, frequently hailed as one of the most impressive streets in the country for its outstanding architecture, the view from a walk down towards the Tyne is dominated by the structure across the river.
Last night, the leader of Newcastle Council admitted to having a soft spot for the building, but said it could not stand in the way of progress across the water.
Demolition of the car park will follow that of Westgate House opposite Newcastle's Central Station. Both buildings have regularly topped polls of the worst eyesores in the North-East and soon both will be no more, forever changing the Tyneside cityscape.
Last night, Newcastle Council leader John Shipley said: "I have a soft spot for the car park, which has become an icon.
"However, it has little architectural merit and cannot stand in the way of the successful regeneration of Gateshead town centre."
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Public glad to see car park go
The first word uttered by everybody The Journal spoke to in Gateshead town centre yesterday was "eyesore".
Retired bricklayer Thomas Ingham, 79, from Lobley Hill, said: "It should have been pulled down years ago.
"Gateshead High Street is a disgrace. I'd be very pleased to see it go, and pleased if they did something with the high street as well."
Sisters-in-law Alice and Shirley Hurst said the market would be a big loss to the town centre.
Shirley, 72, from Teams, said: "The car park is an eyesore and everybody wants to see it down. Some might think it's part of Gateshead, but no way."
Alice, 78, of Old Durham Road, said: "I'm not happy about Tesco taking it all over. Before the car park was built, this was a busy town, it was all shops and it was as busy as Newcastle. Now it's terrible."
Carer Sarah Nicholson, 20, from Wrekenton, said: "It's just an eyesore. The whole of Gateshead town centre should be knocked down."
Susan Lilley, 52, from Lobley Hill, who was with two-year-old granddaughter, Robyn, said: "I've never used it, it's an eyesore and I'd be glad to see the back of it."
Margaret Wilson, 52, from Heworth, said: "I don't like the car park but I'm upset about the market stalls. Where are we going to shop?
"The shops are nearly all closed or boarded up. Rather than get rid of the market, why not make it a better market with more choice?"
