This 1924 photo gives a rare glimpse of a second entrance to the underground toilets at the bottom of the Bigg Market. It would later be destroyed when it was hit by a bus, there’s just the one entrance now.
The first public toilets on this site were built in 1872 and were above ground. There was a busy market nearby so they got heavy usage during the day, but people were frightened to pay a visit at night. A letter appeared in the Newcastle Journal, warning their readers that this part of town was frequented by “roughs and card-sharpers”, and “others of the very lowest grade”. Any person going into the urinal in the evening, he added, would likely be pounced upon and robbed.
A motion was passed in the Council chamber, and it was agreed that better toilets were needed. The new facilities were designed by the City Engineer, W.G. Laws, and were ready for action on October 24th, 1893. The sanitary fixtures and fittings were provided by Messrs Shanks & Co, which the Newcastle Daily Chronicle declared “a marvel of modern scientific arrangement”.
The toilets were lit at night by electric lamps and flooded with natural light in the daytime, through a cathedral-like glass dome. Unfortunately, the light in this cistern chapel didn’t deter the roughs and others of the very lowest grade, with drug dealers joining the mix.
Three years before this photo was taken, Charles Snowden of Gateshead was arrested in the toilets for selling cocaine and opium on the premises and in neighbouring pubs. He was sent to prison for six months in February 1921.
Disaster struck the toilets on September 10th 1949, when a Corporation bus crashed into the entrance on the Groat Market side. The toilets were remodelled with just a single entrance instead of two by Messrs W. Moss & Sons of Heaton at a cost of £160. A new glass roof was installed, which is much higher than the original one.
Nowadays, that roof has a chandelier hanging from it, the toilets having been converted into a cocktail bar.