Whitley Bay

About Whitley Bay

Whitley Bay Beach is a beautiful a golden sands beach with a two mile Blue Flag award stretching from Whitley Bay North towards St Mary's Lighthouse. It is a popular destination for recreation and is a walkers route. The promenade and The Links have wonderful walks with the beach as a magnificent backdrop. An annual sandcastle competition is held on the beach every summer which is popular with locals and visitors. There are plenty of places to get refreshments right a long the Whitley Bay route. Plus the great independent retail destination of Park View which was named in a 2019 Guardian list featuring 10 of the coolest shopping districts on Earth alongside streets in Paris, Hamburg and Toronto.

Throughout most of the 19th century Whitley Bay was a mining and fishing settlement set on the North Sea Coast. But things changed quickly when the town was reborn as a holiday resort, following the newly built railway from Newcastle and tourists began to arrive. The beach is traced by the Links, a vast tract of greenery, and there’s a taste of Edwardian seaside glamour at the Spanish City (1910), a magnificent entertainment venue that has been relaunched as a dining destination.

With the advent of Metro (the North East tube equivalent) & Whitley Bay having a station it puts all the attractions of nearby Cullercoats, Tynemouth & Newcastle within fast & easy access.

There’s a raised promenade behind the beach, which was recently renovated incurring multi million spend, this itself is backed by the open greenery of the Links grass area. Walk here in any season is a joy, and with clear views there is a stunning panoramic across the bay to St Mary’s Lighthouse. With the glamorous backdrop of Edwardian seaside splendour of Spanish City (1910), a magnificent entertainment venue that has been relaunched as a dining destination. Featuring a Champagne Bar, Trenchers award winning fish & chips, Valeries Tea Room, Split Chimp Ale bar & Waffle House.

As critical to Whitley Bay as the lighthouse, the whitewashed Renaissance-style hall was built on the seafront in 1910. A landmark with its white dome and the Bacchanalian statues set high in its towers, Spanish City was Whitley Bay’s answer to Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach with locals remembering it as their Taj Mahal.

Originally siting a concert hall, restaurant, tearooms and roof garden inside, and this was later joined by a ballroom and a large funfair.

By the 1990s the local icon was terribly run derelict and had to be closed at the start of the 2000s.

But, following a hue seven-year restoration programme Spanish City reopened in 2018 as an events and dining centre.

When the tide is out at Whitley Bay you can cross the causeway to St Mary’s Island & the intact Victorian lighthouse, which was deactivated in 1984. This Whitley Bay landmark dates back to 1898 and is built with 750,000 bricks and 645 stone blocks.

Climbing the steep 137 steps gives you a stunning panorama across Whitley Bay and Tyneside. The local bird colonies, seals & occasional dolphins are just mesmerising.

At the foot of the lighthouse is a visitor centre where you can find the history of the lighthouse, see the original Fresnel lens and learn about the species that reside in the nature reserve that now makes up most of St Mary’s Island.

Close to Whitley Bay’s is a magnificent English Baroque country house designed by Jon Vanbrugh for Admiral George Delaval.

Now owned by the National Trust, Seaton Delaval Hall was a ten-year project, finally completed in 1729, by which time both Vanbrugh and Delaval had died.

Outside, Vanbrugh’s landscape survives in all its glory, and the woodland is stunning in the springtime when the daffodils are in flower.

In the early 2010s as part of a major £64 million regeneration of Whitley Bay the 630-seater play house theatre was given a complete overhaul

Originating in the 1930s, the crumbling building was regenerated into a modern state-of-the-art performing arts venue.

The theatre has a rich & divers programme including local talent & a busy schedule of touring theatre companies, musicals, tribute acts, comedians, special events for children and talks by politicians and cultural figures.

In August there is the Whitley Bay Film Festival which has a meticulously curated lineup of classic movies.

A short drive away from Whitley Bay is the Stephenson Railway Museum honouring the achievement of the world-changing father and son engineers, George and Robert Stephenson with a wide variety of railway technology, including a spectacular display of locomotives.

Including the famous George Stephenson’s “Billy”, dating from 1816 as a coal hauler.

Closely located to the Stephenson Museum is the Rising Sun Country Park set in 400 acres of rural scenery in the centreof North Tyneside.

This Green Flag landscape features ponds, grassland, woodland, wetland and a farm, and there’s a whole system of footpaths and cycleways to enable access across it all.

The park’s lake area - Swallow Pond - is a designated nature reserve with a bird hide overlooking the largest body of water. This can be overlooked from the north at the highest point of the park with restorative views across. There’s a cafe in the centre preparing fresh meals made from local produce.

Whitley Bay and the neighbouring towns of Blyth and Tynemouth all feature well reviewed have golf courses.

Whitley Bay’s course has been in the same spot since 1906 and has expansive fairways fringed by tricky gorse and woodland.

The course at nearby Blyth is famed for its pristine greens, whilst Tynemouth Golf Club has a sumptuous par 70 parkland course designed by the revered architect Willie Park in 1913.

Pubs, Bars & Restaurants (all the links below are 'live' hyperlinks ...just click on the link & it will take you to the website)

Shampan Indian Restaurant & Cocktail Bar