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. Retail parks form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, ...

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 by Ne ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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 priva ...

, 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 Shields, 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: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

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

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

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 approximatel ...

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 or Travelodge by Wyndham (formerly branded ''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 co ...

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

Retailers

Retailers on the park include Bensons for Beds,

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

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

Halfords Halfords Group PLC is a UK 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 London Stock E ...

Hobbycraft Hobbycraft is the leading arts and crafts superstore retail chain in the United Kingdom. History The company was founded in 1995 by the Haskins Group, a nursery and garden supplier in the south of England, and was bought by investment gro ...

, H&M,

JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group is a British multinational 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 10 ...

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

, New Look, Next Home & Garden,

OneBelow OneBeyond Retail Limited (formerly known as OneBelow Retail Limited) 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 ...

River Island River Island (stylised as RiverIsland and abbreviated as RI) is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis (entrepreneur), Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores ...

, ScS,

Sports Direct Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited, trading as Sports Direct, is a British retail company owned by Frasers Group. The company was founded in 1982 by Mike Ashley (businessman), Mike Ashley and was originally based in Maidenhead, England. It specialises ...

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 ...

and

Wren Kitchens Wren Kitchens Limited is a privately owned British designer, manufacturer, and retailer of fitted kitchens, and fitted bedrooms. It has 106 stores. History Wren Kitchens was founded in 2009. The management team behind Wren traded for 10 y ...

. 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

Costa Coffee Costa Limited, trading as Costa Coffee, is a coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, England, that operates in the United Kingdom and 37 other countries. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa (co ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Nando's Nando's (; ) is a South Africa, South African multinational fast casual restaurant chain that specialises in Portuguese flame-grilled, peri-peri style Chicken as food, chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outl ...

Five Guys Five Guys Enterprises, LLC (doing business as Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Five Guys) is an American multinational fast food chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The first F ...

and

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

. Previous tenants have also included

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

Wilko Wilko.com Limited (trading as Wilko) is a British Variety store, variety retailer. It was founded as Wilkinson by James Kemsey Wilkinson and Mary Cooper in 1930 as a hardware retailer, opening its first store in Leicester. In 1972, Tony Wil ...

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 Ele ...

Outfit Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human 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 ma ...

and

Poundworld Poundworld was a British variety retailer. It was founded in 1974 as Bargain Centre by Yorkshire-based father-and-son team Chris Edwards Sr. and Chris Edwards Jr. The business then became a single-price retailer in 1997 as Everything £1, befor ...

Location

The adjacent roundabout linking the A19 and

A1058 road The A1058, known locally as the Coast Road, is a major road in Newcastle upon Tyne and the adjoining borough of North Tyneside in the North East. It runs from the Newcastle Central Motorway to the coast, terminating between Whitley Bay and Tyn ...

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 owners Nexus have ...

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