The Silverlink Shopping Park is a

retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. They form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, standalo ...

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

containing more than 20 stores with retail accommodation of . It was developed by the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priv ...

, has 927 car parking spaces, and has an annual footfall of 7.2 million.

History

It was initially known as Tyneside Retail Park before becoming Silverlink Retail Park in the mid-1990s, taking the same name as the neighbouring Silverlink Industrial Estate. The Silverlink name is derived from the ''Silver Link'' locomotive that was once housed at the nearby

North Tyneside Steam Railway The North Tyneside Steam Railway and Stephenson Steam Railway are visitor attractions in North Tyneside, North East England. The museum and railway workshops share a building on Middle Engine Lane adjacent to the Silverlink Retail Park. The rai ...

museum. The 9-screen

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which meas ...

Odeon Odeon may refer to: Ancient Greek and Roman buildings * Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions * Odeon of Agrippa, Athens * Odeon of Athens * Odeon of Domitian, Rome ...

cinema on the site opened in 1999, was upgraded in 2015, and has an

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graem ...

screen and uses

RealD 3D RealD 3D is a digital stereoscopic projection technology made and sold by RealD. It is currently the most widely used technology for watching 3D films in theaters. Worldwide, RealD 3D is installed in more than 26,500 auditoriums by approximately 1, ...

technology. A £30 million extension was added to the shopping park in the late 2010s adding 4 additional retailers. That extension location had previously been a

Travelodge Travelodge (formerly TraveLodge) refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and several countries in Asia. However, man ...

hotel (formerly known as Europa Lodge and Moat House Hotel), who relocated to Cobalt Park.

Retailers

Retailers on the park include Argos,

Bensons for Beds Bensons for Beds is Britain's largest bed retailer specialising in beds, mattresses and bedroom furniture. History Founded as a general store in 1950 by Cyril Benson, Bensons for Beds opened the first dedicated bed centre in 1972. The company ...

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer Str ...

Currys Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. E ...

Halfords Halfords Group PLC is the UK's largest retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom. Halfords Group is listed on the Lo ...

Hobbycraft Hobbycraft is an arts and crafts superstore retail chain in the United Kingdom. It is currently owned by investment group Bridgepoint. History It was started by the Haskins Group, a nursery and garden supplier in the south of England, an ...

, H&M,

JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentlan ...

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

, New Look, Next Home & Garden,

OneBelow OneBeyond (formerly known as OneBelow) is a British variety store launched by Christopher Edwards and Chris Edwards Sr. Christopher Edwards is managing director while father Chris Edwards Sr is chairman. History In October 2018, it was anno ...

River Island River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online. Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isla ...

ScS ScS (Sofa Carpet Specialist), is a home furnishings retailer in the United Kingdom, specialising in sofas, carpets and flooring, dining and occasional furniture. History ScS was established in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in 1894, as a family own ...

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

Sofology Sofology (formerly known as Sofaworks, CSL, Clayton Salerooms, and CS Lounge Suites Ltd), is a British furniture retailer specialising in sofas. History Sofology started out as CSL Sofas, and was originally an auction rooms based in Clayton-le-M ...

Wilko Wilko may refer to: People * Wilko Johnson (1947–2022), English musician * Wilko de Vogt (born 1975), Dutch football goalkeeper, mostly played for Dutch clubs * Wilko Risser (born 1982), Namibian-German football forward, mostly played for German ...

and

Wren Kitchens Wren Kitchens is a privately owned British designer, manufacturer, and retailer of kitchens. It has 106 stores. History Wren Kitchens was founded in 2009. The management team behind Wren traded for 10 years in the United States before the ...

. Most recently, EE working alongside BT have opened a store at the centre of the main parking area. There is a cinema operated by Odeon to the north of the park. Restaurants currently on the park include

Bella Italia Bella Italia (formerly known as Bella Pasta) is a chain of over 90 restaurants offering meals inspired by Italian cuisine in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The chain is part of The Big Table Group, which also owns Café Rouge and Las Iguanas. ...

Costa Coffee Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. ...

Frankie & Benny's Frankie & Benny's (now trading as Frankie's) is a chain of Italian-American-themed restaurants in the United Kingdom run by The Restaurant Group. , it had 90 outlets nationwide. History In 1924, at the age of 10, Frankie Giuliani left Sicily wit ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

Nando's Nando's (; ) is a South African multinational fast casual restaurant, fast casual chain that specialises in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their logo ...

and

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

. Previous tenants have also included

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

Northern Electric Northern Electric was an electricity supply and distribution company serving north east England. History It had its origins as the North Eastern Electricity Board, formed as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Elec ...

Outfit Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

and

Poundworld Poundworld was a chain of British value variety stores that sold most of its items for £1. It was founded in 1974 by Yorkshire-based father-and-son team Chris Edwards Sr. and Chris Edwards Jr. In contrast to many high street retailers, it ma ...

Location

The adjacent roundabout linking the A19 and

A1058 road A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to: Education * A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages * Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects * A1, a ...

s was upgraded using a triple-decker construction in the late 2010s at a cost of £75 million. The retail park is located to the south of

Cobalt Business Park Cobalt Park is a business park located in North Tyneside, England. It is one of the largest business parks in the United Kingdom. History Initially known as Hadrian Business Park plans for the area were devised the early 1990s by the Tyne and ...

and

. Buses run regularly from Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding areas. The shopping park is located between the two east–west lines of

Tyne and Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

's Yellow Line coastal loop and as such the park has been a candidate location for extending the rail line to serve.

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.silverlinkshoppingpark.co.uk/ Shopping centres in Tyne and Wear Retail parks in the United Kingdom