ONE News

Newcastle has a rich LGBTQ+ history, but much of it lives not in official records or museum collections, but in people’s memories.

Memories of first nights out. Meeting a partner for the first time. Dancing until closing time. Finding somewhere you could finally be yourself. Protests, friendships, chosen families and community organising. There are also memories of discrimination, police attitudes, changing laws, the HIV and AIDS crisis, violence, lost friends and the struggle to create spaces where LGBTQ+ people could feel safe.

OUT North East, working closely with Curious Arts, is launching a new research project to capture and preserve these stories through our Pink Triangle LGBTQ+ History Project.

What was Newcastle’s Pink Triangle?

For generations of LGBTQ+ people across the North East, Newcastle’s Pink Triangle became an important centre of queer social and community life.

Centred around the area close to Times Square, Scotswood Road and the surrounding streets, its bars, pubs, clubs and community spaces became places where LGBTQ+ people could meet, socialise and find community. But the Pink Triangle was never simply a collection of bars.

These spaces existed within a much bigger story of LGBTQ+ life in Newcastle and the wider North East. They witnessed enormous social and political change: from a time when sex between men was criminalised, through gay liberation and changing attitudes towards sexuality, the HIV and AIDS crisis, Section 28, campaigns for equality and the eventual introduction of same-sex marriage.

The venues changed too. Some disappeared, others changed names, and new spaces emerged. Today, walking through Newcastle, it can be difficult to know that some seemingly ordinary buildings and streets were once hugely important places in the lives of LGBTQ+ people. We want to make those histories visible again.

Recording the memories behind the buildings:

At the heart of the project will be the voices of LGBTQ+ people themselves. OUT North East will be speaking to people who remember Newcastle's LGBTQ+ venues and communities from the 1960s onwards, including the Pink Triangle and the queer spaces that existed before, alongside and around it. We want to hear the personal stories that traditional histories can sometimes overlook.

What was your first LGBTQ+ night out like? Where did you go? Where did you meet friends or partners? Which venues made you feel that you belonged? Which places disappeared? What happened there that you still remember decades later?

We are equally interested in the more difficult parts of this history. LGBTQ+ spaces developed against a backdrop of criminalisation, discrimination, hostility and rapidly changing attitudes towards sexuality and gender.

By bringing these individual memories together, we hope to create a much richer picture of how LGBTQ+ life in Newcastle has changed across generations.

Creating Newcastle's LGBTQ+ Pink Triangle walking tour:

One of the major outcomes of the research will be a new LGBTQ+ Pink Triangle walking tour and map of Newcastle. The walking route will take people through significant locations connected to the city's LGBTQ+ history, revealing the stories behind buildings, streets, bars, clubs and community spaces.

Rather than simply telling people that a venue once stood somewhere, we want the tour to introduce the people who actually experienced these places.

A location on the map might therefore lead to a story about meeting a first love, discovering an LGBTQ+ community for the first time, working behind the bar, performing in a venue, organising for LGBTQ+ rights, experiencing discrimination or simply having an unforgettable night out. Where possible, photographs, flyers, posters and other materials will help us reconstruct these histories.

We also hope to develop Pink Plaques with QR codes at key locations, allowing people to discover the stories connected to those places while walking through the city.

More than a map:

The walking tour is only one part of the project. We plan to use the research to create a series of short podcasts exploring different memories and themes from Newcastle's LGBTQ+ past. Individual episodes could focus on particular venues, experiences or moments, allowing people to hear the history directly from those who lived it.

We also want the material collected through the project to contribute to reports, exhibitions, archives, museums and future LGBTQ+ history projects.

Our longer-term ambition is to make sure these memories are preserved rather than disappearing as venues close, neighbourhoods change and generations grow older. This is community history created with the community, rather than simply written about it.

Do you remember the Pink Triangle? We now want to hear from you:

If you visited LGBTQ+ bars, clubs, pubs or community spaces in Newcastle from the 1960s onwards, we would love to hear your memories.

You do not need to consider yourself an LGBTQ+ historian. You do not need to remember exact dates. Your personal experiences are the history we are trying to preserve.

You might have photographs, flyers, membership cards, tickets or other objects connected to Newcastle's LGBTQ+ past. These can help us piece together a history that was not always formally documented.

Most importantly, you may have a story. Perhaps you met your first boyfriend or girlfriend in one of Newcastle's gay bars. Perhaps the Pink Triangle was where you first felt comfortable being openly LGBTQ+. Maybe you worked or performed there. Maybe you remember a venue that has almost disappeared from collective memory. Those stories matter.

Over the coming months, OUT North East will be inviting people to take part in interviews and contribute their memories and materials to the project.

Together, we can create a living map of Newcastle's LGBTQ+ past and ensure that the people, places and stories that built our community are remembered by the generations that come next.

Our buildings may disappear. Our venues may close. But our stories do not have to be lost.

Want to get involved? Email us at contactus@outnortheast.org.uk and one of our team will be in touch.