Northumberland Street

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Northumberland Street is a major shopping street in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. In terms of the cost of rent per square metre, it is the most expensive location in the UK (outside of London) to own a shop.^[1]

The street runs from the Haymarket and Civic Centre in the north, towards the Monument at the south. It encompasses the entrance to the Eldon Square and Monument Mall shopping centres, and is home to retailers such as HMV, Marks & Spencer, Next, H&M, zavvi (formerly Virgin Megastore) and the flagship Fenwick department store.

South of Blackett Street, Northumberland Street turns into Pilgrim Street which runs to the Tyne Bridge. From the opening of the bridge in 1928 until the opening of Newcastle's Central Motorway (A167(M)) in 1975 Northumberland Street was part of the A1 between London and Edinburgh. It is now pedestrianised.

Up until 1999 the most northerly section of Northumberland Street from Northumberland Road onwards was still open to traffic and a busy bus route. This led to the shops in this part of the street being much less popular than those further south. This section is now pedestrianised in keeping with the remainder of the street. However some electronic maps still show this part as an accessible road.

Delivery traffic is still permitted to drive up Northumberland Street in the early mornings to complete deliveries, but after that all non-pedestrian traffic is banned, including bicycles and skateboards.

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