Delicious news incoming from Tyneside Cinema! The Tyneside Coffee Rooms will reopen its doors in September. Our friends over at Cultured. North East have sent over the deets.
Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. Credit: Colin Davison
The historic and much-adored Tyneside Coffee Rooms are set to reopen for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since shutting up shop along with everyone else in March 2020 the Tyneside Cinema‘s beloved Coffee Rooms – found upstairs at the independent film house in Newcastle City Centre – have remained behind closed doors.
But it has now been revealed that the coffee and conversation will be flowing once more from Wednesday, September 7.
Over the years, well-known customers have included Sir Ian McKellen, Charlton Heston, John Hurt, Rowan Atkinson, Bryan Adams, Andrea Riseborough, Derek Jarman, Daniel Day Lewis and many more.
But we think the news of the reopening will probably be most welcomed by those who had a visit to the Coffee Rooms inked into their weekly planners.
Classic cafe times at Tyneside Coffee
Tyneside Cinema interim chief executive, Simon Drysdale, said: “Tyneside Coffee Rooms is not only an essential part of our cinema, it’s an essential part of Newcastle’s heritage.
“I know people have missed visiting Tyneside Coffee Rooms and it will be a delight to see the space busy and bustling again.”
Since its opening in 1938, the Coffee Rooms has been a local institution. Tyneside Cinema founder, Dixon Scott, originally planned to let out the space as offices, but couldn’t find a willing tenant, at the relatively high rate of £150 a year.
The Scott family decided to make the space pay for itself, creating the Tyneside Coffee Rooms – a title referring both the main restaurant and the Smoking Room next door, which is now the Tyneside Cinema Digital Lounge.
A page from the Tyneside Coffee Rooms ledger, 1938
In 2000 the entire building was recommended for a Grade II listing by English Heritage. Attention was drawn to this ‘rare example of a fine cinema café’, and the Coffee Rooms was an integral aspect of the building’s recent restoration and redevelopment.
Simon Drysdale added: “Tyneside Coffee Rooms has been here since the 1930s and we felt it was important to preserve its fittings and décor as far as possible. People will see some changes though – we’ve hung new film posters, fitted new carpets and installed new tables, chairs and banquette seating.
“There’s a new digital screen, so we can use the space for all sorts of events, and there’s now also a draft beer pump, so people can enjoy a pint alongside some familiar favourites on the menu.”
Tyneside Coffee Rooms will be open Wednesday to Sunday, from 11am to 6pm, from Wednesday 7 September 2022.
Find out more at TynesideCinema.co.uk.