Grainger Market tunnels to be filled in

National World - LocalTV

With Newcastle’s Grainger Market about to get a £9 million refurbishment, tunnels running underneath the iconic location that were used as WWII air raid shelters are due to be filled in.

Transcript

00:00The Granger Market is a Newcastle institution that dates back to the 1830s, but an upcoming

00:05revamp of the market including two new pavilions, additional seating and an events space mean

00:10that tunnels built underneath the market as air raid shelters in 1941 as part of the war

00:14effort will have to be filled in.

00:17Some of the tunnels were filled in over 40 years ago, but more recently the remaining

00:21air raid shelters have been opened up to the public on Heritage Open Days.

00:24This ceased in 2018 and the tunnels have degraded since then.

00:28Newcastle Council have worked in consultation with the Planning Authority and with Historic

00:32England on the planning of the Granger Market's revamp, which is a Grade 1 listed building,

00:37and have stated that they considered all options but that the tunnels have weakened to the

00:40point that it would make building work extremely dangerous, so infilling them will be the only

00:45safe option, in spite of the planning document stating that the tunnels have some communal

00:49interest and that their loss would cause some harm to the Granger Market as an institution.

00:55Work on filling the tunnels is expected to start in early 2025.

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