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The man who was responsible for the change of name from Whitley to Whitley Bay knew nothing about it.
William Oliver was Secretary of the Rockcliff Rugby Club in Whitley and died on a trip in 1901 to Edinburgh. The body was to be sent back to Whitley by train for the funeral but was sent to Whitby in North Yorkshire instead, the –le- being confused with a -b-. The stationmaster at Whitby arranged to send it on to Whitley and the funeral was conducted at nightfall. The townspeople recognised this could happen again and the town was renamed Whitley Bay in 1902, much to the relief of the North Eastern Railway and the Royal Mail who had campaigned for a change for several years.
Nowadays Whitley Bay is a station on the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is not part of the National Rail network. However, if you persevere, through tickets are available, with railcard discounts too, which do not usually apply to the Metro. If you pay separately for rail and Metro, you won’t get a discount on your ticket. A Metro-only A+B+C zones ticket covering the entire Metro network costs £6.20. With a railcard, the cost from Chester-le-Street is only £7.15. Your combined rail and all zones Metro ticket has the advantage of being valid on the North Shields to South Shields ferry so you can include a short voyage across the Tyne on your day out.
On arrival at Whitley Bay, leave the station on the north side (where trains arrive from Newcastle via South Gosforth and Longbenton) and take a left on Victoria Terrace to the Town Centre. Turn left and follow the road round to the right which is Park View boasting a huge number of independent shops and cafes. At the north end where the shops peter out, turn right onto Marine Avenue towards the seafront.
Whitley Bay has a lovely long sandy beach, The area has been regenerated in recent years with the long derelict Spanish City now reopened to the public and featuring Valerie’s Tea Rooms, the 1910 Steak and Seafood restaurant and, under the dome, Trenchers Restaurant. In a throwback to the history of Whitley Bay, it’s interesting to note that the sister Whitby branch of Trenchers won the Best Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Year in 2019. Roll on a year and the 2020 winner was the Trenchers at Spanish City. Mind you, we spent most of that year in lockdown so it is probably not a fair comparison.
I wanted to see the lighthouse, but check the tide table on the lighthouse website first since the causeway is frequently underwater. You can walk along the promenade, stopping halfway at the Rendezvous Café if you wish. The path goes up on top of the cliff at the end of the promenade and past a large car park to St Mary’s Lighthouse. They kindly gave me the pensioners’ rate at age 61 and with some trepidation I climbed the 137 steps to the top, trying to ignore the badly peeling paintwork on the way. The last 20 steps are particularly steep, like a ladder. The view was worth it together with displays about the life of the lighthouse keepers and details of their recruitment. They had to have sufficient teeth, for a start.
On the way back I took the bus from the cemetery to the town centre and enjoyed a visit to the independent Jam Jar cinema at the top of Park Road, an inviting and friendly three-screen venue before taking the Metro back to Central Station for my train home.
