Ribbon cutting ceremony marks completion of promenade improvements

A ribbon-cutting ceremony has been held to officially declare the second stage of Whitley Bay’s Northern Promenade transformation complete.

North Tyneside Council has invested more than £1million in the revamp of the popular seafront area as part of its Ambition for North Tyneside regeneration strategy.

The improvements include:

  • New red surfacing on the promenade in the areas in front of the Rendezvous café, on the seafront side, and The Links Gallery Café, on the car park side, to match the previously-completed southern section of the promenade.
  • New pebble seating, edging blocks and railings.
  • A complete refurbishment of the public toilets, featuring eye-catching local artwork on the walls.
  • The Rendezvous and Links Gallery cafés have undergone repointing work and repairs, roof repairs have been carried out and level access has been created.
  • The Rendezvous café has had brand new sympathetic heritage double glazed windows installed. The work has preserved its character while improving the fabric of the building.
  • The Dukes Walk car park has been resurfaced.
  • The entrance steps to the Links Art Gallery cafe frontage have been replaced.
  • The connecting stone stairs to and from the Links to the car park have been improved.
  • The shelter on the Links opposite Bournemouth Gardens has been refurbished.

It comes after upgrades were previously completed along the stretch of the Northern Promenade, linking to the area around the Spanish City, as part of the major regeneration of Whitley Bay’s coastline.

As part of the latest phase of the project, a new storage facility has been created on the promenade for local charity, Beach Access North East (BANE), which provides free beach wheelchair loans to disabled and elderly people.

Trustee Sue Rowley said: “On Behalf of Beach Access North East, I wish to thank North Tyneside Council for our new premises. This unit enables us to store more beach wheelchairs than our previous container. 

“Since opening we have had bookings every day, a lot of them from outside North Tyneside, and the demand for our service is increasing. Feedback from our users has all been inspirational and positive.”

Elected Mayor Norma Redfearn CBE was joined for the ribbon-cutting ceremony by Sue Rowley and Andy Divers from BANE, Tiz Weepers, owner of the Rendezvous café, and Lori Montalbano from the Links Gallery Café.

Mayor Redfearn said: “This is another phase in our ambition to have the best coastline in the country - and I believe we’re almost there.

“I’m delighted to see the improvements to the cafes and the fantastic new storage area for Beach Access North East who provide such an important service – everyone is really happy and the cafes are extremely busy so well done to everybody.”

Tiz Weepers said: “I’d like to thank everyone at North Tyneside Council for the work that’s been done. It’s been so good to see all the old customers back as well as lots of new customers and it has coincided with the easing of lockdown restrictions so it’s been a much better time for Whitley Bay.”

Lori Montalbano added: “It’s been really good since we reopened, there’s been a really good vibe around and lots of people have been coming to visit. The place looks really good, a very good job, so thank you North Tyneside Council.”

Further work to complete the refurbishment of the remainder of the promenade is also earmarked to take place over the coming years.