UKC

Heard recently that eldon wall is to close sometime in 2006 as part of the ongoing grainger town re-development of newcastle city centre.

No more newcastle wall! What next? Newcastle United in the championship!!

In reply to Dan1: More chance of the toon being in the championship than the champions league!

In reply to CENSORED:

Ouch...

In reply to Dan1: So the rumour is true. Shocking news, history down the pan again, just like the Mayfair. Obviously the Ncle city council will be making other arrangements for the climbing community then.....not

In reply to Dan1:

Where did you hear this? Is the whole of Eldon Leisure closing then, or just the wall?

Couldn't the wall be taken somewhere else and put in another building?

This would be a terrible shame if it happens, it's a great wall.

In reply to jamiemoss:

Heard it from someone in the know. Other than the wall things seem a little vague. It would appear that the wall is not doing enough business in the summer, no surprise there then with no decent cooling system working.
Still a great shame though as it's a great venue (in the winter).

In reply to Dan1:

Arse. What the hell are they going to do with the space though - what else can go in a very long and narrow room?

Is there owt we can do to stop it closing? (Other than going loads in summer.)

In reply to Dan1:
Anyone from the BMC able to shed any light on this? Nice little wall, it was where I started climbing!

(Still, at least you're getting a reasonable amount of advance warning - time to negotiate a replacement.)

In reply to Wingnut:

I don't see how they could justify closing the berghaus wall. afterall I estimate after the cost of lighting it probably costs them about a pound a month in upkeep, and that must just be to get the bins emptied. There are virtually no holds to be regularly changed, no need to employ any route setters, its cleaned about once every 3 years at the most, they havent spent any money on mats since it opened in 1991 so no costs there, theres no fans or aircon to pay for upkeep, no staff supervising it. I imagine that about 99% of any users entry fee is profit at the moment!! how can they even think about closing that wall, its a classic.

In reply to jamiemoss:
The whole southern bit of Eldon Square is being redeveloped to put a department store in and generally revamp the area of town around the Greenmarket all the way to the Gate. A press release at http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/home.nsf/a/eldon shows some details of the development & timescales, but it may be out of date. I haven't managed to find out what the future for the wall is, as there's a whole leisure centre which looks as if it will be homeless. I've mailed the Leisure Centre for any info & will post if I get an informative reply. I've just paid a years fees - it had better last until then!

In reply to JDal:
I got a response from the Leisure Centre Management: "We are not aware of any impact that the proposed redevelopment of Eldon Square Shopping Centre will have on the Berghaus Wall or Eldon Leisure Centre for that matter."
I guess that means that either the plans aren't going ahead or that the Greenmarket, which lies underneath the Leisure Centre, is not being so radically modified as the plans suggest, or that the Leisure Centre management haven't been kept informed.

In reply to Wingnut: A Couple of years ago I was at Eldon meeting the manager, we were talking about the possibility of a big wall in the NE at the time (this is pre Sunderland Wall days) and there was a feasibility study done on possible venues - think the study was commissioned by the NMC and it was done by Billy Wright (ex BMC Access Officer). One of the possibilities was to extend the existing walls at Eldon by taking over part of the main hall. From memory (my filing is terrible) this proposal did not come out well because the long term future of the whole area was in doubt, so it is no real surprise to hear that the whole area is (or might be) getting flattened. Not that makes it good.

I have written (today) to Eldon Leisure and will see what they say. I would be very surprised if it is only the wall that is threatened. The last user visits figure that I have for Eldon indicate a very healthy income stream.

Graeme Alderson
BMC

In reply to graeme alderson:

Eldon Lesuire is enjoying a very successful period with many private leisure facilities in the city centre closing.

Half a million pounds redevelopment is about to start this spring.

For the short term, the future of the Berghaus Wall is unaffected. It is business as usual. The long term redevelopment has been an option for over 5 years and remains an option still.

Of course things could change so get down to the Berghaus Wall and get those projects completed asap!

In reply to Steve Crowe: Well I'm glad that I completed a long standing project at Eldon Square recently whilst I had the chance. First started trying one of the routes up the big over-hang in 1992, and finally mananaged to do it this November. 12 years to do an indoor route - how sad this that?
Great shame if it does close though - despite it's years I think it's the best training wall I've come across.

Hey guys, being the very upfront man that i am - i went today to settle rumours... After speaking to one of the head guys and then the actual manager, i can assure you all that the Berghaus wall will not be closing in the next 4 years. And then off the record the manager added that he had heard the rumour ages ago and it was a load of bollocks - sweet...

Eldon is not closing in the next 4 years.

The wall should either be shut or have some money spent on it.

its getting to be a disgrace.

the floor has holes in, the mats are shit, the campus board is splintering, the wall needs a good clean and it has its own strange micro climate. usually to hot!

its a great bouldering venue, apart from the above!

I work in newcastle but i climb at sunderland wall, eldon wall is just becoming to much of a shit hole to climb in. if i wanted to break my ankle, get splinters in my fingers or climb on greasy, dirty holds eldon will be my first stop.

sort it out!