A domed white pavilion stands on the seafront, with red brick terraces behind it.
What Whitley Bay looks like
is a white pavilion on Watts Road, with a central dome and a tower at each end of the frontage. The building dates from 1910. A green copper lantern sits on top of the dome. Each tower holds a copper figure beside the entrance, and the dome is Grade II listed.
A paved promenade runs above the sands, with iron railings along its edge. Open grass called the Links runs along the seafront beside it.
is a terrace of two-storey shopfronts with dormer attics, facing a wide asphalt junction. An amusement arcade under a red awning sits beside a fish and chip shop.
is a tidal island at the northern tip of the town, with a lighthouse on it. From the shore at sunset the lighthouse is a small white tower on a low point of rock.
Red brick terraces with bay windows stand behind low walls and iron gates on the residential streets. Newer white-rendered flats with black window frames line the seafront road.
Watts Road drops toward the sand between a brick retaining wall and a black railing. Yellow lines run along the carriageway as it goes down to the beach.
Shot in Whitley Bay
The 1976 film The Likely Lads used the Spanish City funfair. The producer of the ITV series Vera says the series regularly uses the on the promenade. The BBC Two sitcom Thin Ice, set in Derby, was filmed at the ice rink on Hillheads Road.
The Likely Lads, 1976
The Spanish City
The 1976 film used the Spanish City funfair, which is no longer open. The building is a dining and leisure centre now. Street View
What Whitley Bay can double for
Bexhill Seafront in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex
The De La Warr Pavilion is a Grade I listed Modernist seafront building of 1935, with a welded steel frame. It is a 1930s public pavilion on the seafront, with the same sea-facing position as the Spanish City. A wide view gives away the Modernist form, so use a tight frame on the seafront side and leave the fairground out. Try searching 1930s Modernist seafront pavilion now.
Morecambe Promenade in Morecambe, Lancashire
The Midland Hotel in Morecambe is a Streamline Moderne block of 1933, three floors of rendered brickwork. A seafront hotel of that scale can stand in for a 1930s promenade frontage when the Spanish City dome is kept out of frame. The Streamline curves give the period away in a wide shot, so keep the frame tight on the rendered wall. Try searching 1930s seafront hotel frontage now.
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