Eldon Square is the main shopping centre in Newcastle city centre, it opened on the site of Old…read moreEldon Square in 1976 and at the time of opening, it was the largest city-centre shopping centre in the UK. It was known as intu Eldon Square between 2013 and 2020 but following the collapse of intu, it has returned to its original name of Eldon Square.
At the time of writing, Eldon Square is the 15th largest shopping centre in the country in terms of retail size, there is a much larger shopping centre, Metrocentre around a 10-15 minute drive away, but despite being smaller, I prefer Eldon Square, I still think the mall is a good size and it just seemed to have a better atmosphere, being in the city centre too rather than a soulless out of town mall.
The mall has a great number of stores and brands including anchor retailers Fenwick, John Lewis and Marks and Spencer.
Other brands located here include Apple, Boots, H&M, Next, Rituals and the major mobile phone/telecommunications networks.
For food and drink, you have the likes of Starbucks, Nando's, Pizza Express, Ask Italian, Wagamama and TGI Fridays.
The mall staff were friendly, and while there wasn't really anyone dotted around the mall, the help desk was easily to find so I could seek assistance finding a store.
The layout of the mall is a little confusing and I think makes it seem bigger than it actually is - it can be quite a trek from the Bus Station to the Apple end of the mall.
I do think the stores do shut a little early for the centre of a big city, between Monday and Saturday, the mall shuts at 7 pm, with some stores shutting as early as 6 pm including John Lewis. Thursday is an exception, where all stores tend to remain open until 8 pm, and Sunday is bound by Sunday trading laws so there's not much they can do there.
4* -